Abscess

Oh Jessica sounds horrid

I have been a T1 for over 6 years and I have never had any abssess, not even before diagnosis. I would imagine having stable sugars wiuld help to prevent but not sure what actualy causes them.

Hope you get some more constructive advice soon,

Lucy xxx

Jessica

Abscesess usually thrive in blood that is fairly sugary (highish bg) so if you get yr bg levels a bit lower and more even by calculating your insulin to carb ratio a bit better, nasty boils shouldn't plague you. Do you also get thrush at all?

When I was much younger (the mid 60's) before I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I was always at the GP with my mum needing antibiotics because of ear abcess and then had them appear under my armpit as well, so I know how nasty they can be. It was only through going back and forwards to the GP so often that a sample of my urine was tested for sugar and I then went to hospital to have more tests done and then got started on insulin once per day and then all the abscesses stopped.

If you are not doing it already, one of the bestest ways to get bg levels more controlled is to test them more frequently and either adjust the insulin or adjust the carb that you eat so that your bg falls within the targets recommended by your doctors. If you test frequently you will also be able to foresee any hypos or highs that occur and will be able to deal with the situation a bit easier.

Jessica1985 said:

Hi everyone,

I've recently had my 5th abcess in as many months. As soon as one is healed another one appears, each one is a little bigger than the one before it. This time I had to go to hospital to have it drained due to the pain and the size (about the size of a golf ball) The doctor at the hospital basically told me to get used to them, being a type 1 diabetic I am more prone to them and there is nothing I can do to prevent them. Does anyone else have this sort of problem?

I must just mention that I've never had an abcsess at an injection site, I was diagnosed with type 1 around 6 years ago and if i'm being completely honest my sugars are very up and down

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Hi Jessica,
sorry to hear of your painful experience.Hope you are soon fully recovered,
That Dr should have said badly controlled diabetics are more prone to infections. If you can improve your control then the abcess problem wont be an issue. Personally I have never had an abcess and I've been type 1 for almost 48 years.
Perhaps go right back to basics with your diabetes and see if you can sort it out then things should improve for you.

Hi Jessica.

You sound like me. I am currently sitting here with one under my left armpit which is so sore I have not been able to get dressed. Day 5 of antibiotics and I think this one is going to end up in surgery. That will make it the 3rd one to have to be drained. Like you I get them regularly, it is in fact what lead to my diabetes diagnosis in the 1st place. My levels are actually pretty good but I seem to have developed hyper sensitive skin and the slightest damage seems to cause these things.

I hope that things get better for you and that as you get control they go away. I am a type 2 and am bending over backwards to control my levels as I can only imagine the personal hell having to inject would cause my skin.

kazwbb

Is your latest HbA1c of 7.1 in August 2011 accurate? A HbA1c of 7.1 means an average blood sugar level of nearly 10, which is still too high.

You need to get your HbA1c down to below 6 to have safe levels. And it would also help you problems with abscesses.

I am now always between 5.5 and 5.9...................except when I have had an abscess for a few days of course when it shoots up to over 10. Reading today is 14.2 because I have a raging infection :cry:

So yes I am at safe levels for all the good it does me

(updated profile)

Abcesses are definitely NOT an inevitable consequence of T1. My husband has been T1 since he was young [now 65] and has never had one. They might be related to high blood sugars though.
Are you managing to keep good control?
Trouble is if you do get an infection and are T1, it's difficult to get rid of it. Try keeping a tighter Bg and try to change doctors to one who knows what he/she is talking about
Hana

kazwbb said:

I am now always between 5.5 and 5.9...................except when I have had an abscess for a few days of course when it shoots up to over 10. Reading today is 14.2 because I have a raging infection :cry:

So yes I am at safe levels for all the good it does me

(updated profile)

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Has anyone suggested that you may be suffering from hidradenitis suppurativa?
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hidradenit ... ction.aspx

Interesting info but it doesn't match my "lumps". I don't get anything like acne. The lumps I get cover quite a large area and are deep under the skin. One of the worst I had was about the size of a dinner plate and was on the back of my upper thigh and kind of wrapped around it. The 2nd one that needed surgery was on my left side just under where your bra sits. That one got to the size of a small orange and was 3" deep under the skin. It took 5 months of packing to get it to heal. The one I have at the moment is a reoccuring one and covers an area about the size of the palm of my hand.

