Lymphedema pump experience

Ascender

Hi all.

Saw a couple oler posts on here regarding lymphedema garments for the head & neck, and I decided I'd share my experience with mine for those who are curious about how well they work.

A bit of history: In 2018, I was diagnosed & treated for a squamous tumor in my larynx.  Had some post-treatment lymphedema that I managed via massage & such, and that worked well-enough.  On Oct 1 of 2019, I had surgery on my neck to remove a couple lymph nodes that had some cooties in there as well.  After the surgery, the lymphedema came back with a vengeance, and I started seeing a physical therapist for further assistance. While massaging & such helped with it, it wasn't really improving much...so she recommended a unit called the Flextouch Plus by Tactile Medical. 

A rep from the company came in to one of my therapy sessions & ran me through a treatment. Essentially, there's a vest and a hood style thing that goes around your head, cheeks, and neck.  Both of them run on air, and it cycles to move the lymphatic fluid from the head & neck to your core.  The treatment takes 32 minutes, and can be done pretty-much anywhere.  In fact, I'm doing a treatment and drinking coffee as I type this.  I was amazed at the results after the first treatment.  The diameter of my neck was noticibly smaller.  I'd say it went down by at least 1/2".

I bought one, have been using it daily for about a month now, and my neck is back down to the size it was before all of this started.  To say that I'm happy about that is an understatement.

Anyway - that's my story in a nutshell.  Hope this helps somebody who has to deal with lymph isses.

 

~Steve

 

 

wbcgaruss

Steve Thanks for Sharing

I'm sure this will be a great help to people trying to get a tough case of lymphedema under control. Take Care-God Bless

ERomanO

Thanks for the info, Steve

From here on out it will be hard not to see someone refer to "C" without thinking it means "Cooties".  

Ascender

ERomanO said:

Thanks for the info, Steve

From here on out it will be hard not to see someone refer to "C" without thinking it means "Cooties".  

Heh

kgasmart

I had a Tactile rep come to my home and demonstrate it

My insurance would have paid for it, too. But in the end I opted not to - it was just so bulky, and after the demonstration, while it looked like the swelling had gone down some, it wasn't a huge difference.

At that point I'd been going for manual lymph drainage/decongestive therapy 2-3 times a week for a few weeks... after my insurance wouldn't pay for any more treatments I did the massages myself at home and wore the Jobst compression garment on my head/neck every night. That kept it under control but ultimately contributed to my ongoing neck discomfort/pain.

About 3-4 months ago I stopped wearing the Jobst and stopped doing the self-massage... and I don't have a lymphedema problem anymore, the fluid appears to have found other ways to drain. Still have a fairly sizeable hard lump on the right side under my chin which had formed by the time I started the decongestive therapy, the therapists told me it was fibrosis and it'll probably always be there. Don't know if the pump would have been any help with that.