Compression bandages - seem like torture

Google 'compression stockings with zips UK' and an enormous range of products come up at widely varying prices.

It’s odd how often I look on GN and find that there’s a thread on something that is pertinent to me. I’m currently having to wear padding and elesticated bandages on my leg as a slight knock on a shin 3 weeks ago that didn’t even break the skin turned into an infected haematoma which really scared me. I’m sure venous insufficiency made things worse but I’m hoping that the worst is over and that it won’t become an ulcer. Bandages are still having to be changed regularly. I’ve accepted that it will take maybe months to fully heal and for cellulitis to fade, if ever, and I can’t imagine I’ll be wearing the two bargain summer dresses I recently bought. 😩

🤣 Sago

On an earlier thread we were told that Amazon do compression stocking with zips, which will be a godsend if we ever need them.

Can she get a next day delivery of some Crocs or something similar? They slip on and off easily and you can buy lined ones to keep your feet warm. You can get them with a strap to keep them on.

I had to wear them after each of my caesareans, as I lay in bed with these awful stockings on a midwife came to chat to me about contraception.
I suggested leaving the stockings on would do the trick. 😱

I can understand why this looks cruel and inhuman as an in-law, aged about 80, had one of these bandages applied after a knee replacement when the bottom half of her leg swelled. She said that she was in agony with them and used to loosen them as soon as the nurse left. I found out about this when I visited her shortly after the nurse's visit and found her in floods of tears. Although I and the nurse tried to coax her into keeping them on I know she eventually refused to even have them applied and insisted they were just too painful and that she'd rather die. She had the same problem with getting footwear on. I bought her some adjustable slippers that fastened with velcro.

I have lymphoedema in both legs and have been wearing compression wraps for the last 3 years. Unfortunately I need to wear foot wraps as well as calf wraps. I can manage the calf wraps but not the foot ones so my daughter does them for me every morning.

I've been suffering from lymphoedema for years but didn't get a diagnosis until I got ulcers on my left leg which were made worse by the practice nurses I was referred to the district nurses who were brilliant. When the ulcers were slow to heal they tried using medical honey which didn't suit me and actually made it worse so they wanted to put me in compression bandages but needed to do a Doppler test to check my circulation first. Unfortunately I suffer from White Coat Syndrome so when they tried to do the Doppler my blood pressure went sky high and frightened the poor DN. She was convinced I was about to collapse and kept asking if I had a headache and if I felt alright.

I was referred to vascular clinic. While waiting for the appointment one of the DNs suggested trying Viscopaste bandages which suited my skin and the ulcers started to heal. I went to the Vascular clinic, had the Doppler and was put in 3 layer compression bandages.

Once the ulcers had healed I was prescribed made to measure stockings by a lymphoedema nurse but they never turned up. After 3 more months of bandaging my legs the DN spoke to the manufacturer and it turned out the GP practice had ordered them but had never paid for them so they didn't get made. The DN ordered wraps!

I've been able to wear Birkenstock style sandals from Cotton Traders by putting extra holes in the straps but they've stopped selling them. I'd bought several pairs in their clearance sales or £8 a pair but have now run out. I've just bought some sandals from Cosyfeet which I hope will be worth the expense.

DD had to wear a compression sleeve on her arm for several years after an accident left her with a badly scarred arm. This was made as one piece - and came in a range of different colours -

Why can't these bandages when used for legs come as hers did, but with a zip or similar up the side or front?

daisybooh

Know how it feels I to have compression bandages on it’s like having planks of wood on leg reason for mine had a fall getting on bus (didn’t lower platform) sliced Leg14 stitches back to doctors nurses were brilliant but 8 weeks and still not healing had been waiting for referral appointment to wound clinic now got these awful bandages on have had to borrow my sons old garden trainers as can’t get any my size8 extra wide hotter ones on clumping round like Sasquatch no help offered either 2 long bus journeys or expensive taxis definitely NHS on the decline

Widerfit shoes go up to a size 8 and from slightly wide to very wide fittings, and they have various styles. Free postage on returns and exchanges.
www.widerfitshoes.co.uk/womens-wide-fit-shoes?medical_condition=40392&size=241

Also currently an end-of-line sale. Several size 8s included.
www.widerfitshoes.co.uk/end-of-lines?size=241

A page on how to measure feet and find your correct size and width fitting at www.widerfitshoes.co.uk/shoe-fit-finder

I hope she has the bottom of her bed raised. I do this by putting pillows under the mattress..

