Forum Discussion

Kyra's avatar
Kyra
New member
11 hours ago

Do you wear a sleeve or glove or both?

I have lymphoedema in my arm and hand from breast cancer surgery. I am frustrated in managing it. I have tried a sleeve... my hand and fingers swelled up. I tried a glove with a sleeve and my hand puffed up. I have tried a sleeve with gauntlet (all one piece) and my fingers and hand swelled up.

I am curious how many women are having hand swelling with their lymphodema? Everything in research seems to imply that most women just need a sleeve and it magically doesn't trap the fluid in their hand. I am just wondering if the images of women wearing cute sleeves to manage their lymphodema is not realistic of the real world.

My question to you all is... when you lymphdema swells which parts of your arm, hand and fingers swell?

And what do you wear... just a sleeve, a sleeve and a glove, a sleeve and a gauntlet or something all in one.

gauntlet
glove
lymphoedema
sleeve

1 Reply

  • Afraser's avatar
    Afraser
    Member
    10 hours ago

    My lymphoedema is mainly in my arm - my hand only swells if I leave my glove off for too long. But I do! I started doing so during the early days of COVID when everyone was convinced touching anything was a problem. A fabric glove, which made washing your hands every five minutes more time consuming too, didn't seem a good idea. I found that my hand did swell a bit, but was relatively easy to massage back to some sort of 'normal'. 

    I've tried an all in one - it was badly fitted by a local supplier (my sleeve and glove are German and very good) which didn't help. It made my hand swell badly and was a cow to get on and off. So for me, it's a sleeve most of the time, the glove sometimes, and massage in between. I have had the problem for over a decade, and it is pretty stable, which helps managing it. Good luck with yours.