I see that skin infections take longer to go away (three weeks) and that I more easily pick up infections, but otherwise I haven’t yet noticed a longer time to heal from stuff. Still new PWD at “seven months old.” I have had four yeast infections since diagnosis but each was gone in the time that Monostat7 covered it. In total so far, not counting the yeast and skin infections I have had eight infections, of which two were serious (internal organ).
I have a skin infection - and have had it for the last two and a half years! STILL will not go away!
Hmm. I have been diabetic for over 20 years and have never noticed that my wounds take longer to heal. My control has been decent…not bad but could be better. In general, my A1C has been anywhere from 6 to 8.5 throughout the years. I guess, though, it seems like it may take longer for my pump sites to heal. I haven’t used my stomach for sites in several months, and it looks like a pincushion dotted with tiny scars. My upper butt, which I now use for pump sites (to give my stomach a rest) now looks like a pincushion too, with red dots.
Hate to tell you this, but you heal more slowly as you get older, too. So it’s a double whammy. Best idea is not to hurt yourself!! (Sure!!!)
While others have suggested that circulation has a role in wound healing, I’d like to emphasize that it has a huge role that we need to appreciate. Sure, bacteria can feed on high blood sugar and make things worse, but healing and fighting infection is a natural body process. Unfortunately it critically depends on getting circulation to the wound and microvascular problems are some of the first diabetic complication and mostly we don’t even realize it. I have lost the hair on my lower legs, which as I understand it is due to circulation problems in the small blood vessels. These are exactly the same vessels which drive healing. And I believe this is why Hyperbaric treatment works so well for diabetic wound treatment, it improves the circulation.
I heal as fast as anyone else–big cuts, little cuts, foot surgery. I do have what most here would consider poor control. However, I am very active (except while typing on here!) and do not appear to have impaired circulation. I think it depends mostly on your circulation or maybe just some people heal faster than others. I have plenty of experience with the cuts and smashed toes. My doctor would always soak my wounds in betadine, so I do that when I first injure myself. I did find that putting a bandaid on my last gashed finger really helped it heal. The gash was from a metal clip and was really ugly. With the bandaid, it healed with very little scarring. I’m sold on the bandaid thing! (The adhesive does cause a rash sometimes, so I take the band-aid off at night.) I do watch for signs of infection, of course, as that is always possible.
It is totally fine to talk about my hair loss. If you want to talk about my hair loss on my head that is fine as well. I used to believe that my hair loss was related to my wearing high top boots, but the pattern extends beyond where either my boots or socks ever reached. The first time I saw it mentioned was Bernstein who said that of all the complications he had, it was about the only one that never reversed.
And just in case you are worried, I think my shiny head is simply genetic, nothing related to diabetes.