Yeah, I know. I used to be a home health aide -- took care of home-bound, elderly cancer patients -- I can pretty much stand seeing anything.

But, some of what they show on TV freaks me out, though; I quick-change to Home and Garden Television -- that's pretty safe, usually

Barb

Hi Mel, if it has settled down now, it does sound very much like a reaction from that vibrating machine, after all the small fibres job is to they tell you when it feels hot, cold, and feel vibrations, at least you know now that those nerves are still alive, but not being 100% perfect they could only send confused signals thats why the burning started up.
Seeing that you are looking after your blood sugars now, you have probably saved yourself from all those horrible symptoms that can come with PN and if you continue to look after your blood sugars, in time, they may heal as well, which i know from my own experience can happen.
all the best,
Brian

Brian:

Yeah, my feet are fine now. Not that this means anything. Neuropathy presents in various ways, this has been explained to me by the specialists at Cornell. I just did my exercise routine with Alan watching.

If he thinks he's the only Rocky in the house, he's nuts.

All we can do is do our best, right?

Hope you are having a pain free day.

Melody

Melody
I was talking with a friend yesterday who told me she has found tremendous relief for her diabetic neuropathy by taking INOSITOL (vitamin B8)

I noticed a small bit on iHerb's Health Encyclopedia about that too

My son takes Inositol for his OCD/anxiety but I had not been aware of the potential benefit for PN as well

the data several times about inositol here and at OBT.

Inositol is lost in the urine (like magnesium) for diabetics.

An inositol analog is in the pipeline in studies for diabetics..supposedly to "cure" them! d-chiro inositol
example from among many:

"(MIOX-EC 1.13.99.1) catalyzes the first committed step of the only pathway of MI catabolism. In the present study, extra-renal tissues and cell types, including those affected by diabetic complications, were examined for MIOX expression. Western blotting results indicated that kidney is the only major organ where MIOX protein is expressed at detectable levels. Immunohistochemical examination of the kidney revealed that the proximal tubular epithelial cells are the only site of MIOX expression in the kidney"
------------------------------------------------------------------------

I do so love it when you guys talk dirty!!!!!lol

But seriously, every time I read one of these things, it goes completely over my head. I should have went to med school just to keep up with you guys. You KNOW EVERYTHING about molecular levels, Immunhistchemical examinations, proximal tubular epithelial cells, etc. etc. etc.

I'm lucky I can speak 5 languages, let alone learn stuff about epithelial cells. Oh, I can learn just fine. I just can't remember anything I learn. That's the bad part about turning 60. While I still have the capacity to learn, I can be smart for about 5 minutes, then forget it. Can't retain much. I looked it up. Supposedly it's the hippocampus in our brains that stores the short term memory stuff. Now if you put me on Jeopardy or Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and answer questions about anything before 1980, well, I'm your gal. My friends have even had bets going and while I was at work once, I got a call about a question from Star Trek. I didn't even have to think about the answer. I either know it immediately or I don't. I'm a sci-fi junkie and I was raised on all the Sci-fi shows.

But as I said, my memory AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE.

By the way, this morning (AND I HOPE NO ONE YELLS AT ME FOR WHAT I DID!!!), at 7 a.m. Alan goes: "Oh NO,!!!! I immediately woke up and said "oh no, what????" and he said "I have another blister on the bottom of my foot". I said "what did you do between yesterday and today that you got a blister?" and he said "well I went to the gym, but I didn't go on any treadmills" I said "well, what did you go on and he said "Oh the rowing machine and the leg press". I said "are you serious, you can't put any pressure on your feet, no more leg pressing or rowing machines. Do the upper body stuff" Then he said 'Do I have to go to the doctor? (we were just there last week). Now, he's not diabetic, and he heals real fast.

So I took one look at the blister, saw there was no infection, no red lines up the leg, (like last time), no big thing, just a blister that had formed from yesterday. I said to him "do you want me to do it, we have all the stuff we need" You see I've watched Dr. Baird do this so many times, I could do it in my sleep. And this was not a case of debriding, just a case of sterilizing the area, lancing the blister, putting on a dressing and keeping it clean. Dr. Baird believe that the skin is a natural covering so you don't cut off the top of the blister, (if there is no infection, I mean). He usually lances it, gets all the stuff out, does the desitin thing (he completely believes in the power of desitin). And he dresses it.

So I sterilized the area, (the blister looked nothing like the big thing full of blood he had last time by the way). I got out the towels, the bacitracin, the guauze, etc. etc. I sterilized the needle, I gently lanced it, Some kind of light pink stuff came out, mostly clear stuff though, no pus or anything. I made sure it was all drained. Didn't hurt him at all. I disinfected everything around the wound and the wound itself. I looked inside and saw there was nothing black or anything. Everything looked good (I mean I've watched Dr. Baird do this, he always says to me "melody, come around and watch what I'm doing). So I cleaned up everything, put some desitin on it, bandaged it up and he was good to go. He's keeping off his feet and I just checked it again (4 hours later) and it looks nice and clean. I will do the cleaning and re-dressing again later. Don't want to disturb the healing.

