Beth Bernhard
Rand Pharmacy

Venous Disease....Symptoms, prevention and treatment will be discussed in this issue.

Some symptoms of venous disease:

A varicose vein, some discoloration or swelling or perhaps tired, heavy feeling in your leg, or minor pain, numbness or cramping. This can all add up to VENOUS DISEASE. Venous disease means you have insufficient blood flow from the leg back to your heart.Blood pools or congest in your leg. Undiagnosed or left untreated, the results can range from severe varicose veins and discoloration to sores, ulcers and potentially life threatening blood clots.

Some reasons of venous disease:

Pregnancy... when excess blood in your body stretches leg veins far beyond their normal capacity.
Work conditions....if you are in a job that requires you stand alot for a period of time.
Travel...whether vacation or work related. Cramped conditions and prolonged inactivity during travel can cause dvt.

Some treatments:

Medication to relieve pain, reduce inflammation or dissolve and prevent blood clots.
Sugical procedure in which diseased vein is partially or completely removed.
Wearing compression stockings daily to prevent further progression of existing venous disease.

Some information about compression stockings and how they can help in prevention and management of venous disease. They come in many sizes and compression.

12-16mmHg compression is a graduated therapeutic light support for tired, aching legs.

16-20mmHg :LIGHT COMPRESSION
compression is for mild venous disorders such as:
heaviness and fatigue in legs
mild varicosities without significant disposition of edema
post sclerotherapy
during pregnancy

20-30mmHg: MEDIUM COMPRESSION
relief of aching heaviness and fatique
post surgical stripping
prophylaxis thrombosis
pregnant patients with previous phlebitis
control of edema and effective scar formation after burns
statis dermatitis due to chronic venous insufficiency (CVI)
treatment of complications of varicose veins and post phlebitic
sydrome with chronic venous insufficiency
travel stocking are usually at this compression

30-40mmHg: STRONG COMPRESSION
for severe degree of the above
lymphedema
severe chronic venous insufficiency as with post phlebitic syndrome
chronic venous problems after surgery
venous ulcers

40-50mmHg: VERY STRONG COMPRESSION
primary and secondary lymphedema
primary and secondary elephantiasis

TED STOCKINGS: These are graduated compression stocking to promote increase blood flow velocity in the RECUMBENT PATIENT to reduce the incident of thrombosis. These are 18 mmHg and are to be worn by the patient who is laying down not to be confused with compression stocking for the ambulatory person......

Compression stockings are sold in most surgical stores. To determine your size, it is best to measure in the am when you first get up. The measurement are around the ankle above the ankle bone, the fullest part of the calf and from the break at the knee to the floor. Measuring from the knee to the floor will tell you if you need a petite size, which is 15" or less, or a regular. Also available is a plus size and up to 3xlarge. The plus size is for the patient with a small ankle and much larger calf size. It is important to have the correct measurement, as buying the stockings to big defeats the reason for wearing them. For an arm garment, measure the wrist, mid arm and upper arm. Many patients wear them for lymphedema of the arm.
There are donners you can purchase to help put them on, as well as plastic gloves to help pull them up.

For additional information about compression products or lymphedema pumps, contact Celeste Chapoutot at 732-245-0143. You can set up an appointment to be personally measured for the above products.