I do get the tracts the article describes though and once they start in an area they get progressively worse and more painful. I do not smoke, am not obese or hairy, and have never had acne though. I may print that off and take it to the doctors though so thank you.

kazwbb said:

Interesting info but it doesn't match my "lumps". I don't get anything like acne. The lumps I get cover quite a large area and are deep under the skin. One of the worst I had was about the size of a dinner plate and was on the back of my upper thigh and kind of wrapped around it. The 2nd one that needed surgery was on my left side just under where your bra sits. That one got to the size of a small orange and was 3" deep under the skin. It took 5 months of packing to get it to heal. The one I have at the moment is a reoccuring one and covers an area about the size of the palm of my hand.

I do get the tracts the article describes though and once they start in an area they get progressively worse and more painful. I do not smoke, am not obese or hairy, and have never had acne though. I may print that off and take it to the doctors though so thank you.

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It may be that you have this condition - remember your symptoms don't necessarily have to match EXACTLY - I've had a provisional diagnosis of hidradenitis supporativa and I don't get the acne type symptom, just striaght to the recurring deep abcessess. It can be associated with poor blood glucose levels but it doesn't have to be. I personally suspect mine is to do with high sugar levels as mine seem to flare up when I'm having trouble controlling my levels.


My GP has said that as soon as I get a flare up I should go straight on antibiotics as this should help to stop it getting to the point of needing hospital treatment. Granted, antibiotics is not the ideal solution given everything that goes with overusing them, but if it means you don't have a dinnerplate-sized abcess and a long-term infection that will affect your diabetes, then it may be worth it.


Good luck! I know how horrible it is to be stuck with these things!

I have been doing a bit more digging since catherinecherubs post and I think you are both right. I have just got off the phone to my doctor who is sending a prescription to my chemist for more antibiotics (broad spectrum ones) to take alongside the ones I am on now. I rang because the abscess has shown no signs of shrinking and has in fact got a lot worse. I am now having great trouble doing things like getting dressed and going to the loo Anyway, the more I have found out the more it seems to relate to me. Another interesting thing is that HS seems to be classed as an auto immune disease which of course diabetes is. Now I know I am a type 2 but I am not the stereotypical type 2.

If I think about it I have had this one in my armpit for over 20 years and I wasn't diabetic back then. It has been a minor irritation every few months or so. I suppose the diabetes doesn't help regarding infection.

I see a consultant dermatologist every 3 months anyway because I have something called Palmar Plantat Keratoderma (I know shoot me) so maybe I will have a chat with him about it instead of my GP

Thank you so much for sharing picklebean. It isn't the nicest of subjects. Just a quick question, there seems to be hints at this running in families (none of this in mine) have you found that?

Hi,

Have a look at Channel4.com/Thefoodhospital, in ep 4 I think, they had a section about a young woman suffering from HS. The doctor gave her an insulin reducing diet (even though she is not diabetic) and her inflamation was reduced significantly. The poor lady was suffering very badly so I hope you are no where near as bad as she is but interesting that I have heard about the same rare condition twice in one week.

:shock: That poor poor woman. (episode 5 featured her if anyone wants to know) I don't have it like her on my back or face but my god some of it looked familiar Makes me wonder what mine would be like if I wasn't following a diabetic eating plan.

Hi Kazwb,
I have had abscesses in the past caused by reactions to the insulin I was injecting and a few years ago I got another from an injection site. I was very stressed at work at the time, it was very painful and spanned about 7 inches across my abdomen. Fortunately it healed well and that was about 8 years ago and haven't had one since. touch wood. I don't know what to suggest except eat well with good, immune boosting foods and keep b/s in control, (it sounds like you are doing a good job ) and get some relaxation time so that your body can heel and build up strength. i practice meditation and excercise regularly - it helps enormously.
Good luck. x

kazwbb said:

Thank you so much for sharing picklebean. It isn't the nicest of subjects. Just a quick question, there seems to be hints at this running in families (none of this in mine) have you found that?

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No worries - I don't mind sharing if it can help someone else!
As for it running in families, it wouldn't surprise me if that's the case but I have no knowledge of this and it isn't true for me. That said, I have a list of medical conditions as long as my arm and nobody else in my family has any of them, haha!