DEAR DR. ROACH: I have noticed that I gain weight after eating salted foods. Last night, I had a pasta dish that was salty. Upon awakening, all my fingers were swollen to a point of not bending. Besides drinking a lot of water to flush it out, I’m concerned that there could be potential for an undetected cause.

I’m an 82-year-old woman, and this has been happening for the past six months. My blood pressure is higher recently. Could this be related? My doctor doesn’t seem as concerned as me.

— B.H.

ANSWER: It is common to retain fluid after a salty meal. This can often be noticed due to tight rings on your fingers, socks that leave marks, and other signs of excess fluid. When a person has excess salt and water in their body, it is also common for their blood pressure to go up.

There are medical conditions that can exacerbate this, even though many healthy people notice these symptoms. One is heart failure. People with heart failure should be warned against excess salt intake as the fluid retention can be very high and cause serious symptoms. A second is liver disease, while a third is severe kidney disease; both of these can be related to low protein (albumin) in the blood.

Heart failure, kidney disease and liver disease can generally be diagnosed by your doctor with a careful exam and some standard blood tests. Very mild heart failure may need an echocardiogram to be diagnosed correctly. But if your doctor has done these things and is convinced that you don’t have a serious underlying medical condition, then the best thing for you is to be consistently careful not to eat too much salt.

This can be difficult at restaurants, where very large amounts of salt are of ten used. A word with your server about reducing salt may seem embarrassing but will prevent you from these symptoms. Of course, you need to be careful with hidden sources of salt in your own cooking, especially with canned vegetables.

If your blood pressure is consistently high, your doctor may consider a diuretic, which lowers your blood pressure by making your kidney get rid of excess salt and water.

But diuretics need to be used judiciously.

Dr. Roach regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but will incorporate them in the column whenever possible. Readers may email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med.

cornell.edu.