First Aid

I'm curious about why the podiatrist said not to use colloid plaster.

This would be pure speculation on my part, but I imagine part of the downsides of the colloid plaster is it goes on and comes off several days later, so the wound has not been "inspected" for a period when it potentially "could go wrong".

For me? I do nothing any differently to my days before diagnosis.

I am medically trained, way back, although no longer practising. We have some really heavy duty stuff in our offshore cruising medical kit - including IV kits, suture kits and so on, and to have it refreshed (meds obviously have expiry dates), I have to re-prove I still know what to so with it all and that I would be safe using it. I remain amazed how well I still appear to be able to suture - although, I'd hate to have to actually do any embroidery in a decent sea!

When you're talking first aid, in a day to day scenario anything we do is really about making safe until we can take further advice, if required. I would say the most important thing for anyone suffering a superficial trauma is to keep it clean, keep an eye on things, and apply common sense.

Like most things, prevention is better than cure, but I've had blisters too, so I'm not saying anyone is a bad person for blistering a heel or whatever. Of course, "diabetics heal more slowly than non-diabetics"? That's not something I have noticed personally, but keeping an eye on any injury/wound would cover that.

Treat minor cuts and scrapes myself, anything to do with the feet and I'm not sure about then I would always see my GP or Podiatrist.

Very much a case of 27 years treating minor cuts and even dog bites with washing, antiseptic and if necessary, dependent on whether something appears infected, head to the doctor for antibiotics.

On the feet, I've always cleaned as soon as I can (hibiscrub and water - make sure hibiscrub is fully cleaned out as it inhibits wound healing) then Savlon and dress. Change dressing twice daily on feet so that it is inspected regularly. As long as no issues, then it would normally heal fine.

Having had all manner of cuts, scrapes and breaks playing various sports, I can't say I've healed any less quickly than other people.

Celeriac said:

Do XPERT courses and similar cover things like simple first aid ? Or is just a case of picking ideas here and there ?

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I have recently been on an X-PERT course and they didn't cover first aid. They talked about looking after your feet but not first aid for feet.

I haven't noticed that I heal any slower than before. If I had an injury I would keep an eye on it and seek medical advice if it looked at all wrong.

The wife who is NOT diabetic cannot use any plasters due to allergic reactions to the glue the have on them.. even the white non-allergic tape. Maybe using plasters can cause more problems than you started with ? We just use thin badges if some thing needs to be covered .. with a sterile pad over the problem area.

My own personal option on this or some other aspects of diabetes is that if your sugar is under good control, then I see no reason to do anything different from a non-diabetic as high sugar is the concern for infection etc. Others may not agree but that is my (amateur) opinion. You might like to ask your podiatrist why he gave you that advice?

Celeriac said:

The reason given, was that feet should be kept dry.

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You should thoroughly dry your feet especially between the toes @Celeriac.

Some years ago I was getting hard skin and the Podiatrist I was seeing recommended a product called Flexitol to moisturise the skin, it's safe for people with diabetes to use and says so on the tube. It's really a good moisturiser and I'd highly recommend it.

There's some good info in the following about looking after your feet:

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Monitoring/Feet/

Celeriac said:

I was wondering how others deal with minor cuts, scrapes, splinters etc in regard to diabetes.

I had a pink toe, put a colloid plaster on it and was told that I shouldn't have done that by a podiatrist. He used Inadine and I find cutting a piece to size under a plaster and slapping it on, deals with any minor cut, scrape etc for me.

No-one has ever told me how to treat minor stuff myself and there was nothing on the colloid plasters that we bought, saying 'don't use if you have diabetes'.

I know it sounds like a hypochondriac, but I keep a tube of Neosporin in my bag, so if I'm in the country and trip over a root or something I can at least squeeze some of that on until I get to a tap.

Do XPERT courses and similar cover things like simple first aid ? Or is just a case of picking ideas here and there ?

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It goes back to studies of diabetics with necrotic foot ulcers, in which this type of dressing came off worse.
I've never been an any course that covered any particular application of dressings for diabetic specifics, either medical or diabetic courses.
On a personal note, I've always found my skin heals a lot faster when kept dryer, so these particular types of dressing seem to work against me.
But then again I rarely use plasters, unless I need to stop the flow of blood, or hold something back on, as fortunately I do heal very quickly.
But I'm also up to date on all my tetanus shots for what it's worth.

In the year or so before I was diagnosed with T2 and then before my BGs were under control, I used to heal slowly. Cuts and scrapes seem to heal in "normal" timeframes now, but I find that when I get a cold it is twice as bad and takes twice as long to go away as it did before diagnosis. Not sure if that's caused by T2 or something else.