Changing Reasons II

by TightsVirus

Here is the second part of the personal story by TightsVirus.

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I ended the first part of my story by explaining that my family accepted my like for clothing which sometimes seems out of place on the street. Now I want to tell you about my re-discovery of tights.

Several years ago, I started getting a health problem every spring and summer: I was waking up in the middle of night from painful cramps in the lower part of leg, the calf. Two years ago, a doctor told me it could be an insufficient vein pressure problem, and recommended a drug called Detralex which helped temporarily.

But the next spring it started again, and I took the drug again and decided to do something more about it. The drug leaflet said, "walking and special stockings also help circulation". I searched the internet about vein problems, and a doctor had written, "cycling is OK, but it is recommended to wear special elastic stockings". Neither said "for ladies". I wanted to do a lot of cycling for the summer season (and did), and you see I enjoyed the thought of trying new clothing.

I soon found some knee-high ("golf") stockings and they helped. No more cramps in calf! But they created more problems. Thick cotton/lycra knee-high socks fitted well and were OK for chilly weather but too sweaty for the hot days in summer. Then I tried Italian made unisex nylon/lycra knee highs, and the thickness was ok, but the top band used to slide down my long leg, painfully pressing the muscle, undoing all the good effect.

Then one night about a year ago, the thigh pain was awful, and I told my wife that I had got tights and started to wear them at home. She accepted it, like she had before accepted the cycling suits and ski suits as sports/leisure clothing. Since that night I have worn tights for compression benefit openly with my family and it looks they will be part of my wardrobe for a long time.

Later a doctor examined me and found that the thigh pain was an inflammation of a nerve, and I got medication for it and got rid of the big pain. The doctor also recommended me to continue wearing the support knee highs in which I came to him. But I had already started wearing tights and felt better in them, so I kept wearing tights whenever possible. I plan to tell more about the health side of my experience in the next article.

My work setting is quite conservative, so at work, I wear tights only under long trousers. Sometimes I have left them visible at the ankle and nobody has commented, although somebody must have noticed. The knee high nylon stockings would look the same at the ankle, and I am confident enough to talk about compression if somebody asked.

In winter, I have worn socks or even cotton tights over compression tights. In warm weather, I sometimes go back to knee-highs, but change them to tights at home. Regretfully my current job is too distant to bike, so I have not had the challenge of arriving to job in my biking attire. Sometimes, after having spent the office day in tights and long trousers, I change to shorts in the parked car before driving home.

It was the very end of last summer when I started wearing tights openly, so I made only a few first steps out in public, once driving to the beach and a couple of times on the bike.

Nobody commented, and for the whole long winter I followed this blog, LAUF and other blogs and forums. That helped me to gain confidence, and this summer, in my leisure time, or on errands, I have worn tights with shorts openly in public, in the park, shopping and on the street, either alone, with family and even met relatives and acquaintances. I have never heard any comments, although I have got funny looks. Sometimes I have first wondered why because I had almost forgotten that I was in tights, so organic they are to me now.

What I want to conclude is that the reasons for wearing tights have totally changed for me - from curiosity and sexual to practical. Reading other stories, I feel I am not alone.

It sounds like finding an excuse, but actually those men who have tried tights for other purposes are among the first men to try, accept and evaluate the health benefits. It is the reason and attitude that matters in deciding whether what I am doing is good or bad.

People are different. It is just as normal to be "introvert", closed and a little bit shy as to be "extravert", open and communicative. Only if it goes so far as to create problems, then you can talk about autism, Asperger's syndrome etc. On the other side, talking too much, having the inability to concentrate and disturbing others is also a problem. It is just like somebody having a better talent for detail, and somebody else for an overview; and the person with talent for detail does better as an accountant, while the other guy is a better manager, but both are normal and valuable people. So it is with the shy and the good communicator.

Are shy guys more inclined to wear? Probably yes. Shy guys spend more time in phantasies, and maybe the need to do something different and extraordinary to express oneself is beneficial to gain more confidence? Because confidence is what the shy guys need in a world dominated by the "communicators".

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