[Injecto]

I've been finding that I'm very slow to heal now, compared to before being dxd. Anyone else find this? I mean, I've got some mosquito bites that are 6 weeks old and still healing. Now I'm worried about this second degree burn I've got on my finger from this weekend...

[Gangrel]

Slower to heal, yes, I've noticed that. 6 weeks for a bite? That's unusual. Are you sure it's mosquitos, and not vampires?

[Scratch]

You're still so new and your control has been excellent. I suspect it's more likely a case that you are looking for things to be going wrong, so while you would have paid little to no attention to those bites in the past, now you do.

If the bites are genuinely slow to heal and with consideration given to your status as a recent type 1 diabetic, then if there is an actually existent problem of slow healing it would be well worth to discuss the issue with your doctor who may be able to use the symptoms to explore other possible causes of delayed healing.

[HiImDan]

Vampires? Yes, I'm slow to heal as well...

[FTW]

It's a known complication of diabetes that has been attributed to micro and macro vascular problems.

Here is a report on a recent study into the specific causes for slow healing.

Pardon the heavy scientific jargon...but these findings will later lead to therapies for enhanced wound healing in diabetics.
In conclusion (according to the study's authors): impaired eNOS activation and decreased SDF-1alpha expression in diabetes are responsible for the defect in diabetic wound healing.

Here is the abstract for the study itself.

I'm no scientist, but from what I read, our EPC from our bone marrow, (EPC helps the healing process whatever it is), doesn't get activated to the wound like it does in normal people. So, they are working on how to trigger activation to help in diabetic wound healing.

[bryan42]

Im on blood thinners for the rest of my life, It takes a LONG time for any cut to heal,let alone stop from bleeding. Just a nick from shaving,can bring a scene from Halloween or friday the 13th to my bathroom!

[notme]

You know injecto, I heal very quickly. I have had type one for 21 years and so far the healing process is great for me. I had thumb surgery in Dec of last year and I healed very quickly. I think you should get those bites checked out. Perhaps they are infected or you are having a hypersensitive reaction.

I am having foot surgery on Friday. The doctor ordered a vascular ultrasound and it was perfect. I hope my healing does well again. Will let you know. Do you have vascular problems?

[kgm0612]

I find I heal a little slower than I did before diabetes. I've had a small scratch on the top of my left foot for the last couple of weeks that still has a small scab on it. I keep putting neosporin on it hoping it heals faster.

Okay...gonna ask..........how'd you get the burn?


Karen

[slipperyelm]

I've been type 2 for 14 years. I never thought my wounds were slow to heal until about three years ago. Now despite good blood sugars and A1c's I do see the slowness in healing.

You know the shiny pink skin surface that follows a complete knitting of a cut? Oh, it has a name, I can't think of it. Well, those seem to last for months on me now. I don't know if it is diabetes or just a matter of aging. Skin loses its ability to heal somewhat with age anyway. To me it just just an indication that I really need to be careful. So now, I who used to be "barefoot girl" wear shoes all the time and gloves whenever I garden.

I got a spider bite on top of my foot 7 days ago and it very quickly looked yucky--but not the kind of thing a non-diabetic would fret about. I have seen how the bite of a brown recluse slowly proceeds to get worse and ulcerate in a normal person and can take months to heal, so this bite concerned me. It got worse for three days, held steady for the next two days, and now for the last two days is looking better, so I am not afraid anymore.

But, yes, I notice slower healing.

[Injecto]

Originally Posted by slipperyelm

You know the shiny pink skin surface that follows a complete knitting of a cut? Oh, it has a name, I can't think of it. Well, those seem to last for months on me now.

Exactly, that's what sticks around. Not an open wound, but the pinky leftover...

Originally Posted by bryan42

Im on blood thinners for the rest of my life,

Maybe that's part of it, because I started those before the summer. Hmmmm.

[Injecto]

Originally Posted by Scratch

You're still so new and your control has been excellent.

That's an interesting comment because I don't see what I've done as excellent. Excellent control, to me, would be nothing above 5.6 premeal and 7.0 aftermeal. Seeing 8/9/10s is scary, even though they happen all the time. Rarely can I achieve a day where I'm always below 7.0 aftermeal. Plus, my mind factors things in like the amount of hours at a high post meal level.....anywho, thread was about Healing Slow and I've tangented my own thread...am I allowed to do that?

[Gangrel]

You need to redefine excellent.

A perfect pancreas is proactive.

We can only be REactive.

[mg_2204]

Depends! I find that minor cuts and burns take their time... and most of the time too much time. 50% of the time they get infected before they start healing.

Had a major operation May 2006 and I healed fast and quickly. Absolutely no infection, no complication. Go figure! But I was sooo happy everything turned out so great.

Because I don't know how it will go, I'm always trying my best with my levels --all the time.

[peej07]

I've been a d for 28yrs and really don't think I heal any slower that normal unless it involves my shin area. My shins look like a 90 old mans.

[Olidus]

One thign I found back before I was DX'd and running high high all the time that it did take forever for cuts to heal, and that they would get infected at times.
I was later on told that it was because of the build up of sugar in my blood, and would feed the infection and what not.