His podiatrist says that a staph germ just randomly infected his toe, and that an antibiotic and soaking it with epsom salts twice a day will take care of it in a few weeks.
I'm concerned, because circulation problems due to his recently-diagnosed diabetes probably has a lot more to do with it, but I don't know enough to explain this well or properly. Help!
2007-02-27 14:44:43 · 10 answers · asked by nora22000 7 in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Diabetes
Check out the American Diabetes Association. I don't want to be the harbinger of bad news, but your friend is likely to die a slow and miserable death, and you're going to watch him kill himself. From only the little information you've provided, I'll bet he could stand to lose a third of his body weight and be healthier for it. I do applaud your courage. No fancy circulation conversations are necessary. Tell your friend to stop eating and start exercising. Give him some literature on the end-game of diabetes.
2007-02-27 15:01:34 · answer #1 · answered by bullwinkle 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1
2016-09-14 10:20:03 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Diabetes is cause from too much sugar being in the blood and the sugar acts as a poison and destroys tissue, literally killing the cells.
No external treatment can cure gangrene!!!!
It is highly toxic and any area that is infected with gangrene must be immidiately REMOVED! It can and will spread to other surrounding areas. She might loose a whole foot instead of a toe if this is not treated properly. She might even get blood poisoning and die if it is left to fester for too long.
She needs to see a specialist and soon!
2007-02-27 14:50:27 · answer #3 · answered by Kurius_Kitten 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Diabetes is a disease that affects small vessels. Your feet end up having less circulation because of this. If you don't have circulation, you can't get blood supply to help the infection. If his toe is black, he needs to be seen again. If he wants to go to the ER, they might even admit him to try and save the toe. It's a frequent, unfortunate problem why diabetics end up loosing their toes.
2007-02-27 14:48:40 · answer #4 · answered by nickname 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If he has been maintaining his blood sugar at healthy levels, which I doubt, then he could be right, but it's not likely. Chances are, the poor circulation allowed normally occurring bacteria to take hold. Gangrene doesn't happen by chance. If we knew what his HbA1C number is (3 month average blood sugar saturation), that would pretty much tell the story. Since we don't know that, we can only draw upon conclusions based on percentages of likelyhood. ♣
2007-02-27 14:51:51 · answer #5 · answered by Mr. Peachy® 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
your friend needs to get to a specilaist in diabetes. both the thoughts are right, due to poor circulation, the chances of infection increase, and healing is poor in diabetics because of poor circulation and poor immunity.
he needs urgent attention, or he could lose more than his toes.
2007-02-27 17:41:43 · answer #6 · answered by drbony 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
At the end of the day, people hear what they want to hear and "denial aint a river".
If you are very close, you could call his MD, and see if he would meet with him, of if he is on public assistance there should be a county public health nurse, who should be wualified to try to talk to him. Or, if he is very patient, you could buy a physiology 101 book form a used book store, and go over it with him.
I also think that it's worth telling the podiatrist that his comments fed into your friend's denial system.
2007-02-27 14:50:09 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I would bet his sugar is not under control
get that fixed QUICKLY!
2007-02-27 14:53:19 · answer #8 · answered by tomkat1528 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Please see the web pages for more details and images on Diabetic foot.
2007-02-27 18:21:40 · answer #9 · answered by gangadharan nair 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Answer --> http://DiabetesGoGo.com/?ilmD
2016-03-23 06:27:40 · answer #10 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