How Long For An Injury To Heal?

[wolfie11969]

I'm Type II diabetic, been diagnosed a year. I understand from my diabetic nurse if you get a sore or an injury that doesnt heal you should go see your GP. I didnt ask what would be the recommended amount of time an injury/sore should heal. Anybody have any ideas?

 

[Squire Fulwood]

Although all of my cuts, sores and abrasions have healed on their own I think I would take it to the surgery the moment I began to feel concerned about a particular injury. The healing performance will vary from person to person so concern might occur to people sooner or later.

It is essential to keep a wound clean and dressed since slow healing increases the possibility of infection and you really wouldn't want that to happen.

To be a bit more specific, most of my minor injuries are better within a week. One cut to my ankle caused by my boot hung on for about two weeks but did eventually heal.

 

[ally1]

Luckily I have never had a cut or sore since being type2 so I am interested to know
Though if in doubt I would see the nurse at the surgery

 

[AndBreathe]

Gosh, I'm always cutting myself or banging my toes on things and so on, but I still heal just as quickly as before.

As others have said, you need to try to just apply a bit of instinct, based mainly on your past experience. If something seems very slow to heal, it would be sensible to have your practice nurse or Doc have a look at it - particularly with your tootsies.

It goes without saying to ensure any open wounds are kept scrupulously clean.

 

[luceeloo]

As @Squire Fulwood pointed out, the concern with a slow-to-heal wound is the increased risk of infection.
I'm a pretty slow healer. Luckily I've only ever had minor injuries since being diagnosed, but even small scratches take a long time to heal for me.

Last December I had a number of back teeth removed, and my gums became infected and took forever to heal (9 months on and my gums still get sore and swollen from time to time).
When something isn't healing right, you know quite quickly. So it's more about keeping things clean, and inspecting for changes. I'd be concerned if there was excessive swelling, redness, sore or itchiness, and if there was any kind of oozing.

 

[wolfie11969]

Thankyou all

Before diabetes I'd heal quickly, in a matter of days. However the injury I have now has persisted for weeks so was just curious.

I did try to see my GP about it. My appointment was 2pm, hadnt been seen at 2.45pm and had to go as had other things to do that day. Have tried to get another appointment but surgery is full up every time I try. If it persists I'll give them a call when I'm back from my break away

Thanks for your replies

 

[paganlass]

Hi wolfie11969, I also heal very slowly now. My mother's cat scratched me on the arm about 9 weeks ago and it's still not fully healed. It was only a very minor scratch (play fighting ).
Used to heal quite quickly before.

 

[Sammy Wilkinson]

Whatever amount of time is normal for you, everyone is different.

 

[Binksy85]

I had a football ulcer I'm type 1 and have been 20yrs it took 13 weeks to heal all together and was having to go to podiatry every few days take care of your feet it's esse

 

[debz48]

I had an opreation on my right hand on 12/08/16, for carpel tunnel decomression. Now four weeks later still not properly healing. Must admit it is much better than last week. Still having District Nurses visiting. Roll on 27/09/16 as have my 6 week check with Consultant.
I have always taken a while to heal as I was only 11 n half months old when I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes


Sent from my SM-A500FU using Diabetes.co.uk Forum mobile app

 

[PCS1949]

Having been T2 for over 10 years I was quite concerned when I gashed my shin earlier this year, taking a flap of skin down to the bone. I went straight round to the surgery and the nurse dressed it with a knee to toe bandage, to prevent swelling she said. Infection was the biggest danger apparently. I had several antibiotics mostly precautionary. It seemed to me that the twice weekly dressing was preventing it from healing. My instinct was to let the air at it but she seemed intent on preventing it from scabbing and allowing it to heal from inside. It took three months before I was allowed to leave the bandaging off. I have good and now excellent HbAic results since following the programme on this site and I like to think this helped me achieve a happy outcome.

 

[Brunneria]

Its very important to look out for signs of infection or dead tissue - red infected flesh around the wound, pus, changes to the colour and texture of the flesh, smells... any of those, no matter how small the wound, and get to a surgery ASAP. Or A&E (ER) if the change comes on suddenly.

Other than that, I kind of think we should just apply common sense, and weigh up how good our blood glucose control is, and how fast we used to heal compared with now.

The problems get more likely the higher our HbA1c is (that seems to be true about most things!), so if your HbA1c suggests that healing may be slowed or impaired, then close monitoring makes sense.

 

[drakman]

I broke my foot in Januarry it was August before I was giventhe OK to use it as normal though it is likey to still hurt until next year as the soft tissue damage takes longer to heal, before I became diabetic 6 weeks would have been considered too long.
I am into body piercing and have been warned about that and tattoos as tehy take longer to heal and need more care than for other people, ho hum

 

[FolkyRose1]

I broke my foot in Januarry it was August before I was giventhe OK to use it as normal though it is likey to still hurt until next year as the soft tissue damage takes longer to heal, before I became diabetic 6 weeks would have been considered too long.
I am into body piercing and have been warned about that and tattoos as tehy take longer to heal and need more care than for other people, ho hum

I had a fall about 2years ago, not my first fall and probably not the last. Anyway I ended up with a fractured shoulder. It was strapped up, they were going to do something surgical then found I had a bladder infection so no surgery ( I live in Spain) anyway I kept going back and they did X-rays a kept telling me it is looking much better. In the end they sent me away and said just keep exercising. When I lay down I can't put my left arm by my side and sometimes when I try to do something it really hurts in my shoulder . Diabetic or not I am sure this is not right. If I get any scratches or cuts I normally put detol or some other disinfectant on it. That sorts it out. I am type2

 

[Craigh270779]

I had an abcess removed from my back and it took a total of 12 weeks and lots of dressing changes to heal, was horrible and wouldnt wish it on anyone.

Nurse said that it would be due to my type 2 that it took longer to heal. That's when I woke up and decided to sort myself out, kick up the backside so to speak

 

[PekkaJ]

Hi All,
A Finnish medical doctor Arno Sipponen made his PhD in 2013 about using spruce resin salve to heal wounds. He found that it worked better than normal methods in the current medical practice. You may find the thesis via link:
https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/39074 Then you may find more information about that with search: "Arno Sipponen Abilar". The spruce resin salve has been registered for medical reimbursement in Great Britain starting from October 2015 by NHS.