Numbing pains behind back of knee of affected leg

[304473]

Hi all,

Kindly advise how you deal with pains in the affected leg. My pains behind my leg roundabout the back of knee area weakens my leg at time of triggering to the extent that my leg is lame and I need hold onto something to prevent myself from falling.

was told to only take paracetamol for the pain which makes no sense as pains persist irrespective. I wear a compression stock from early morning to evening before removing for bedtime and also whenever I take a nap, it comes off and i elevate my leg during naps.

[Lynora]

Have you been checked by a doctor?

[304473 in reply to Lynora]

yes. the vascular surgeon also conducted an ultrasound of the leg to measure the veins of both legs and found the lymphoedemic leg to have narrower veins than my normal leg which is concerning but nothing can be done and the excess fluids leaking through my veins are resulting in more fluid buildup. Vascular advised the only thing I can take is paracetamol for the pain and continue MDL and compression..but I am certain there must be another way to manage these increasing pains..

[TeresaMay]

I only take paracetamol. There are problems if I take any other pain killer. I had thought it was not working until I reduced the dose, as a pharmacist warned of liver damage when taking paracetamol for years. Then pain increased! I am back on full dose paracetamol.

Why take the sock off when you go for a nap? I was told to wear them from the time I got out of bed in the morning until the time I went to bed at night.

[304473 in reply to TeresaMay]

Hi Teresa, i remove stocking because my leg would be too swollen by time of going to nap, thus leaving my leg feeling "squashed" in stocking. So i remove it to allow leg to breathe whilst elevating on pillow.

[TeresaMay in reply to 304473]

Please seek medical advice, If you can. I have found that removing the stocking for the period of a nap would allow the leg to increase so that I could not put the stocking on. I need a full night's sleep for the swelling to go down.

I have tried smoothing my leg very FIRMLY, in an upwards direction, gives some relief. This may have a similar effect to massage but it is just something I have come up with on my own.

[304473 in reply to TeresaMay]

Thank you Teresa. Afraid I am not getting much assistance from doctors and can no longer afford private visitation to lymphatic nurse I used to attend. My medical aid (insurance) does not cover costs of my lymphoedema as it is not cancer related. Thus me wanting to engage with others suffering same condition.

[304473 in reply to 304473]

Doctors tend to only tell me that my condition is permanent and nothing can be done other than managing it with compression bandaging and/or MDL of which is costly per hour at lymphatic therapist

[304473 in reply to 304473]

I do the compression bandaging once in a while only and only keep on for short while as my skin is so sensitive, i normally get a rash after too much compression no matter how well i pad under the bandages.

[TeresaMay in reply to 304473]

Do you follow a good regime to keep your skin soft and supple? I was appalled to see the difference when I followed advice on looking after my skin. For all my life I had thought I was doing right but after the nurse said my skin looked like wood (she did apologise!) I kept up a regime of applying cream at night and the skin has improved immensely