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elliejdan

does anyone here do manual labor for a living? im doing a job right now that involves drywall and paint, my sleeve is a pain in the ads. today i was so sweaty in the sleeve i wasn't sure if it was a heat rash or cellulitis. do health care professionals have a clue what we should and shouldn't be doing? im exasperated. i may have to change my job. LE is really a low blow after all i went thru with cancer. 

glennie19

I don't do manual labor. Wow, you have a difficult job.  I would suspect that it's heat rash under the sleeve, but I would be concerned about it becoming something "more".

As to whether health care professionals know what to do with LE,,, well,, I think their knowledge varies widely among them. Some do and some really don't.

doxie

I wear my sleeve when doing anything that might trigger LE.  If I have a lot of repetitive movement the sleeve leaves chaffing burns and swelling in the inner elbow and above area.  Over a 2 day period I helped pack and move my daughter a few weeks ago and true to form, it occurred.  I put on antibiotic ointment, did LE massage, and elevated it.  Any irritation could bring on cellulitis and LE so you have to be careful.  

It's a shame you have to watch it everyday at work.   

hugz4u

ellen,  Welcome. Go to stepup-speakout.org and learn all about LE. It is your best defense and will answer most of your questions and the ones you still have no answers to we can help you with.  I would say you have a very difficult job for a person with LE. You would have to be in super shape to be able to pull this off. Also you would have to remain in shape. If you quit you would have to build up your strength slowly to prevent a flare. 

I know that when we start a weight lifting program we start with one pound weights and slowly build up but if we quit for a few days we have to back it off and almost start at the beginning.  Carol made a professional pamphlet on exercise but probably won't come on to answer about it  because she is busy entertaining July 4th party weekend. I think it may be on the website that I gave to you but not sure. She visits the boards often and is our exercise guru. 

 Do watch that rash girls.  I have very sensitive inner elbows that rashes out easy. I put an anti friction product on that runners use to stop chafing. Works the best so far and I have tried all. I think it is called Glide. I use and stare at the roll on everyday. I should know the name by now!

I wanted to continue heavy landscaping but gave that up because it made my arm tired and achy and so I  settled for a smaller garden and vary my tasks out there. 5 mins on this and 10 mins of that, rotating tasks but staying out for 3-8 hours aprox.  I started out maybe only 45 minutes in the spring and build up to that time frame There is still lots we can do. We just have to be careful.

Moving boxes repetitively  in not recommended as that is an activity that we are not use to.  Many girls contract LE from that as they are busy packing and lifting and their limbs are not use to it. Carol is use to heavier weights due to training and so she can lift her grandchildren often. That is one of the reasons she weight trains.  Wear sleeve and glove and gauntlet and procede with caution,. If limb tires out. stop and rest and give the job away. Not worth a flare or LE startup.

Now to throw a wrench in it. Kicks swears her farm activity, horse riding,  push mower and flyfishing keep her LE at bay. She fares worse in the winter when she cant do this heavy  activity. As she says we are all different and have to experiment to find out what works for us but generally people have to be careful what they do with LE activity wise.  Do start out slow and build up .Wish I was kicks!