RE: Foot infection

March 5, 2006

Bill,

Hmm, most interesting indeed.

Crystal went to the foot doc last week b because she has a lot of pain

which, as it turned out, is caused from a broken bone which she must had

suffered several years ago. Anyway, while she was there she had Doc look at

the bottom of her feet and he said the " rash " was actually a fungus. It is

the same fungus which is in her toenails.

His solution was for her to use Lamicil (spelling approximate) because it is

the only fungicide available over the counter. The rest are fungestats and

will not kill the fungus, only slow it down.

For the toenail he said that she would need to use the Lamicil pills because

no topical will penetrate the nail.

Next time she has her blood drawn he will review the results to make sure

her liver is functioning correctly and then she can take the Lamicil tablets

(which are only available by prescription).

The pills will get the fungicide into the nail and kill off the fungus. It

will also stay in the tissue cells for a while and this will kill off any

new outbreaks of the problem.

HTH, Cy, the ancient Okie...

Foot infection

Although I keep my feet clean and dry and keep my sugars under good control,

I'm now saddled with a foot infection that has nearly avulsed my right big

toe and underneath which there must be some fungus that a podiatrist will

have to observe in a couple of days when I go for that appointment. I sure

wish I knew how the nail became avulsed, both on the inner side of the toe

(right side) and along the back. That means the nail is just kind of hgnging

on by the outer connection to the skin. Obviously, I have to be very careful

not to pull the nail. And unfortunately now it's getting quite painful.

Unless I find another podiatrist taking Medicare, I have to wait till

Thursday and am treating the foot to epsom salt baths and an ointment that I

used earlier this year for a lesser foot infection, not optimal but will

have to suffice till a doc sees me.

At this point I don't know if the infection is directly related to diabetes

or perhaps there is something wrong with the shoes I am wearing, or maybe

it's a combination of the two. The doc will have to give me further advice.

That said, does anybody here have any advice on things I can do for my foot

in the meantime? I do see that the left foot is starting to show the same

signs of infection but it isn't so bad yet. I want to stop this process.

It's probably been brought up before, but can someone explain to me how just

having diabetes can cause a foot infection?

And can this type of infection extend to fingers as well? I ask this because

I am noticing some " wrinkling " or a slight " bubbling " of a couple of my

fingernails that had not been present before. At first I thought maybe it

was a reaction to it being much colder here than usual, kind of reminding me

of how skin looks when it's been in the cold or in water too long. Now I'm

wondering if this is related to that infection or to diabetes itself.

I hate to get into the mentality of blaming everything on diabetes, yet at

the same time I want to fight whatever infirmity pops up with the best

knowledge and weapons I can muster.

Sorry for the long diatribe here, but hopefully somebody has some

constructive thoughts on this.

BTW, on the Metformin and Glyburide, I'm getting fairly decent control of

sugars but there are times when it seems I'm getting too rapid a descent on

night time blood sugars, like down to 54, and then I wind up taking a

glucose tablet to counter it, prompting me to not want to take that dose of

meds at night. But then if I don't, my fasting will be higher the next

morning. I had better control of this stuff on Actos when it was working,

but not good weight control. It's always something.

Thanks,

Bill Powers

March 5, 2006

Bill, this sounds screwy, but it works. Soak your feet in apple cider

vinegar. This kills fungus-but I would advise you to see the doc first ad

make sure it is a fungal infection.