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| | The following excerpts were taken from
testimonial letters written to us by patients and therapists around the country
Lymphedema and Me
Pamela Gordon, RN, BSN
Lymphedema patient for 27 years.
Lymphedema occurs when the lymphatic system does not work properly. This creates
a condition of persistent swelling in an arm, leg or other body part.
There are many reasons why the lymphatic system fails. There are two types of
lymphedema, primary (present at birth) and secondary (acquired). In primary
lymphedema, there are simply not enough lymphatics or they do not pump properly.
We see symptoms at either birth, during puberty, or later in life (30-40 years).
Secondary lymphedema occurs when there is a blockage or cutting of the lymphatic
vessels, usually caused by infection, surgery, radiation, injury or
complications of poor blood flow.
I am a 36 year old mother of two who has a B.S. degree in Nursing. I have had
primary lymphedema of my right leg since the age of 9 years. Since that time, I
have been very active in my care to stop the progression of the condition and
maintain my quality of life. For a while, I was able to do so with a lymph pump
machine, elevating the end of my bed, and using compression garments.
After graduating from college and working on my feet as a nurse, I began running
into more problems of swelling, pain, and pressure not relieved by the above
mentioned treatments. I knew I needed more treatment options or I would not be
able to continue as a nurse.
I flew to San Francisco to take a bandaging class from the National Lymphedema
Network. Some may call it chance, but I "happened" to sit next to a
special lady, Sandra Shaw, President of CircAidÒ
Medical Products. It was then that I learned of CircAid products. Sandra and her
company happened to be located in San Diego, where I lived. I started wearing
the CircAid legging seven years ago - I love it and it gave me back my quality
of life. I still wear my CircAid legging everyday. I also want to say that
Sandra Shaw and CircAid Medical are not just a "business" - they have
a heart, soul, and passion to help lymphedema patients live better lives. The
CircAid garment helps reduce my leg, keeps my leg from swelling after being on
it all day, and therefore there is less pain.
As we know lymphedema creates increased pressure and neither our skin nor the
surrounding tissue offers sufficient resistance against this pressure - thus
swelling occurs. That is why all lymphedema patients should wear elastic
compression garments, but for me those became ineffective against the pressure.
The CircAid legging is not elastic like regular compression garments, so when
walking in your CircAid garment (or using your arm) your muscles are
"pumping" (working) against the non-elastic material to push out the
extra fluid. With bandaging, when there is a reduction in fluid the bandages
become loose and you have to unwrap and then re-wrap, while with the CircAid
garment, you just re-VelcroÒ which takes less than a
minute.
The CircAid legging is one piece of the whole treatment that no lymphedema
patient should be without. Once you wear one, you will never go back.
The other lymphedema treatments I use along with my CircAid legging include:
1. MLD (Manual Lymph Drainage), a special form of massage used to remove excess
fluid and stimulate lymph flow.
2. Bandaging, which involves using special bandages to reduce swelling. This is
very time consuming and I only use bandages as a tune-up. The CircAid legging
takes the place of daily bandaging and is great for people on the go.
3. I do daily skin care to prevent infections and improve skin condition.
4. I exercise to promote lymph flow.
5. I wear elastic compression garments daily under my CircAid legging.
6. I take vitamins and Horse Chestnut (shown to increase circulation by making
vessel walls stronger).
7. I still keep the foot of my bed elevated but no longer use a lymph pump
machine.
It is so important to care for your lymphedema because once it starts it gets
progressively worse. If patients are proactive they can slow down the
progression as well as decrease the likelihood of infections and fibrous tissue
(scarring) developing.
Lymphedema is a complex condition in which there is no one treatment or simple
solution. It can be mentally and physically exhausting. The good news is there
are currently several treatment options that if used together can stop or delay
the progressive nature of lymphedema.
The best advice I can give patients suffering with lymphedema is to be proactive
and use all the effective tools available to us to stop the progression of our
lymphedema and to maintain our quality of life.
Pamela Gordon, RN, BSN
Lymphedema patient for 27
More stories from our patients:
"When you have to wear a compression sleeve
every night for the rest of your life, it's good to have one that you are happy
with" Click here for the complete
text
-Jacqueline B. Snow San Diego, CA
"Thank
You CircAid for allowing me to maintain quality in my life.
Joseph.
Chicago, IL Click
here for the complete text
"The
easy method of application and removal helps me to control the lymphedema and
not let it control me."
-Lisa. Keauhou, HI Click
here for the complete text
"I’ve been wearing my CircAid on my left calf now for a year and a
half. What a difference it has made in my life! Thank you."
-Rose. Valley Center, CA
"The CircAid Legging has helped my calf tremendously. I don’t know
what I would do without it! Thanks again!"
