When to wear sleeve?

Aggiemegs, do you have any swelling of your arms or hands or fingers? Any heavy feeling in your arm? If not, I would agree with your BS not to borrow trouble. That said, if you're worried, you can always consult with a qualified LE therapist, who can take baseline measurements of your arms and fingers so that if you are concerned in future those measurements will be on file.

In my case, my MO noticed that the fingers of one hand were a bit swollen and referred me to a LE therapist. But even if you haven't noticed any symptoms, there is no reason not to get a consultation. In any case, I would not purchase a LE sleeve without a consultation, the reason being that the therapist will know better than a layperson what to prescribe. And there are things, as for instance that you should never wear a sleeve without a glove, that you need to know.

For what it's worth, my LE therapist says, "Exercise! We love it. That and hydration are the two best things you can do."

Talk to your LET (LymphEdema Therapist) for input/further education. Unfortunately very few Drs know 'diddly-squat' about LE or how to handle it/deal with it individually. An LET will either be a PT (Physical Therapist) or OT (Occupational Therapist) with additional education. if you haven't already seen an LET - do so for a baseline and education about it.

'It' is not as simple as just walking into a supply house and 'somebody' selling/ordering garments to you. Besides the size/measurements, there is also the compression level. The wrong compression level can do more harm than good. Weird me - I have to have low compression or I puff up huge quickly - especially hand.

There is no one way for all to handle their LE as we are each so unique but there is a lot of information that applies pretty much the same but needs 'tweeking' for different ones of us. For me, it's day garments all the time I am 'up' and my garments have to be custom as OTS (Off The Shelf) are impossible for me to wear (gloves especially as I have webbed fingers - syndactyly). I also have a night garment to wear while sleeping. And a FlexiTouch MLD that I use daily. But not all need what I do.

I am very active and I find the more I do the better my LE is. My LET guy (who is an OT) tells me to do any and everything I want to which includes riding (our horses and my bicycle), mowing yards with my push mower, flyfishing (he's a fly fisher too), boating/canoeing, among other 'things'. For hiking, I have a hiking stick that I like to use and it also deters loose dogs that want to run up. I find warm/hot weather is better than cold but for many it's the other way around. Where we live, winters are brutal so it's the Base Gym for keeping active but doesn't add up to as much as I do when it's nice and warm/hot out.

Remember that not all ever have to deal with LE but it makes sense to get information to try to protect yourself. Unfortunately, for some we still developed LE. Has you Dr told you to not allow BP or blood draws on the surgery arm?

I had the LE specialist consult, got measured and got a sleeve & gauntlet, although I have no arm swelling. She told me to wear it as a preventative measure if I went on an airplane, or visiting some place that's at a considerably higher elevation, or if I'm going to be doing some kind of unusually heavy work/lifting. Normal everyday activities like cleaning, gardening, carrying groceries and so on, no need for it, as long as it's pretty much the same stuff you are used to doing. Exercise too, lifting weights is ok as long as you start out very "low and slow" and increase very gradually. I was told there was no need to wear the compression for exercise as long as I take it slow and have no symptoms.

Others have been told differently, however. But it makes sense to me, and I'm doing fine.

Hi

Has anyone had tricep pain? I lift weights (like 4 pds so far ) but it's been a week and I still have a slight tricep pain, my back of the upper arm. It's on the affected side and I wear a sleeve now for prevention but I was curious if the back of the arm pain was related or just my healing from the BMX

could be but it's more south of the shoulder. I'm hoping the sleeve fixes that but if not I still see a physical therapist, THANKS!!

I hear you. Triceps pain is the current expression of surgically-caused rotator cuff impingement for me. I get exercises (and a list of things not to do) from my PT.

That is my question, too.