Well, tonight, I barely touched my leg with my grabber, and now I have three holes in my left leg. The two older ones, 2 weeks now, are looking like they are healing. One is coming along better than the other.
Tonight, after bleeding on both shoes and the floor (with hubby's help), I got it dressed. Here I am at 5:14 am, and the second dressing is wet...liquid.
I recall many comments about Manuka Honey, especially Jinasc. I looked it up online and saw many different numbers/strengths. Do I put it on the wounds, eat it, or both? I know you will all lend a hand and when I get up today....I will order it.
Who else can a girl turn to in the middle of the night (FOR ME). 💖💖
Hi Grammy, I believe you can buy Manuka Honey Dressings, already prepared which might be easier than DIY
I take it when l have a sore throat/bad chest especially if it’s persistent. The higher the Number the more the antibacterial properties of the honey 🍯 are, l think! it does go up markedly in price depending on the strength but personally l’d choose the ready prepared Dressings!
You don't use ordinary honey - you need the dressing standard stuff from the pharmacy to reduce the risk of infection. As MrsN says, it also comes as ready prepared dressings.
My Mum had very thin skin following her long time steroid use for Asthma, she always wore trousers in the house & a long sleeved blouse/cardigan; two fold really, one, to try & protect her arms/legs & two to cover up the damage/scars. Honestly you could just touch her & her skin would break down…..
I had it in a cream form in single sachets and in a bigger tube. This is the tube in a box. You put the cream round the edge of the wound according to the district nurse.
My thanks to all of you....I'd be lost without you. I had no idea dressings (bandages) were available in the drugstore! You know who...has so many Manuka honey products. My OH is at the drugstore now getting me some medical-grade dressings. After a $$ comparison, I'll decide where to purchase more.
Right now, I have six dressings on my arms and three on my left leg. They take forever to heal and now I am having clear-yellowish liquid coming out of the fresh ones. It seems clear to me now I have to view this as an extended 'condition' from the continuing high steroids and poor circulation. Sometimes I just get a large purple lump because of the bleeding under my skin.
I'll be having a televisit with my rheumy tomorrow morning....I'm so concerned about my vision which is not sharp any longer! But, it looks like we'll start a taper again from 20. This whole GCA mess has crept up on me in different stages. I used to be wondering where all the purple blotches came from. Now, as you said Mrs.N, my skin just splits with a good wind.
You gals are the best. I wear compression tubing all the time on my legs and maybe I better put it on my arms too. If I put it on my face, I'll take a photo~! xo💖💖
(The subtle differences in our English...when you all responded dressing...I thought salad.)
I also have a propolis cream and throat spray which are great for me. The propolis cream really helps my open wounds which I put all over not just around it.
It's really important to keep regularly changing your dressings every couple of days and check the wound health as you do not want cellulitis on top of everything else.
We are so unsophisticated in the US....I can remember my father saying, 'You are murdering the King's English. We call them bandages, even though some packaging says dressings...dressings are usually gauze with no adhesive. No, I don't want Cellulitis...again...had a bad run of that in the hospital recently. That is why I am trying so hard to heal these openings. Thanks💖
Oh poor you having already had cellulitis.... I have a few friends who are prone but know the signs early now so that they can catch it in time.Hope the manuka honey dressings work, will be interested to hear how you get on.
That sounds promising.....got my Manuka dressings on last night! I'll peek in a few days. I'm always trying to find the balance where I take care of things yet I don't want to think about them all day!! I know you understand what I mean. I talked to my rheumy this a.m. I"m going to start splitting my dosage 10-10 mg of pred to see if we can ward off the afternoon 'bomb' that goes off in my head in the afternoon. Love this doc, he listens and is flexible. Thanks!💖
I can’t help, I’ve never tried manuka honey, but I just want to send you the biggest hug possible (without breaking your skin), and hope you start to heal. S x
Hi, My husband had a manuka dressing when he gashed his leg, it didn’t work, the district nurse came twice a week to try various dressings, it took about 6-8weeks for it to get better, he was also put on antibiotics for about 3 weeks.