-Terry. Margate, NJ
"However,
because of the great vision of CircAid, your company is making life easier for
me and many, many more people who wear your garments on a daily basis."
-Mark. Inglewood, CA Click here for
the complete text
"The medical
results are most satisfying, and I am very thankful that I was given this
product to try. I give it an unqualified A+!"
-James. Sun City West, AZ Click
here for the complete text
"I hadn't seen my legs for so many
years, and was really amazed and happy to see them look almost normal... I really appreciate your help
and concern."
-Thelma. Petaluma, CA. Click here for the
complete text
"The patient and her husband report 'her leg has not been this skinny for
over 5 years'...The patient's physicians have all expressed amazement at the
edema reduction and control with the use of CircAid...This product has filled
the void between the compression wraps and the tight, uncomfortable graded
(20-40mmHg) support hose. Through my 23 years of providing nursing care and
patient support I have not found an 'easier to use' product with such dramatic
effectiveness. Even a patient with limited upper extremity strength, such as an
arthritic patient, could use this product to provide edema control."
-Debra, ET/NP-C. Orlando, FL. Taken from a recent case study. Click
here for the complete text.
"What a relief to have the choice of using a
CircAid®
Measure-Up™ Arm-Sleeve rather than spending half an hour or so
each night wrapping my lymphedema arm! Thank you for creating this
product."
— Mary. Silver Spring, MD
"Within the first 24 hours my leg was so much better...this is the most
significant change I have ever seen in such a short time...it is mostly due to
the Ready-Fit™ 2000."
— Joseph. San Diego, CA
"The CircPlus™ II Ankle-Foot Wrap...lets me wear
normal shoes and lead a normal life!"
— Susan. Baltimore, MD
"Overall, we are very happy with your line of semi-rigid non-elastic
compression garments and are consistently pleased with the exceptional
service we receive in all our dealings with CircAid."
— Rebecca, Certified Lymphedema Therapist. Tampa, Florida
"I used my CIRCAID [legging] and pressure garment for the cycle trip and
my leg was no larger. My confidence however
grew enormously!"
— Eleanor. Braintree, Essex
"Thank you for giving me my life back.
Thank you for taking away the pain and embarrassment I used to fight each day I
walked into the my classroom."
— A.C. Charlton. Salem, Virginia "I
am a much happier person than if I had to bandage my arm every night. I am very
active...and when I go to bed at night I am much more likely to put the CircAid
on - which takes very little time."
— J. Heiles. Princeton, New Jersey "My
CircAid has given me my freedom from depending on other people to care for my
leg."
— M. Christensen. Mountain Rest, South Carolina "My
legs are down to normal size again and staying that way through the use of the
compression pump and your product...[CircAid] has alleviated so much of my pain
and discomfort. THANKS!"
L. N. Gambino. Temecula, California
"Thanks Thanks thanks..............thanks
thanks thanks thanks......."
—Mary Alice. Bartow, FL.
"The Ready-fit 2000 has been so
effective in just four days of use, that my doctor is
weaning me from the strong diuretics I've been taking."
—Thomas. Philadelphia, PA. Click here for the complete text
Here are some of the
things doctors and scientists have been saying about CircAid products:"A
significant advance...which may be the most important new change in therapy for
venous and lymphatic disease in the last quarter century."
-John J. Bergan, M.D., Professor of Surgery, University of California, San
Diego; Clinical Professor of Surgery, Uniformed Services University of the
Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland; Professor of Surgery Emeritus, Northwestern
University, Chicago, Illinois.
"I write to report of my experience with the CircAid Legging in
treatment of intractable venous and lymphatic disease. During my 34 years of
practice as a vascular surgeon I treated multiple venous ulcers. The CircAid
legging proved highly effective in treating stasis ulcers that were
unsuited to, and failed to respond to, every other method of therapy including
surgery, injections, local medications and elastic support. The device is more
effective and easier to apply than the Unna boot. It is easier to do and more
effective than the elastic stocking especially for patients with weak and
arthritic hands. The comfortable and non-elastic support provides pulses of
pressure in subcutaneous tissue when the patient walks. It maintains the reduced
leg size which patients achieve during a night of elevation. It is not stretched
to a larger size during the day as edema accumulates as is true of elastic
stockings. The device is durable. Patients have worn one garment daily for a
year or more.
I find the CircAid legging an effective and durable device, which promotes good
patient compliance. I highly recommend its availability because it is more
effective than any other device that I know of in the prevention of disability
and in the effective healing of the most difficult of venous ulcers."