You can get different forms of easy glide applicators. Theres also videos on youtube showing how to use them and also how to put your compression socks, or tights on correctly. This may help.
In addition and for anyone who suffers from mobility issues and still struggles to put their compression socks on, there is the alternative of compression calf wraps. These are fastened mainly by a velcro style fasten and are easier to apply. The downside is that they are more expensive. As with all health issues, its always best to check with your medical practitioner first.
Hope this information helps.

Off thread but that comment about a 2 year old wearing glasses
One of my grandaughters had to wear glasses at 2 and because she could suddenly see the world we had to literally take them off her when she slept as they were so precious to her
She’s a beautiful 20 year old in contacts now but it made me smile remembering …it’s like whenLittle kids get new shoes or boots and want to wear them 24/7

Back to the problem
I think decrying and being angry with nurses doctors health visitors is not the answer you don’t know what she was told it could have been explained to her fully and she didn’t take it in
I ve always found health visitors and district nurses are blooming wonderful with their patients
I think your anger is well misplaced and you use very emotive terms ‘reams of bandages’ rammed her foot in slippers’ ‘pick on someone their own size’ these ‘horror bandages’ as you call them but these are keeping this lady alive
Yes they are uncomfortable and not a pleasant thing to have but what’s they alternative they are very commonly used mostly for the elderly who have circulation problems

I'm sympathetic to all here. As Calistemon says, the neighbour may have been given more information / advance warning than she told OP, and didn't understand the exact implications.
I don't know the exact way practice / community nurses are organised these days, and wonder if the nurse got landed with a task at the last minute without knowing her patient. And OP certainly got landed in it!

Traditionally it is nurses who 'make things work'. I remember as a new Health Visitor, seeing an angry mum who said 'how am I supposed to keep glasses on a 2 year old?' She had seen a consultant opthalmologist, with no back up to explain the reasons, or anyone to help with that practical problem. She was inclined to ignore the advice because it seemed stupid to her, and indeed she thought they were 'getting at her'. It was my job to explain and find a way around it. Of course no-one is going to suggest glasses for a 2 year old for no reason! But in her distress she couldn't see that.

Normally a community nurse talks through implications of any treatment and asks how someone will manage. Practice nurses are employed diretly by the GP and their training & experience may be variable. I don't know these days how they allocate tasks.

welbeck

there are issues of informed consent.
informed being the relevant word, to cover risks and benefits, options inc no treatment, side-effects, prognosis etc.

The patient may have been informed or given a leaflet about the reason for the bandaging and what to expect but perhaps got herself in rather a state of distress about it all and either didn't listen properly or didn't take it all in. She's in her late 80s.

We don't know.

there are issues of informed consent.
informed being the relevant word, to cover risks and benefits, options inc no treatment, side-effects, prognosis etc.

They didn’t “pile in on her”! Several medical professionals agreed on the same course of treatment - yes, it should have been explained better but given the huge amount of pressure on the NHS and District Nurses in particular, I highly doubt it was malicious. I hope you haven’t made her feel worse and that she’s somehow being targeted because of her age.

swollen ankles/legs is not about being overweight. It's to do with the heart not pumping efficiently to drain fluids from the body so it collects round the ankles.. high blood pressure problem.

also leg ulcers which my family suffer from... a sister had leg bound up for a long time and had to go to the 'ulcer clinic' in her local hospital to have it dressed.. one brother had to have leg amputated..

winterwhite

Thank you Whiff and Nannarose. Neighbour certainly knows that compression stockings once acquired are for life. She's been told they are to prevent ulcers.
I was horrified at the lack of advance explanation of the procedure to a woman of her age, not telling her what she would need so that she had to order special footwear online with expedited delivery, and describing as 'snug' bandaging that is in fact hugely uncomfortable.
The other appointments she has are for renewing these horror bandages. How she manages with the stockings when she gets them will be a different matter.
Seemed to me that no attempt had been made to calculate the risk of ulcers against her current condition, or if it had no one had discussed it with her. They had piled in on her aged 85+ with their bandaging leaving her in a helpless state - that's what I meant by picking on someone their own size - silly thing to say, sorry.
Am also surprised that have never heard of anyone else having this done.

