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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Diabetes / January 2008Hot Spots Warn of Diabetic Foot Ulcers
http://diabetes.org/diabetesnewsarticle.jsp?storyId=16767291&filename=20080114/a p20080114aponlineallD8U629Q81newsaporganpaEDIT.xml or http://tinyurl.com/ytcvh9 (excerpt) WASHINGTON - Diabetics, watch out: A hot spot on your foot can signal an ulcer is brewing, a wound that could cost your limb. New research shows that using a special thermometer to measure the temperature of their soles can give patients enough early warning to avoid one of diabetes' most intractable complications. It's a simple-sounding protection for such a huge problem. Foot ulcers each year strike 600,000 U.S. diabetics, people slow to notice they even have a wound because diabetes has numbed their feet. "They've lost the gift of pain," says Dr. David Armstrong of Chicago's Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, a diabetic foot specialist. Worse, foot ulcers are so slow-healing and vulnerable to infection that they're to blame for most of the roughly 80,000 amputations of toes, feet and lower legs that diabetics undergo each year. So word that an easy-to-use gadget could help is generating excitement. Using the thermometer reduced by nearly two-thirds the number of high-risk patients who got foot ulcers, Armstrong found in a study of 225 diabetic veterans, the third in a series of government- funded research to back the approach. >http://diabetes.org/diabetesnewsarticle.jsp?storyId=16767291&filename=20080114/a p20080114aponlineallD8U629Q81newsaporganpaEDIT.xml > [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] >study of 225 diabetic veterans, the third in a series of government- >funded research to back the approach. Guy lost his left leg to a bone infection His opinion is these problems get a lot of talk and so little action. I am now finding out almost ten years later, the loss could probably have been prevented. Lazy docs that assume so much are not the best docs to handle diabetes or it's a complications. Diabetes should be a well trained sociality. Complications should be handled by another specialty. Production line medicine is a big negative for diabetics. A lazy doc may call osteomylitis--Charcot's foot and not take the immediate action needed. The GP can treat a hook worm infection with itch medication and Cortisone type drugs until it has done great harm.and caused much suffering. Hell, it generates more income and the doc goes home well. Meanwhile the infection is spread around. If you have foot problems be insistent that the proper doc sees the problem NOW. If it insults some sensitive soul---tough. They get paid too much to be coddled. >> http://diabetes.org/diabetesnewsarticle.jsp?storyId=16767291&filename=20080114/a p20080114aponlineallD8U629Q81newsaporganpaEDIT.xml >> [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > have been prevented. Lazy docs that assume so much are not the best > docs to handle diabetes or it's a complications. And ten years ago, docs might not have known how to prevent this problem. Did Guy check his feet daily for ulcers? > Diabetes should be a well trained sociality. Complications should > be handled by another specialty. They are: endocrinologists, podiatrists, plastic surgeons or othropedic surgeons. > Production line medicine is a big negative for diabetics. It is a big negative for everyone: employers, insurance companies, docs, patients and the country. > A lazy doc may call osteomylitis--Charcot's foot and > not take the immediate action needed. Or, in the old days, had no way to do anything about it. > The GP can treat a hook worm infection with itch > medication and Cortisone type drugs until it has done [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > doc sees the problem NOW. If it insults some sensitive > soul---tough. They get paid too much to be coddled. Now, docs know how to treat this. Before they didn't. But, you're right. If you have foot problems or neuropathy, make sure it is treated and the proper foot care be taught. Jeff >>http://diabetes.org/diabetesnewsarticle.jsp?storyId=16767291&filename=20080114/a p20080114aponlineallD8U629Q81newsaporganpaEDIT.xml There was some UK-based research a couple of years ago that advised people at risk of ulcers to take the temperature on both feet at various points - a simple strip thermometer works - and go to a doctor if there was any discrepancy. Nicky. T2 dx 05/04 + underactive thyroid D&E, 100ug thyroxine Last A1c 5.6% BMI 25 >>>http://diabetes.org/diabetesnewsarticle.jsp?storyId=16767291&filename=20080114/a p20080114aponlineallD8U629Q81newsaporganpaEDIT.xml > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >D&E, 100ug thyroxine >Last A1c 5.6% BMI 25 I have posted on this in the past. Remember it is only my experiences. It is a popular thing to blame leg ulcers on the restriction of micro flow of blood in the legs. This may be true in a lot of cases. But it was not 5his my case. A few docs assumed it was. I had leg ulcers that would not heal. They gradually expanded. Treatment was of no value. I had the equivalent of a Woods light and finally shined it on the wounds. They glowed a blue violet around the edges. It was like a neon sign. ?The basic problem was a FUNGUS type infection. The proper anti fungal medicine slowly cured that problem. Remember the anti fugal drugs only inhibit the growth of the spores. It takes time for the body to grow and slowly eliminate the spores or they will re grow. The treatment eliminated the sores slowly. Then why did I lose a leg? i had a problem in the big toe that was the residual damage of athletes foot. I made a hospital trip for other reasons and when I came out I had inflammation there. Slowly it increased swelling in spite of treatment. The bone infection had entered and was at work. It was being treated casually. It was not long before the leg swelled to 3x. The game was over and it was not long before the infection spread to the other leg. Funny thing I lost the second leg but today I have an almost normal leg left. However it went through bacterial, fungal and parasite infections. The story is long and a sorry one. Osteomylitis is a Latin term used to say bone infection. The bone infection are located where most antibiotics cannot help. I know of several people that have had osteomylitis after a minor procedure in a hospital. In case where the blood flow is restricted, the damage cannot be cured. a common problem in diabetics. A bit of improvement[in recent years. It is so important that the proper diagnosis is made. That may involve second independent opinions The word independent is important. As an amateur I think I have compromised immunity from a gross exposure to radiation on atomic test mission. in the late 50's. Guess I was lucky, a fellow employee died of cancer several years later. Six young physicist with master degree work on a million volt X-ray project. Five of them died of cancer in the next few years. My opinion is we need to watch for all types of pathogens, if we are diabetic. Especially in the legs. Most of the problems come to people during periods of reduced immunity. Diabetes is one issue and any other illness adds to the problems. The only answer I know of is to pick the best doc and reduce exposure to the culprits. Early recognition of the problems by the doc is so important. |
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