Alan kept laughing and saying "You should have been a nurse (my mother became a licensed practical nurse at age 52 by the way). Must be in my genes.

Anyway, I go to Dr. Baird to pick up my new diabetic shoes in about 4 to 5 days. If all goes well with Alan, well, All goes Well, if not, he'll immediately go there and Dr Baird will do his thing. But honestly, I do believe this was a simple friction blister because he went on the rowing machine and leg press thing.

So either yell at me or say Good Job!!!!

Mel

Good Job Mel~!~

I dont post on here much,however,i do come by and read from time to time.
I also have pn..
You always leave me with a smile Mel..ALWAYS!!
Have a good day...

All I can say is, "Great Job!"

Having been to RN school, from what you describe, you did exactly what you should have. And why else would he tell you to watch what he's doing if he doesn't want you to it or didn't feel it might be necessary at some point?

I can *so* understand Alan not wanting to make *another* visit to the doctor. Just keep doing what you're doing and it should be fine. Keeping it clean means washing the area thoroughly at least once a day, removing all the old ointment and of course redressing the blister. It's also a good idea to leave it open to the air for a bit before putting the new dressing on (propped up and not in contact with anything, especially the floor). Especially if moisture is a problem for Alan. I've always been a firm believer in letting things 'air' and have never run into a problem yet. Since he's not diabetic, you're right that the risk of infection is not a huge concern. At least not from diabetes. That's caused by a circulation problem among others.

And of course if you see any signs of infection or not healing quickly/normally have Alan's foot checked. "Thank you Captain Obvious!"

Barbara

Hi Barbara:

Thanks for the kind words. Everything looked good this morning. This afternoon, he was sitting at the computer and his sock was off (because he is numb he can't tell when his socks come off!!!, so I said "let me look at it again, and (with clean hands). The area was not swollen, or discolored. Alan said "I think there's some more stuff in it, and sure enough, when I pressed it, the stuff came out of it. Kind of like a bit of ooz. Nothing black. White stuff, kind of like gel. I made sure to get it all out and I put the antiseptic in it and everything. When I finished, everything was nice and clean and it was flat.

I disinfected the area and put a dab of desitin on it and then put a big band-aid.


When I check tomorrow, what if more stuff comes out? I mean, there are no obvious signs of infection, but when is it healed??? What do I look for??


Actually, this is the first time I've done this on Alan (I've had blisters years ago in the back of my foot when I had a tight shoe but they had clear water in them and I just dabbed antiseptic and put a band aid).

The little ooze out of Alan's blister, well I never expected it to be there.
Hope I did the right thing?????

Mel

I'm not surprised that he still has fluid coming out. For at least two reasons: The first that all blisters vary, how deep, how much actual damage was done, you get the picture. The other is because the blister has been opened and kept sort of moist, so to speak. It hasn't begun drying out yet. As long as the fluid remains clear or even a bit cloudy but *not* yellow or any other 'icky' color it should be ok. I've had blisters I've had to open 2 or 3 times or more before they finally stopped producing fluid. Using a pin to create such a tiny hole in a blister allows the blister to close back up and continue to produce fluid. A blister is natures way of protecting/cushioning the tender flesh below the injury. Sometimes a slightly bigger outlet is needed. You'll know if the blister continues to close back up and refill. I've used a fingernail clipper to actually create a slightly bigger outlet with removing the skin or making too big of a hole. Of course, you'll want to sterilize the clippers first. A 15 minute soak in rubbing alcohol should do the trick. Before and after use. ETA: Use just the very corner at the edge of the clipper. After all, you want a *small* slice in the blister, not a gaping hole.

As to healing. The skin of the blister itself will sometimes attach back to the site of the blister. Sometimes not. Either way is fine as the the skin at the actual injury site will begin to regenerate almost right away. The blister, with or without the skin flap over it, will simply dry out and look almost like any other kind of blister that's healing. If there's any redness (redness, swelling and heat as well as drainage are all cardinal symptoms of not healing well or possible infection) that would most likely be the first or second sign that things are not well. Increased drainage with a change of color to the icky side, yellow etc and pus-like, is interchangeable as a first or second sign of not healing well or possible infections. Heat in the tissues along with any swelling is another good indicator. By the time you see red streaks it's been infected for a while and not good. So, so far it sounds as if Alan's blister is fine and you're doing exactly what you should!

And look at it this way...if you have serious worries you can always call Alan's doctor and describe the blister to him as well as what you're doing. He will be able to confirm that you're treating it just as it should be treated and maybe calm your worries a bit.

Barbara