September 26, 2009

PT has amazing idea

They physical therapist who specializes in manual lymphatic drainage measured my left arm yesterday and it is two centimeters (about one inch) larger in circumference than my right arm. That's a statistically significant amount and so I will have treatment, nine sessions authorized by the HMO so far

After giving me the gentle lymphatic massage, the PT came up with a great idea to help my insomnia caused by the bandaging: don't wrap at night. In her experience, several patients who have not wrapped at night did not see a change for the worse the next day. So last night I tried it. Took off the sleeve and glove and hand-washed them as usual, then just went to bed.

Of course I didn't take any ativan, and after taking it for twenty nights I had some rebound insomnia. (A nap this afternoon should fix any sleep deprivation.) But my arm seems fine this morning and I have hopes that this will work for me. As soon as I come off the ativan, sleeping without the bandaging will certainly improve the quality of my sleep!

1 comment:

  1. I'm so glad to hear this. I've not been troubled by lymphedema, knock wood, but it sounds like such a nuisance.

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