I just wear my stockings now as needed. I think you'd just need to experiment to see how it affects you either not wearing them, or going down in compression.

I can't say the whether or not weather affects my leg, but I can kind of see how it could, similar to how joints can be affect by weather.

Congrats on the near 2 year mark!

I agree with rmb. After I finished my Coumadin treatments, I switched to a "listen to your body" method, wearing my compression stockings anytime I felt swelling, pain, etc. as well as anytime I travelled. I kept wearing the 20-30 mmHgs for the first few years but now wear the 15-20 mmHgs most often (near 7 years post DVT).

I definitely noticed a different in achiness with weather changes! This continued for the first 3-4 years however occurs very infrequently now.

Summer's tough for compression so I feel your pain! Open-toes & leggings are my favorite when I have to wear it in the heat. =)

If you need any help picking out compression items in the future you can check out my website www.rejuvahealth.com (which I started 5 years ago after having to wear compression myself during my DVT recovery.)

Wishing you ongoing good health!

I continue to wear a thigh high 30-40 compression stocking on my clot leg daily. It is personal preference...I just find it more comfortable. I have found my fave brands for winter and summer, and quite honestly, it doesn't even bother me at all anymore, regardless of the weather.

Hi,

It will make 2 years in August that I was diagnosed with DVT too! I continue to wear compression stockings daily, pantyhose when I wear skirts or leggings and knee high with trousers or jeans. Ive never worn more than 15-20 mmHgs, not even when I was diagnosed. But I skipped the stockings in the summer some days, when I went to parties and to the beach and other times because of the outfit; I just couldnt stand the stocking with some types of clothes and sandals :(. (I still dont wear skirts with shoes, just with high boots maybe one of these days Ill be able to overcome the fact that my legs are not equal)

I dont have much swelling now, but my DVT leg is always a little larger than the other one. All day, all day long, even in the morning, even after being with my leg elevated. It is larger now and I cant do anything to avoid it. Other than that, it is ok.

It doesnt bother me to wear the stockings during the autumn and winter, even in spring, but in the summer wearing them is torture, I must confess. So I will do as others have said, I will wear them when needed and see the results. Last summer, during the days that I skipped the stockings, the leg didnt swell much, just a tiny bit and no pain :).

By the way, does anybody know if I can find sheer pantyhose in a dark tone, tan-like? Mediven has them but not for petite and I wear size II, petite

Best regards,
Mathy

Mathy, I do understand feeling self-conscious over one leg being bigger than the other. I was the same way for quite awhile after it became obvious that one leg would stay larger. But I can also tell you that honestly, no one else notices. Even an inch or so difference around really isn't going to be something other people can see immediately when looking at you. Now, if you point it out to them and make them look at it, sure they may be able to tell the difference. But honestly the chances are so miniscule that anyone else would ever notice it on their own. In my case, I found that people actually could see the difference in my legs more easily when I wore pants that covered them than when I wore a knee-length skirt, because the pants leg would be loose on my normal leg and tight on my bad leg. I think that if you normally would wear skirts with shoes, then just go ahead and do it. I mean, you need to do what you feel comfortable with, but honestly you notice your leg more than anyone else ever will. I personally found it more comfortable in summer when I did wear stockings to wear them with a casual skirt or dress rather than pants.

As to looking for a particular color, if you haven't already I'd recommend looking at Kelsey's website which she linked above. I have bought compression hose from her site (she also has great customer service, by the way!) and she has more colors and styles available that really are more appealing for younger women who aren't ready to look like grandmas. As to whether there is a size that would work better for you, I don't know, you'd just have to look. I will also mention that one of the things I really loved about the Rejuvahealth stockings was they felt softer and more comfortable to wear to me than others, although to me personally the compression level didn't feel quite as high as other brands marked at the same compression. But for me, that trade-off was okay because I was more likely to wear the stockings that felt better and weren't just the same old beige or black.

As to the initial question about how long to wear them, I agree with what's already been said, you just have to figure out what works best for you. For several years afterward, I religiously wore my stockings all the time because my leg felt so much better with them. Over time, I've gotten to where maybe I'm just more used to how my leg feels, but I'd go sometimes without them (especially after I moved to Florida, I just could never wear them at the beach). Now, I'm in a situation where I don't really use them anymore at all, not because I don't think they'd be helpful, but I have other issues that interfere with me being able to put them on. And yeah, if I'm on my feet a lot, my leg will swell and start feeling worse, so I know I would probably benefit if I could wear them, but I do alright without them too. So a lot just ultimately boils down to personal preference.

Thank you for your words, ShilosMommy, I really appreciate them. I believe I may sound like a shallow person, focused on the image so much. Ive always relied on my image a bit, I confess, and my legs were so beautiful that I received compliments all the time, so losing that was very difficult, but Im not shallow, of that Im sure. Im from Europe, so I dont use inches very well, but the truth is that my leg is not even a centimeter larger than the other and yet I can notice that difference as if it was much more. And other people can notice as well but only if I point out. But when they say oh, yes, I can see that the right leg is a little larger, I fall apart insidebecause I wanted them to say, oh, I cant see anything stupid, I know. When I can think objectively, I know I am lucky, I feel no pain, and the leg is just a little larger than the other one, there are many people who have so much worse outcomes. Im happy for having a good result (as my doctor says), but I cant be happy for what Ive lost. Hopefully, one of these days I will overcome this, but I havent reached that point yet. But Im trying. And its nice and important to know that others have been there and have overcome this issue. I will too.

The compression stockings help a lot, I have a pair of sheer & soft black pantyhose from Mediven and absolutely no one can guess that they are medical, thats why I wanted this brand in a tan-like colour. Here in Europe they dont sell them for petite (but they do sell the black ones, go guess). I will search on Rejuvahealth.

Best regards,
Mathy

Mathy, I think it's natural when we have a sudden physical change to feel like it's a bit of a blow at first, not necessarily just being shallow, beauty obsessed or anything. My mom lost her fingertip in an accident and it was hard for her emotionally - not that anyone had ever commented on how gorgeous her fingertip was, but it was a big difference to look down there and not have it.

I had always considered myself completely the opposite of caring what people thought of my physical appearance, yet when I had that change in my leg it was a lot harder for me than I would have imagined, and I guess in a way it did uncover a bit of hidden vanity. My husband always would say how much he loved my legs, and so yeah, it bothered me that one looked different. Because in addition to being bigger (mine is at least 3 cm bigger than the other), my bad leg actually has a different shape than before. It's been six and a half years for me, and I'll be honest my heart still sometimes sinks a little when I look at it. But I have learned that I notice it because it's ME, and other people just honestly don't pay that much attention, so there isn't really any point being self-conscious about it.

Since this is relatively new to you, your friends or family that you ask may not really see as much difference as you think even when you point it out to them. A centimeter around is a pretty small difference. Rather, they may just want to be supportive of you. So, you show them that the legs are different, and even if they don't see it, they might say, "Oh yeah I can see it now," not necessarily because they really can, but they may just want to be supportive of you and validate your concerns. They may feel that saying they don't see a difference would equate to telling you that they don't believe you. Even the way you phrase it might affect their response, since people often respond in a way which they think you want to hear. In any case, try not to get too hung up on what they say one way or the other, and the best thing of all for you would really just be to stop pointing it out and asking. And you might find that if you uncover them, you get compliments on them still, but no one's going to tell you they look good if they can't see them. It's a little bit of a leap of faith for sure, but I think it's important emotionally to get past the self-consciousness and go back to doing things as we would normally do.