Hi, has anyone’s arm gotten bigger since starting treatment. My arm was stable and now started on the sleeve just when doing a lot at work, maybe 2 times a week. It seems to rub in my inner elbow which is where the swelling is and its not overly tight but does crease as my arm is bent a lot!!
Im trying the self massage but it doesnt feel or seem like does anything, also sleeping with arm propped up. Not due back for another two months, any tips?? Was hoping it would go down and dont want to wear the sleeve all the time as makes my arm feel like a dead weight!
Hi Lisa,
sorry you are having problems. Just a thought,back on the old site someone posted exercises to help get rid of lymph. FB was either writing or using them I seem to remember. Might be worth trying to search it as I think they kept the old threads. It would be 2008
Lily x x
I detest my sleeve also. I have swelling of the hand and upper arm so I find it all baggy and sits round the bit with no swelling! I dont wear my sleeve much just for flights and gardening.
I do the exercises and massage which were mentioned on here in an earlier post. I find I have swollen days and days where it looks almost normal. Will try to find them and bump it up for you. I hsve been told it wont ever go away completely.
Judy and Lisaf - I would say that if you don’t feel your sleeves fit properly you need to bring this up asap (two months is a long time to wait) and try to get fitted for different ones. A sleeve that doesn’t fit properly is unlikely to bring you much benefit. A change of brand might be all that is needed, but clinics can also do made-to-measure sleeves; however they sometimes keep quiet about it because of the extra expense.
As far as the SLD is concerned, I think it’s sometimes a matter of your arm feeling worse if you don’t do it, rather than better if you do, if you get my meaning. I usually do a few (no more than 4, or I get dizzy!) deep breaths before mine, just to kick start things - has anyone suggested this to you?
If you like swimming and there’s no medical reason why you can’t do it, it can be very beneficial to lymphoedema.
Painkillers can also be helpful, as pain seems to make lymphoedema worse - bit of a vicious circle in fact.
And don’t feel you are complaining - lymphoedema is an absolute bummer. What’s more, it doesn’t get allocated much in the way of NHS resources, so it helps to be, as you both are, pro-active by posting here to talk about it.
Thanks very much all for your info. I think my sleeve fits just bound to crease inner elbow when its bent all the time. Just got a DVD from Haven so its weekend watching i think.
I think things get worse when my arms are bent (eg, when using the computer!!!), too. I think there might be some lymph nodes on the inside just above the elbow joint that just don’t like getting squashed too much.
I think it’s normal for a sleeve to crease up at the elbow, but I believe you also need to watch out that it isn’t having a tourniquet effect there or anywhere else(such as the wrist or even in the armpit), as this could make this worse and not better.
I have the same feeling about all the treatments I’ve had (sleeve, bandaging and MLD) that nothing seems to improve my lymphoedema significantly. Although as Bahons said it might be even worse without them!
I’ve had terrible problems with soreness of my inner ebow while wearing the sleeves. I find that virtually everything I do involves bending my arm (eating, reading, computer, walking, running) so the sleeve pinches and rubs. The only time it doesn’t is mt biking where my arms are held out quite straight.
I have just got a new made to measure sleeve from Jobst. It has a (silk?) liner at the inner elbow and it seems to work pretty well to stop the rubbing and discomfort - so maybe worth you trying to get one from your clinic? it comes in black or skin colour and I have a black one. They seem to be a devil to get right though - my lymphoedema practitioner ordered me a second one and this time the liner was on the outside of the elbow!