Changing Reasons III

by TightsVirus

This is the final part of the personal story by TightsVirus. Many thanks for your contribution!

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In the first and second part of my story I told about changing reasons for wearing tights. Here is the last part of my story where I want to tell about my experience from health and practical aspects. During the last year and half, I have discussed my health issue with several health-care professionals from nurses to pharmacists to several doctors, and also found a lot on the internet. So I think as a well-informed patient I can help others who suffer from the same problems.

As I have written before, from age of 33 or 35, I was waking up in the middle of night from strong pain in the legs, or more exactly, cramps in the calf muscles. And it became worse every spring and summer. Since I started wearing support hosiery, I have almost never had them, so I can attest that support hosiery has helped to get rid of the pain. However there have been moments when I have felt that I had some side effects from wearing compression too long or improperly. Therefore I continue to follow any available information to be sure that I do not harm my health, and need to start from the cause.

As I heard and read on the web, "the precise cause of nocturnal leg cramps is unclear. Potential contributing factors are believed to include dehydration, low levels of certain minerals (magnesium, potassium, calcium, and sodium), and the reduced blood flow through the muscles attendant in prolonged sitting or lying down. Less common causes include more serious conditions or the use of drugs." (from Cramps on wikipedia). Also people have noted nervous system problems, especially nerves pressed by bones of the vertebrae, and over-exercising muscles without warming up.

In my case, blood tests for magnesium and potassium have mostly excluded the mineral level, and the cramps happened in middle of night when I was relaxed, not during physical activity that would relate to dehydration or over-exertion. So the cause is practically left to circulatory or nervous system problems or combination of both.

A vascular surgeon has briefly examined me and found no acute circulatory problem, but recommended to wear compression hosiery about 18 mmHg to prevent the cramps and further problems.

There are two reasons why I also still do believe that circulatory system is involved. First, the fact that drugs aimed at raising venous pressure and compression hosiery have helped. Second, for a while I had a different pain in the thigh which turned out to be the inflammation of a nerve, and I could easily tell one from other. However, I cannot say it is circulation alone either.

To deal with problems, we tend to separate them, and health issues are not an exception. But the human body is very complex, and problems in one system influence other systems. Also, when you are well, problems are easily dealt with, but if you are stressed, old chronic illnesses come up. My worsening of cramp problem and then an inflammation of nerve in thigh coincided with a stressful time in my career and changing jobs. Luckily what is true for cause is also true for the cure: I cannot exclude a lot of psychological effect from wearing tights or separate it from the physical effect.

During my wearing period, I have experimented and tried various makes of hosiery, to find what fits and helps me best and most economically. And I would recommend same to any man suffering from the same problem. Of course, the more serious your problem, the more you should rely on doctor's advice rather than my story and other sources on the internet. But in my life I have seen that no doctor is God and it is often up to the patient to take even professional advice critically and make own decisions.

It is of utmost importance to find the right strength and size of hosiery to get the right effect. Compression tights by their nature are the tightest of all tights, so there is no such thing as one size fits all. And size means not only width but also the height (length) dimension. As I am big and tall, I have experienced the problem of finding fitting tights (well described in Geraden's article Tights for the Tall ).

I have found that I get the best result for money from what I call "para-medical support tights", that fill the gap between massaging tights in supermarket and medical graded compression in pharmacy. Those tights are made from 50, 70 or 140 den yarn and marketed with strong emphasis on health. They are mostly available on the Internet and in small shops specialized in hosiery or health-related products outside pharmacy (such as herbal teas, food supplements and various devices). On the Internet, my favorites are Collanto LegSupport and Aries Goldwear 70 den men’s support tights from Legwear4men .

It is also important when and how long you wear. When the pain has started, it is too late. As I have read on the web, to get maximum effect, you should wear compression tights from before standing up in the morning till going to bed in the evening. However, that does not take into account perspiration and the need of skin to breathe and have a shower or bath. My personal solution has been, when I come sweating from work, I take tights off, have a shower and let skin breathe. But then, if I feel that the legs are heavy, I put a fresh pair, and often leave them on for the night. My legs have got so used to compression tights that I feel bad without them, it is a kind of addiction.

End of story.

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