Standard Treatment of Lymphedema--Kinesio Taping

I would be interested in others' experience with using this.  I have been using it on my trunk for a couple months, but more recently developed lymphedema in my arm.  My tries at putting it on my arm were dismal failures - the long strands kept coming loose, then I would have to take it off, then my skin got irritated where the base of the web was applied.  I gave up when I had the skin irritation, but if anybody had any tricks I might try it again.  The link is useful, but there is no way I'd have access to the amount of training described.

Hi, Ladies:

I use kinesio tape on my right arm and side - I have le in the right arm, and truncal le in my right side. 

Outfield, it takes a lot of practice, and you need to get with a certified le therapist who knows how  to use kinesio tape for le.  If you don't know what you're doing, you can easily make the le worse with the tape, as the tape basically herds and corrals your lymphatic fluid to go where the tape tells it to go.  I use the tape with a barrier because I'm also allergic to the adhesive.  You can use milk of magnesia as a barrier, but the best barrier I've found is by Smith and Nephew.  It comes in a spray or they sell it as individual wipes.  Bandages Plus sells the spray form.  Lymphedema Products doesn't have the spray but they have some wipes that are not quite as good, but are serviceable. 

Feel free to pm me if you have more questions.  I no longer wear compression garments during the day - they seemed to aggravate my le.  I strictly use the tape, and I wrap during the day a couple of times a week and wear the big oven mitt at night.  I do all this along with using a flexi-touch machine and doing mld.

Yes, thanks Suzybelle. 

I had kind of figured you could make it worse because my longest-lasting attempt did trap some fluid in lines on my forearm. I followed the therapist's directions, but I couldn't say I've been trained.  What I do on my chest seems to be working, but that's so much simpler to apply since I can use both hands and for some reason it sticks much better there.

I just do not have access to the type of training I see described on this board.  I am wondering about flying somewhere (the closest major metropolitan areas are 6 hour drives from here).   But I couldn't do that for repeated sessions.

FaithFollower,

I didn't get good instruction and still haven't figured out my arm, but I've been using it on my chest for maybe 3 months.  I had slightly better instruction for that but it's also much easier because you can use both hands.  I had a BMX and am flat-chested; I don't know how I'd manage over a breast.  My anchors are near my groin and the opposite axilla.