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I am a T-12 incomplete. When sitting in my wheel chair without shoes and socks on, my feet turn to a deep purple color. As a result, I have worn ted-hose ever since my injury, but I would like to wear shorts and sandals. Any suggestions? Anyone else have this problem?
Thanks, Jim
My feet are purple,swollen, painful,numb, spasmodic
and smelly.
Thanks Mikey,
Mine too.
Hang in there.
God Bless you,
Jim
Sorry, no good news. Because of your spinal injury and its effects on your venous circulation, support stockings are really necessary. Those purple feet can cause the formation of blood clots and result in a pulmonary emboli or maybe even a stroke. You need to keep wearing those hose.
You can get these hose in a variety of colors and you can wear them with shorts.
Thanks! I hadn't thought of that! I think I will look for some tan ted-hose to go with my tan shorts! Thanks and God Bless!
janders, I have provided free advice to multiple people on this chat site, you are the first to say thank you. I don't provide advice for the thanks, but because I like to help. But, it does feel good to hear "thank you" once in a while.
You are in a tough situation and my heart goes out to you.
In May of 1995, I woke up in a hospital and the after realizing how much I hurt, I saw Christopher Reeves on the news. Superman, my hero, had just fallen from a horse and had a neck injury. I immediately tried to move my toes. They moved-Praise God.
It was almost two years before I could walk and I spent close to three years on narcotics and four years with pain as a big brother who was always present.
That was almost 14 years ago and truthfully, I only vaguely remember it. I pray janders that some day your handicap is only a vague memory and you have a chance to return to a better life.
One memory I do have, is how angry I was at life, at God, at everything. Here I was a physician trying so hard to help others and this accident happened to me. How unfair.
Today, I feel I am a much better physician because of what happened to me. It made me a better person. It made me more empathetic to my patients and my friends. My accident made me learn to enjoy every moment of my life and to appreciate what I have (family, friends, love, health...).
I specialize in wound care and I love what I do. I am seeing amazing new products develop all the time. The new stem cell research is going to be far reaching. Right now they are doing clinical trials to grow new arteries and heal wounds faster. I expect to be using this technology in my office in the next 18 months. I am so excited, I feel like a child on Christmas Eve. I have not followed the nerve research, but I suspect a lot is going on in that field as well. Let it give you some hope.
I am not an alcoholic, but I enjoy the AA philosphy of "one day at a time". Your life, all our lives can be overwelming at times. Take your life one day at a time, and sometimes, one minute at a time.
I am sorry for your handicap/injury, but do what you can to use this set back to make you a better person. I promise you will find your pain less, when you are helping someone else.
Hey Doc,
Thanks so much for your kind words and encouragement. It means more to me than you will ever know. Your philosophy and mine are identical. I am indeed a better person because of what I have gone through in my life.
And I remain expectant and hopeful and know that one day I will be with my creator . . . so until then, my wheel chair is my new pulpit. Not that I am a preacher, quite the contrary . . . . but when people ask me "how in the heck can you be so positive all the time?" Questions like that give me an opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ. My sense is I've save more souls since my injury that before it.
God love you man, and keep up the great work. Stay in touch.
Love,
Jim
I am supposed to be wearing ted-hose but I would never do it because I am always wearing shorts and didn't want to look like I was wearing baseball socks all the way up to my thigh lol, until the other day I overheard my dad tell my mom he needed another set of teds I was like WHAT! he had been wearing them with shorts for the past three weeks and nobody even noticed because they are tan and matched his skin color he has to wear them because he has a rare blood clotting disorder and is always getting blood clots,
Now that I know I can get a pair that would match my skin color I just might give it a try. ;)
Let me know how it goes,
Nina
Hi Nina!
I called the local pharmacy here in Cincinnati and they have tan ted-hose! I'll let you know how they work once I get a chance to go to pharmacy!
Jim
I got Matthew the Tan knee high one's and they work so much better than the thigh high one's he was wearing and they blend with his skin tone and don't stand out so much. His ankles and feet no longer swell or turn colors and his would get dark purple when he didn't have his hose on even briefly. But boy these suckers are hard to put on.. much harder than the hospital one's
Thanks everybody! I'm going to get mine today! I'll let you know what I think.
FYI-The stockings that are provided in hospitals are not usually support stockings, they are anti-embolic and do not provide graduated support as support stockings do. The difference is that the support stockings are made for people who are out of bed.
