Re: foot and leg swelling

[Guest guest]

Hi, Joe,

You wrote:

1. Yes, I had

problems with swelling before the surgery. The fat along my legs

has gone down and stayed down. I had a constant rash on the

inside of my thighs.

I did, too, since my teens, and found that Hibiclens

antibacterial cleansing detergent helps a lot. (My PCP

recommended it.) I also use a hair dryer to get inside thighs

real dry after showering.

But my ankle and

foot swelling was a problem. It partly cleared up after surgery

but has recently (month 4) flared up again though not as bad as

before. The doctor has me on diuretics and it has pretty much

solved the problem.

it was resuming my diuretic that helped to turn Willie the Whale

out to sea. But, I have worn compression hose for almost 5

years, and continue to wear them. Supposedly, I have

" venous insufficiency " in my right leg--meaning that the

veins in my right leg do not do a good job of squishing the blood back

toward the torso. At any rate, I find that compression hose made

by Jobst are of the highest quality, at about $34-$35/pair for knee

length. I have recently found another brand (Jeffries) for

$12/pair at the Vermont Country Store (on-line). Not that the

cost really matters all that much, given the benefits that they

confer, but I find that the cheaper ones are constructed with several

" zones " of differing compression that better suit them to my

legs. Bottom line is that for me, compression hose really help,

and they make the difference between being able to wear my normally

narrow shoe width and having to buy medium width shoes. Quite a

difference caused by the swelling. If you should be interested

in trying compression hose, let me know, and I will dig up the item

number so that you can order on-line. And, BTW, if you take any

more of those now fabled plane trips, you probably should at least

wear compression hose on the airplanes.

Best,

Steve

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