I am a 72 year old man. For several years now, on the advice of my GP, I have been wearing a compression stocking on my right leg. The person who recently helped me fit new stockings said that sleeping with the stocking on is risky for the heart. Is that correct? I sleep with the stocking on. My doctor didn’t say anything about it.
male (72 years)
That comment seems a bit out of context to me. You probably have the compression stocking for bad veins. It does not really make sense to keep the compression stocking on in bed, because the effect is based on the muscle pumping action while walking. But it can’t hurt to sleep in stockings either.
It’s a different story if your heart is functioning moderately. You then retain fluid that sinks to your legs during the day. If you lie flat, the moisture flows back.
If you have a very poorly functioning heart, the pumping action of the heart is minimal and you can retain liters of fluid in the tissues of your legs. If the fluid then flows back into the vessels, the already weak heart gets extra work, and it could even be that the fluid moves to the lungs. If your lungs are full of fluid, you also get less oxygen because of the fluid-diluted blood. In that case, the weak heart has to work extra hard to pump it all around, and also receives blood with less oxygen. This makes the heart work even worse and parts can even die or arrhythmias arise.
But we are talking about people with very thick legs due to a weak heart, who get into trouble when they lie down. If you ‘squeeze’ those legs extra with a compression stocking, you would amplify that effect.
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