I just got top surgery on Monday, they took out my drains yesterday and since they put the elastic bandage back on I've been in more pain than before they took the drains out. I've been taking tylenol instead of the narcotics they gave me so I cant really tell if it's only more painful because I've been off the drugs longer. How can I tell if it's too tight?
Last year I started to use elastic bandages to tie up tomato plants, keep my grapevines and kiwis in place and generally keep things from getting unruly in the garden.
I find that there are some great advantages to these bandages:
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they are soft and won't cut into the flesh of the plant
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they have elasticity, so the there is some give in strong winds
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they are easily untied at the end of the season and can be washed and re-used
Potential con is that they can hold water, but I haven't found that to be an issue (yet)
I had my physiotherapist save the bandages from her patients (the bandages never touch an actual wound, and can be washed anyway) so I have a large - and free! - supply.
I'm a middle-aged man, with no prior history of BP meds. I occasionally measure my BP at home, the systolic has usually been in the 130's.
A few months ago, I broke my ankle in an accident. In the hospital that night my systolic BP was 190 (I don't remember the diastolic number). The ortho doc said, wow did you know you have high blood pressure? I said it must be the accident, but he said, no no you have high blood pressure but just didn't know it.
They put me on BP meds (carvedilol), and the next few days in the hospital, before and after surgery, my systolic was down around 160. When I got home, still taking the BP med (no other medications), my BP was still 160's. At least my home meter agreed with the hospital's. I got to thinking the high BP was caused by the splint on my leg, which was wrapped knee-to-toes in a 10-foot long elastic bandage. I could feel that tightness day and night, and guessed that might be raising my BP. I did some googling, and found out that compression bandages on the lower limbs are used to raise BP in hypotensive individuals.
Sure enough, my BP dropped after the splint was replaced with a plaster cast a month later. Not right away, but in a matter of days. It continued dropping, getting down to 108 when I was back on my feet and moving again. At that point I stopped taking the carvedilol, and now my systolic is around 130.
So I'm blaming the whole BP problem on the elastic bandage, but I'm surprised none of the docs or nurses at the hospital mentioned that possibility. Especially the ortho doc, who sees a lot of splinted legs.
I should mention that my legs may not have normal vasculature - I'm a very skinny guy, and have been a distance runner and bicyclist since my teens.
Also, is there a good US source for foam blocks?