I personally wouldn’t put anything on it, try and get hold of the district nurses and let them decide.
I too kept getting huge gashes on my legs that bled and bled, sometimes all day, I kept my legs high up all day to try and stop the bleeding, eventually I phoned my doctors and they told me to come in and get them dressed. I stopped taking blood thinners in the end as it became ridiculous. Never had a problem since, I know it goes against the rules but when you’ve got continuous bleeding it’s no fun. Maybe just lay off the blood thinners for a few days if you really want to take them. Also, try to let the wound dry out.
I don't take blood thinners or aspirin at all...I think the squirt-like bleeding is because it is a vein??? and prednisone...and age...and poor circulation etc. It is bright red...I know that will tell some whether it is coming or going to the heart and whether there is much oxygen in it..??? I can usually stop it with consistent pressure. I just focus on stopping it and now I am armed with Manuka dressings. Awesome forum💖
Actually, it occurs to me you don't need to spend money on (not necessarily Manuka) honey or dressing. Plain granulated sugar will also serve the purpose and studies have been done:
I’ve had great success with sugar dressings. I’m uncoordinated in the kitchen and sugar in my slip-of-the-knife cuts has been very helpful. I heal faster and with less pain. It’s a very old method and was used in the battlefield for wounds.
If you don't have any, you should get some, "Dermatuff", socks and sleeves. Made with kevlar fibers, (what they make bullet proof vests from). Great company. They are in southern England. Look online. They really help. I've prevented many flaps and gashes when wearing them.
I use Manuka Honey dressings, the only thing, apart from collodial silver dressing, that are any good for the gashes I'm always getting on the lower part of my legs. When I have a bad gash I go to the nurse at my surgery to get it properly cleaned and dressed once a week. You must do this, because they can so easily become infected. I bought a rubber half leg from Amazon to put over it so the bandage and dressings remained dry whilst I had bath or shower. The nurse will tell you when it has healed well enough not to visit her. They either use manuka dressings or silver dressings. Both are excellent. It does take time, but you have to be patient if you don't want any infection and subsequent illness.
Thanks so much. I live in the states and so ...no district nurse. I take photos and send them to an infectious disease specialist, the one who treated the cellulitis in the hospital. Otherwise, they tell ANYONE to go to the ER, your A&E, and knowledge of autoimmune is slim and you are there for hours. I'll be sending her photos this afternoon. 💖
I have a lot of experience with these wounds. It helps that I have a medical background to dress the wound and keep them clean. In the beginning I had such a terrible wound from the corner of a car door. I did go to a plastic surgeon who dressed the wound. He gave me something that removed the dead skin on the wound but it was very painful. For my other two wounds I did use Manuka honey. Here in New Jersey in the US it’s called Medi honey. With the honey it was not necessary to use an antibiotic cream-never got infected. It took months to heal and I have awful scars. Optimistic note on lower doses of prednisone my skin doesn’t rip like before. I did buy dressings/bandages on Amazon. It’s a good idea to be supervised by your medical providers. It’s a problem and summer to protect your legs and not roast. In the winter I wore knee socks and of course slacks. In the summer I bought thin arm protectors that runners use. They’re made out of polyester. I use those on my calves. Got those on Amazon. There was another site that had leg protectors that were thicker I use those on my forearms. Now on lower doses of prednisone I don’t bruise nearly as badly. It is extremely frustrating to get these wounds and bleed all over the place. I’m just a year younger than you.One more hint:Cover sharp edges in your home with some type of duct tape. In my house it was corners of metal chairs, sharp edges of cabinets, appliances, door jamb equipment. Are use a grabber to get things out of the washer and dryer. I even ripped skin on the corner of a towel bar. You can use your imagination to see with a sharp edges are and cover them with tape. Lots of luck. There are wound specialist in the US. You might try that.
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