I think I understand exactly what you mean by ‘wish medics would pick on someone their own size’. You feel that your neighbour has been left in a vulnerable state because the treatment for her problem may be too difficult for her to manage and she has not been treated as a whole person by the doctors/nurses who need to do more to help her adapt.

Thank you Nannarose
I didn't want the OP to be "got at" for not expressing exactly what she meant.

winterwhite you are a good neighbour. I'm glad things seem a bit better now.

RosesandLilac

I’m disgusted at the comment about the DN ‘picking on someone her own size’,.
Do you seriously believe that a highly trained professional would do compression bandaging just to make some’s life difficult?
Compression bandages are a proven method of treatment, aimed at preventing ulceration (which is a very difficult condition to treat, painful and very unpleasant for the patient). As a retired DN I certainly didn’t apply this treatment to bully any of my patients.

OP did apologise in a previous post. She was place in a position she shouldn't have been because she tried to help a neighbour who had not received careful explanation and organised treatment. She was feeling frustrated and annoyed.
We all (I'm a retired Health Visitor) understand that sometimes people say slightly daft things when they are upset. She (OP) really didn't know what to do and had no idea of how to find out. She came on here, got good advice and has thanked us.
BTW, I don't always read through all the posts, so know where you're coming from!

I wear flip flops as my feet are too swollen to go in my normal shoes, even in this weather

Many thanks for much kind advice here. Neighbour has since had the bandages removed and re-applied and some kind of extra wide shoes/slippers have come so she is coping.

She initially visited GP re swollen ankles, legs aren't swollen, she does not have varicose veins. This was first visit on the subject. GP prescribed compression knee-highs and made apptmnt with practice nurse. No discussion about options (more walking? more fluids?), if any, how serious her case was or anything else.
Practice nurse duly set about bandaging. No advance information at all about what would be needed, resulting in panic ordering of socks/shoes that will be too large and useless in 2 weeks time. Apparently these could (and should) have been prescribed in advance. Nurse's expression 'a bit sore to begin with' masked heavy discomfort. Unable to drive at 0 notice was mega inconvenience.

Neighbour is not needy mentally or physically. She is not doddery. She rang me because she was in a jam, and darned fed-up - felt they had piled in on her with no adequate explanation.

The NHS is as liable to make mistakes as anyone else. These may have been small matters but they were inexcusable.

I’m disgusted at the comment about the DN ‘picking on someone her own size’,.
Do you seriously believe that a highly trained professional would do compression bandaging just to make some’s life difficult?
Compression bandages are a proven method of treatment, aimed at preventing ulceration (which is a very difficult condition to treat, painful and very unpleasant for the patient). As a retired DN I certainly didn’t apply this treatment to bully any of my patients.

Undines...I am so sorry to disagree but you are very, very ,very wrong to suggest alternative therapy for this lady. It will give her false hope and waste her money.
As a GP ,I know the complex physiological problems that result in leg swelling in the elderly.
A magic wand may help but, I am afraid, expensive herbal products won't.
Nothing can repair the damage age has wrought!
This is NOT ageist. It is practical.
The pressure bandages are the only solution. Uncomfortable, yes , cumbersome, yes ....however, gross ankle swelling is an absolute torture....and ulcers are the devil's curse.
Unless you have experience of this....please don't make ridiculous suggestions.

Both dad and I have venous insufficiency, I wear stockings (knee length) but he has bandages as he is non compliant with the stockings and other measures due to discomfort and his dementia. It's really serious and the nurses warn me about what could happen, but I'm unsure what they expect me to do I don't live with him and he's too confused to take heed of anyone.