-John U. Bascom, M.D., RC. Physician and Surgeon – Eugene, OR
"Most of my practice concerns wound healing problems, and as you might
imagine, dermatitis and stasis ulcers, secondary to chronic edema of the lower
legs and feet, makes up a large part of my patient clientele. That, of course,
is where your legging comes in. I initially use Unna boots to bring these
situations under control, but once I have the ulcers and dermatitis healed-up
and the skin begins to resume a normal appearance, I can no longer inflict the
constant night-and-day wearing of Unna boots upon these little old people. They
are ever so grateful when I am able to switch them into CircAid leggings applied
on top of support hose, which means they have an easy-on/easy-off appliance that
can be removed at night for bathing and sleeping and reapplied in the
morning"
-John F. Latenser, M.D. General Surgery – Omaha, NE
"…I believe that CircAid’s are essentially the only treatment for
venous stasis ulcers that do work. It is the most cost-effective treatment for
venous stasis ulcers there is. It teaches a lifestyle to prevent recurrence…
Certainly weekly Unna boots are much more expensive and certainly less
effective, time consuming and more of a burden on the healthcare industry. The
results of CircAid is far superior in all ways than other treatments and since
the advent of CircAid I have essentially stopped using skin grafts to treat
venous stasis ulcers and use CircAid by themselves. In considering the fact that
not utilizing skin grafts and avoiding hospitalizing these high-risk patients
for a week at a time by itself has probably paid for all the CircAids that I
have ever used in the savings that one patient would have. There is no question
in my mind CircAid should be utilized almost universally. Certainly some of the
cases that I have sent you in the past definitely outline this..."
-Donald R. Lamb, M.D. Lamb Plastic Surgery Center – Fargo, ND
"It is a pleasure to affirm the importance and uniqueness of CircAid.
We have used it with many patients and have found it to be much more successful
and efficient than either the Unna boot or elastic stockings."
-Sanford H. Vernick, MD, Ph.D.– Greenville, NC
"I have used the CircAid products in a small select
group of patients with post phlebitic syndrome and chronically recalcicant
venous ulcers. Your products are remarkable in that they are readily tolerated
by our elderly patients; most of whom cannot put on the high pressure graduated
compression elastic stockings. At the Los
Angeles County USC Medical Center, we have a relatively large population of
patients who return weekly for Unna boot replacement. The personnel costs and
related clinic costs expended in caring for these patients runs into the range
of $20-30,000 annually. If we were able to convert most of these patients to a
CircAid legging, we could probably cut the cost in half. There
is no question in my mind that there is a tremendous cost advantage to the use
of the CircAid leggings when compared to the Unna boot, without even considering
the better compliance and improved rate of ulcer healing."
-Albert E. Yellin M.D. - CA
"We have been very pleased with the results of CircAid leggings for
patients with chronic swelling of their lower limbs. We see a number of such
patients in our Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation area who are mostly elderly
and have difficulty in applying the elastic stockings. We have frequently
ordered CircAid leggings for those persons who are eligible under the VA system.
We have found the legging very satisfactory in most instances because patients
can apply the legging themselves and the appliance is very easy to measure and
apply. CircAids are adjustable, so the patient does not rely on a single mode of
compression, as in elastic stockings. In many instances, elastic stockings are
most difficult for patients to apply and do not really control the swelling as
well as the CircAid leggings. In view of the good control of edema that these
leggings supply, I would estimate that we save the many patients considerable
misery from break down of their skin. Once that occurs, the venous ulcer may
require multiple visits to our clinic for use of various healing agents
including application of Unna boots. For the savings in cost, and the savings in
misery caused by ulcers, we feel that these leggings are well worth the price
that is charged.
We will continue to supply these in the future to patients in need. As noted
above, we prefer CircAid leggings to the stockings or the Unna boots under
circumstances where the chronic swelling below the knee is hard to control in
any other way. We hope that you will continue to manufacture these important
aids for our Veteran Administration patients. They are particularly appreciated
by elderly veterans who have difficulty applying stockings by themselves."
-J.B. Redford, M.D. - Kansas City, KS
"This device has
successfully healed venous leg ulcers on patients of mine for whom no other
therapy has worked."
— Mitchel P. Goldman, M.D., Dermatology Associates of San Diego County, Inc "Our
study suggests that inelastic leggings counteract orthostatic intolerance in
patients with venous insufficiency without the detrimental compression of leg
tissues in supine posture that is associated with elastic stockings."
— Alan R. Hargens, Ph.D., Professor of Orthopedics, University of California, San Diego, California;
Senior Research Physiologist Gravitational Research Branch NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field,
California
"Within 12 months of wearing the CircAid 67% had healed completely...None of the ulcers have recurred up to 24 months later with continuous use of the garment...Another wonderful benefit of CircAid is the ability of the patient to maintain comfort by loosening one band without having to remove the entire garment."
— Richard K. Spence, M.D., Director of Surgical Education, Birmingham Baptist
Health Systems, Inc., Birmingham, Alabama
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