Compression Garment HURTS! On the sides...Normal?

My doctor gave me a binder to wear - never mentioned any compression garments. I had a compression garment at home, so I tried it after a couple of weeks. Very uncomfortable. I never wore it again. I just wore the binder (actually two) for several weeks (two months?****il I was comfortable without it. The great thing about the binders is that you can adjust them in different ways depending on how you feel. For example, I would make them looser when I was about to go to sleep, but really tighten them up if I was going to be moving about. I could also make it tighter on top and looser on the bottom. You really don't have to be in such discomfort and pain from your garment. Just use the binder. It works great in providing the support you need and reducing swelling.

WOW Kat...sorry to hear you are in such pain. That sucks! I had the same type garment and it was VERY comfortable. Maybe you need one size bigger. It's NOT suppose to cut off the circulation and make you want to cry in agonizing pain. THAT just doesnt sound right! I know all doctors are different but man.... Another thing..I always find it interesting that these surgeons have people looking for and buying their own compression garments...amazes me! In my opinion, that garment should be ON YOU when you wake up after the surgery! MINE WAS and it sounds scary to me all that alot of you have gone through! Hope you get some relief soon Kat! ENJOY YOUR FIRST SHOWER!! Hugs, Julie

I think I was just too swollen for that garment, so i'm in the binder now. I enjoyed that shower I did not want to get out. LOL Kat

Kat, may I make a suggestion?? I layer....I start with a pair of stretchy briefs over which I wear a body shaper Onsie by Flexee. If it is the day time and I'm at work the next layer is a waist cincher that has hook and eyes up the middle. If I'm at home it's the compression garmet from the hospital that wraps around. At night I like to be nice and tight so I add a second compression garmet that I got from the hospital and put it on the opposite way. Last night I was cinched so tight that at 4:30 AM I took off a layer. During the day I start to swell and I take off a layer. This still leaves that "Onsie" which gives control. I've found this works best for me. At night I must admit to looking like the monster from the Blue Lagoon I'm wrapped so tightly in several layers, but by morning I'm down 2 sizes!! Just a suggestion, but yes, sometimes I DOES hurt along the sides if it is too tight. Trisha

LOL trisha, I would be exausted just getting all that on. LOL On the waist cincher, is it the kind at Walmart that has the hooks at the crotch too? I have a few of those from my "panni" days that I used to help hold me in. How far out are you now, like three or four weeks? Is the swelling still bad, or does it improve? My doc said it can last two or three months.....Ugh. Right now I'm puffy and miserable. Right now I'm wearing biker shorts (and undies, I started my period..FUN!) and then a tank and then my abdominal binder.....as tightly as I can stand it. I may t ry the girdle thingie under it too later...I have a panty girdle that might also give me some support under there to help push the swelling out.........I hope. Kat

Kat the Flexee "onesy" is lightweight, but gives good support...THAT I love. The waist cincher looks like an old fashioned corset that is JUST for the waist area in that it looks kind of like what some guys wear for support that are doing lifting of heavy objects. I has "stays" in it and a bunch of hook and eyes up the front that you must stretch to close. Yes, sometimes when swelling is worse in the mons area I use a panty girdle as well. Right now it is 4:41 AM and I can't sleep, but I also can't sit down I'm so tightly bound, but by doing so night before last I actually had a wonderful day yesterday with very little swelling. I feel like how the Chinese women whose feet were bound must have felt. Trisha

There is a quote I've always loved by Maxine Kingston...Perhaps women were once so dangerous, they HAD to have their feet bound. I have written numerous poems/papers on the whole women, feet binding, empowerment issue. But, back to our LBLs and compression...so a onsie like is it a body suit type thing? I honestly don't KNOW what I look like UNswelled. I don't know when I'll even recognize that I had a day with little swelling. LOL I should get a measurement tape out today and take some measurements for that purpose. I'll try the layering with this binder......one of my drain sites is right on the side and I have a feeling that the extreme pain was from that particular site.....I felt more "supported" in the long line girdle garment but it just hurt me too bad. I may try it later today. I'm sorry you cannot sleep. I seem to wake up a lot and can't fall back asleep. I'm trying to get back into a more NORMAL rhythm...I need to start thinkin about going back to work...I'd thought half days all this next week...but I'm not sure I could do it. I may shoot for wednesday or Thursday, half days. We'll see. My husband wants me to take the whole week off. I might..I just don't want to go stir crazy next week. He will be back at work and I will be bored outof my MIND here at home. Hope you get some rest lady Kat