Life goes on.....

I have just started going to Pt twice a week to help get things back on track. I have Lymphedema in my lower leg and I must have been over protective of myself. For I have gotten lazy every since my last hosptial visit. So I am trying to get more active and it is a chore because for the few months I have not done much out of fear that if I over did it I would be back in the hosptial once again. Lesson learned thou, if you have lymphedema you still can/need to have a life just be a bit more on the safe side. A good doctor/therapist can help you get more active and have a better life by doing so. If you have pain as well as the swelling from your lymphedema let them know - my leg get to swelling a bit - the pain gets stronger, it is a trigger, so I know not to over do it. The right support stocking works wonders. I now wear a 40-50 mg support stock(open toe) made by the juzo company and it works alot better than the one I had from another company. I hope in time this message board does grow so that we can exchange our feeling of differnt doctors/therapist and products aimed to suit us with lymphedema . I had to go thru 5 or 6 doctors to find the one I have now and she is good as gold and to boot she know about lymphedema first hand not just out of a text book as many do. Do your research on the doctor(s) that will be treating you to see if they meet the requirements you need to be treated fully/fairly.

I am glad you are getting back into the swing of things, I hope the therapy works for you. Thanks to you and your helful links and list, I hope I can avoid going through 5-6 Drs before finding a good one. Right now I do not have a sever case, and I really hope to keep it that way and like you, I hope the boards become more active..as we all know there is nothing like the support of people who know exactly what we are going through

The best way to avoid having to many problems with your lymphedema is a good doctor and good skin care.Your doctor will tell you more I am sure. But in the mean time research on the subject is a good idea if you have time. Good luck ;)

You are soooo right about doing your research. I had to educate my own PCP about this condition. I was very lucky to find the therapist I did, she really knew her stuff, she did some training at a wonderful place in Germany, learned from some of the best. She said they have like an all day place for people to come and they get wrapped several times a day for the most effectiveness. In the US there are any real specialized places for therepy like this. The only one I can even think of is in Washington state. Amy

It would be nice if they had more of these type of places like the one In Washington State you spoke of for people to learn what they need/want to know about lymphedema wraps that are needed to be done. I was felt lucky in the fact the lady that taught me about the MLD how to wrap my leg for night time knew what she was doing and seems to really care about her job and the person she was helping.