- All right, if you have swollen legs
or one leg is swollen and it's from lymphedema,
what you would like to do is eliminate that
so one of the biggest mistakes that I've seen
in my decades of working with patients
is what we're gonna explain to do,
you can fix it-
- Very easily with just a little bit of advice.
- That's right, so hold on
and we're gonna explain the whole system and get right to it
pretty quick. - Now.
(Brad laughs)
(upbeat music)
Okay, so let's clear up what lymphedema is.
Lymphedema is swelling in the legs,
it's very visual, you'll see it actually swell.
It's different than if your leg is swollen up
from say an ankle sprain or something traumatic like that.
It's very important to understand
that the arteries and the fluid
or the blood is actually still going down into your leg,
and it's returning back up into your system as it should,
the lymphedema or the fluid in there is not.
So we'll talk about what that fluid is, go ahead mate.
- So the fluid in lymphedema is called interstitial fluid,
that's a mouthful of say,
and it naturally surrounds your body tissue
and cells all throughout the body, not just in your legs.
And this is a normal process
and it's supposed to flow out and flow back in,
and it carries nutrients
and helps bring oxygen to healthy tissues.
- That's right, and the thing that really is important
to think about with lymphedema, this interstitial fluid,
it is superficial as it flows back, it's superficial,
in other words it's just under the skin as it comes back up,
and as it comes back up
it'll go through your lymph nodes located here,
your lymph nodes filter it
and goes back up into your system,
and the cycle starts all over again.
But the whole point is, it's superficial,
It's just under the skin,
And we'll tell you why in just a minute.
Okay, So if you do have the swelling
you do not wanna self-diagnose your problem,
go to a doctor, make sure it's diagnosed by doctor,
that it is a lymphedema problem,
you do not have other things going on.
A real common prescription that the doctors will order is
compression garments that will help maintain
the size of your legs so that the fluid does continue.
- So you can be done in a couple different ways,
so we have Tubigrip here,
which is a nice easy way to slip on.
Some doctors actually have you wrap your legs,
that's a whole nother animal- - Right.
- Or some type of compression socks.
Usually there's more compression in the toes
versus up at the calf muscle,
but a large problem we see with these is
they start to roll down creating a tourniquet.
Now this tourniquet, like Brad said earlier,
it's not gonna be so tight
that it cuts off your blood supply,
we don't have to worry about that.
But this interstitial fluid
is so close to the top layer of the skin
that it's gonna start pooling in there,
so if you actually take it off
you can notice like there's gonna be big indentations
where these are turning down like this
- Right, and, remember, the fluid will get in,
the interstitial fluid
will get into the ankle into the foot,
however, on its way back where it's just under the skin
it hits that tourniquet there,
and it get bumps against there
and it causes all of this excessive fluid.
So the compression garment will do its job and help,
but with tourniqueting actually negates the whole benefits
of the compression garment and can make it worse.
Okay, so what I'd like to do is give you
a real-life two photos of a leg that has lymphedema
and the tourniqueting effect.
So you'll see on one photo
that there is the ring, the tourniquet,
and then I pull that down
and, Mike, you cannot see it
but on a real leg where you have tourniqueting,
you will literally see a dent all the way around in a ring,
and you can clearly understand
that that tourniquet is limiting the flow of that fluid
back to the trunk or the lymph nodes.
- So what are some solutions to this?
Well, the first- - Wait, even before
we get to that. - Oh.
- The solutions are very simple and easy to do,
which is the really good news.
Sorry to interrupt, man. (everyone laughs)
- The first solution is for the patient, or me in this case,
is to simply check their wraps they have
or their Tubigrip,
and just make sure if it's wrapped up like that
to unfold it, if they are able to, not everyone can.
So what's the other option, Brad?
- Well, the other option is
if the person does not remember to pull 'em up
or they're unable to reach down and pull 'em up,
is hopefully there's a caregiver around
that will periodically,
one every hour, every two hours at the most,
will actually come over, check it,
and then make sure they're in the right position.
If that is not an option
and the person will forget or cannot do it,
there's not another person to help,
then we got a pretty easy solution for that.
- So this is called Coban,
it's not really a tape it's a type of wrap
that sticks upon itself only,
it does not stick on your skin, as you can see here.
And what you do, so if you have tubigrip and it's up,
is you simply wrap it around the top portion of it.
Now you don't wanna get super tight
and cause another tourniquet,
just nice and loose and gentle,
and see it sticks upon itself like this.
So wrap it around just a few times
and then you can simply tear it or cut it with the scissors.
And, oh, there we go.
- So, again, now this is one inch,
I would actually recommend the two inch wide,
it works better, it's a much...
For this situation it's better to use,
but it is the same material.
You can buy this online, you can get it on medical supply,
actually a little, if you wanna hint
on how to get it cheaper,
if you buy it from a veterinary supply,
and this is what I've heard from people
who got certified in this,
it's exactly the same product
but they use it on animals and they sell it cheaper,
so you can get it quite a bit cheaper.
So wherever you get it from,
make sure, you know, you'll just find out it works well,
this is actually made by 3M.
Again, does not sticks to your skin but it does to itself,
and you have a nice way to hold it up.
Easy to take off,
you simply throw it away and use some more.
All right, very good,
so simple little tricks to help that tourniqueting problem
and really help the lymphedema problem go away.
And I've done this with patients,
I'm working with this with my mother right now,
and, boy, it is really working well
if you stay consistent with it.
- If you have any questions or comments,
mark them down below.
Let us know if this works for you
or if you have any other suggestions,
'cause the audience feeds off of each other.
- That's right,
there are other tricks besides this, I am sure.
- Yes. - Yeah.
(Brad laughs)
(upbeat music)