Posted by weej on November 13, 2001 at 17:31:43:

i thought there might be a possibility that someone lurking on this forum could benefit from information that i recently received so i decided to post it. please, no preaching.
my husband has had apnea since the medical community came up with a name for it. the only way he can control it is to sleep sitting upright. the obvious consequence is that his legs swell (edema). he considers it a small price to pay for a good night's sleep. over time, we tried various ways to keep the swelling in check - elastic bandages, elastic braces, etc...and finally settled on athletic tape because it doesn't stretch.
over time, he has seen six or eight doctors in an effort to treat the edema and resulting wounds to the skin. finally, an e.r. doctor told him that he has lymph edema and gave him a perscription for a non-elastic brace and refered him to a lymph edema clinic for treatment.
it turns out that doctors are even worse about diagnosing lymph edema than they are about diagnosing apnea. now that we know what he has, it is fairly simple to treat - it just took ten years to find out that he has it.
anyway, if you are suffering from chronic swelling, do a search on lymph edema and on circaid, an outfit that makes braces to stop the swelling. they have some good info on their site. this condition leads to lesions, infection, gangrene, and eventual amputation. it is not something to ignore.
hope this can help someone.

Follow Ups:

• Re: swollen legs from sleeping upright - a story Maestra 18:53 11/13/01 (2)
  • Re: swollen legs from sleeping upright - a story weej 08:28 11/14/01 (1)
    • Re: swollen legs from sleeping upright - a story Dawn Rising 12:08 11/14/01 (0)

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