Another thing, I recommend thigh high stockings over knee high. The main reason is because many brands of knee high support stockings will roll down and that has a tourniquet effect on the lower leg. It can actually make venous stasis, edema and varicose veins worse.
Depending on the amount of venous pooling (purple feet) and lower limb edema you have, there are different amounts of support stockings pressures available. I will typiclly prescribe 30-40 mmhg. But, you can get support socks and stockings at much lower pressure gradients.
I have a question about the stockings, after your out of the hospital and out of bed do you switch from anti embolic stockings to support stockings do they protect you from clots too? I have asked all the doctors and no one can give me any answers on how long you have to wear them or what kind you need to wear and what is better. The one's he has now that work well and don't roll down are knee high with open toes they remind me of dance socks.. they seem to have great support and he doesn't get round ankles now. He got bad one's in those white jobs the hospital gave us.
Doc GlobalWoundCare is correct.
For me, I too wear the high socks. I only wear them when I am out of bed. I had two strokes and my docs want me to wear them 100% of the time when I am up and about to avoid clots. My feet have not swollen since I started wearing them. And when I go to bed at night (with the socks off) my feet turn a nice warm pink, like the good ole days.
I don't have ones with holes in the toes like I came home from the hospital with. Those generally speaking are for in the hospital so a doc can check your toes if they want too.
My pharmacy only has one tension level and they seem to work great.
Good luck!
Angelbird67, Support stockings and anti-embolic stockings both work to prevent blood clots. The support stockings have a graduated compression that aids venous return when you are sitting, standing or walking. The support stocking gradient is to help fluid from the base of the toes work its way up. When you are bedfast, the anti-embolic stockings are all you need. I usually recommend to my patients that they should not wear their support stockings to bed unless they feel real tight. If the stockings feel tight, your legs are swollen and wearing the stockings at night may help push the fluid out better. As far as I know, the toe being open, that is a comfort feature. Some like their toes covered up, some don't.
I hope that helps some.
One more comment about support stockings. If you put baby powder or corn starch on the toes, the stockings go on much easier. If you use lotion, lots of luck.
I was wearing Ted hose regularly since becoming paralyzed. My legs and feet were always badly
swollen. Due to a pressure sore on my foot, I stopped wearing them about a month ago. My feet and legs are still swollen BUT NOT NEARLY AS BAD. Also, I don't think I have had as much pain.
I don't mean to confuse the issue, but this has been my experience.
Mikey, Diabetic or pressure wounds on a lower limb are frequently mixed etiology. This means that multiple factors effect the cause and the healing of the wound. Diabetic and pressure wounds are frequently similar in that both have reduce blood flow that effects wound healing. At the same time, if the wound is effected by lower limb edema, the wound may be stretched or torn EVERY DAY. So, I have a dilemma. I need to keep pressure away from the wound, but I need to control the edema-what do I do?
I have developed a dressing that reduces the pressure directly over the wound that can be placed under a compressive dressing or a support stocking.
The dressing is called a Vassar Dressing. I named it after the patient that made me develop it. . The dressing is easy to make and easy to apply. If anyone is interested, let me know and I will describe how to make one. Also, it cost the same as about five 4x4's, because that is what it is made with.
Mikey, another point. When I explain edema to my older patients, I use balloons as an example. The first time you blow up a balloon, it is hard to blow up. Let the air out and the next time it blows up easier. Skin is like that, it stretches, but as we get older (or have nerve damage) it does not unstretch as it does when we are kids. If you contol edema for a long period (how long depends on a lot of variables), the skin elastic may tighten up some and support stockings may not become as necessary to control the edema. The does not necessarily mean you should stop wearing them-sorry. You (if you are wheel chair bound) will still have a tendency to develop blood clots. Mikey I hope that explains what you have experienced.
Wow what a bunch of great information. We had to go with the open foot socks as we couldnt' find any to fit Matt due to his size 15 feet. The closed toes always cruched his toes and I was worried that might cause pressure sores. The lady at our local medical supply when I gave her his measurements insisted we get the open toe to keep his tootsies safe. We do take them off at night. I have a quick question does anyone have issues during the day with pressure marks at the top of the foot ankle level. I keep pulling his socks up to try to avoid flods there but where his foot bends at the ankle he gets marks that take time to go away and I worry eventually he will get a sore there. Any suggestions?
I don't have purple feet by my legs and feet turn red as soon as I get up into my wheelchair. Does this happen also to any of you and what can be done to help this? Thanks, DeAnna
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