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I Have Gone AGAINST "Common Practice" and Feel SO MUCH BETTER now!

Posted , 11 users are following.

cheryl90571
cheryl90571

It APPEARS that wearing compression bandages or compression stockings is NOT accepted practice at night/ overnight.

Instructions say to REMOVE THEM before going to sleep at night.

A week ago NOTHING, I mean NOTHING was relieving my swelling, and the swelling was SUBSTANTIAL!!!

( I am five weeks out from my Total Knee Replacement.)

I decided, "What the heck...I need to do SOMETHING! I got out the bandages from my surgery. I had washed them, dried them and thought I would keep them handy for my NEXT surgery on my other knee a few months from now.

My plans changed when I started handling them.

OK...so I TRY to follow rules. I TRY to do what I am TOLD to do by package instructions and by doctors.

However, there comes a time when desperate situations require desperate measures.

I put on those compression bandages and WENT TO BED.

(I have to be honest...I stayed awake WAITING and EXPECTING something BAD to happen.

Guess what?

I drifted off to sleep, slept through the normal time for my pain medication, AND I woke up with FAR LESS SWELLING than I had had in many days!

Yes, you read that correctly...FAR LESS SWELLING!

I have been wearing the compression bandages at night for a week. Each morning my knee AND my whole leg feels better.

I am able to move more, am able to take less pain medication, and at PT sessions my lessened swelling has helped me do a much more successful session achieving more bend and more straightening.

All of these things have helped me be able and feel confident walking around in the house and even out in the yard WITHOUT. my CANE.

I wanted to post this because I think that sometimes you just have to take a risk. I did, and IT REALLY HELPED ME!

(I also have faulty valves in my veins due to bad varicose veins. My aches from THAT have also lessened greatly.)

I hope this helps others. Pain and swelling are NASTY THINGS! I am hoping to find ways to GET RID OF THESE NASTY THINGS!

1 like, 33 replies

33 Replies

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  • elainey19669
    elainey19669 cheryl90571

    Posted

    I was told by my surgeon and physio that stockings have to be worn 24/7. I daren't not wear them as it would be my luck to get a DVT! How weird we are all advised differently!
    • irish_linda
      irish_linda elainey19669

      Posted

      yes it is elainey , when i was in hospital for both revision and bi lateral i had to wear those awful pumps which made nights endless they go on your feet and never fit comfortably and scratch your feet and attached to machine which pumps air to these pumps which pump air that bounces of the feet every few mins its to make help circulation and avoid clots i hated them
    • Oldfatguy1
      Oldfatguy1 elainey19669

      Posted

      Here it's 6 weeks but you can take the off at night. I had a hip to ankle immobilizer that was a day time off at night. I wanted to go to be at 6 p.m. just to rest the legs. I was in a rehab center and those people force Dr's orders as the letter of the law.
    • elainey19669
      elainey19669 irish_linda

      Posted

      Yes I had those pumps on in hospital and they are so noisy and irritating and prevent you from much needed sleep. Mind you I hate the stockings aswell and the thought of wearing those for six weeks day and night will send me crazy. It's not the wearing of them so much as the getting them on and off. It's my daughter's job and she hates it.
    • elainey19669
      elainey19669 Oldfatguy1

      Posted

      All for not wearing them at night smile It's hard enough to sleep as it is so good it's a no at night!
    • cheryl90571
      cheryl90571 elainey19669

      Posted

      I am discovering all the different advice from doctors and wonder if ANY of it is accurate!

      Really makes you have pause about the experience, doesn't it???!!!

    • mandy35295
      mandy35295 cheryl90571

      Posted

      Well I kept the wonderful stockings off, and I'm still here, hurray, I notice some on here say they just take them off at night, . I always thought they were   Worn As we don't move around so much because of surgery, and surly we mover even less when in bed? Wouldn't it make more sence , just to wear them at night because we don't move so much. Or is that not why we wear them ,I'm not sure now, ?
    • cheryl90571
      cheryl90571 mandy35295

      Posted

      Well, THAT was MY thinking...that the BIG ISSUE was increasing circulation when you weren't moving around and walking etc. ON YOUR OWN (AKA: sleeping in your bed!)

      THEN I hear that they are only to be worn during the day.

      Maybe the rules change from in bed after surgery to out-of-bed sometimes during recovery to MORE out-of-bed after a number of weeks to more normal timing as recovery gets us closer to our typical behavior before surgery ever happened.

      I think we are all just trying to make sense of why we DO THINGS , and the directions we are given don't always match the REASONS AND RATIONALE for DOING THEM!!!

      MAYBE the truth is that nobody REALLY KNOWS what will happen. They give their BEST GUESS based on common practice for what THEY know at the time. We humans vary so greatly in our reactions to things, that only SOME SITUATIONS can be predicted.

      I am reminded that they call it " the PRACTICE of medicine".

      There you go!

    • mandy35295
      mandy35295 cheryl90571

      Posted

      Yes think your right, my surgeon insist you where then night and day, only taking them off to shower , for seven weeks, even physio said four was fine, the other surgeon only says two, . And I'm sure this time as they were cutting in so much, they were doing more harm than good😏👍
    • irish_linda
      irish_linda elainey19669

      Posted

      i agree elainey they were awful to wear at night  i was so glad when the new surgeon with my revision didnt use them but without them during the day you need to get up and walk about regualry as the say dont sit too long dont stand too long and its good advice
    • Oldfatguy1
      Oldfatguy1 cheryl90571

      Posted

      The explanation I got 2 different times: when you are awake your legs are lower than your heart much of the time and the hose helps with circulation. In bed your legs are closer to being even or if elevated at night, above the heart. While in the hospital, at the most critical time, you have hose, leg pumps and injections daily and pills when you go home plus 325 mg aspirin daily. If you've ever known anyone that has had clotting you would understand the importance of doing every thing possible to prevent it. Better uncomfortable than dead is my personal motto. I have always been told that the 2 most dangerous things about this surgery are infection and clotting......and I have been fighting the infection for over 20 months now and believe me if the clots are worse than that, you want no part of it.
    • irish_linda
      irish_linda Oldfatguy1

      Posted

      yes yes your so right about the clots not worth taking a chance !!! i think that surgeons differ about the stockings which is strange but all go with the asprin (which is sooo important) i made sure i never forgot it and felt safer taking it .thank god with the 3 surgeries i didnt get an infection so gratefull for that  i have two friends that had to have revisions because of it you have been through more than any of us and know the most where infection is concerned  i hope you have come to the end of themcheesygrin
    • elainey19669
      elainey19669 Oldfatguy1

      Posted

      That all makes complete sense Oldfatguy.

      I'm sorry you have suffered so much with infection but hope you get through this once and for all.

  • donna4434
    donna4434 cheryl90571

    Posted

    I didn't have to wear the stockings at all but did have the god awful pumps at night and the injections.....so who knows, right?
    • mandy35295
      mandy35295 donna4434

      Posted

      Well I had the pump tights and injections in hospital , then came out after two nights with the tablet instead of injections to thin the blood they were for two weeks, I wore the tights for three weeks, I do trot around a bit and fidget a lot at night, so proberly pretty well covered😊
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