Cellulitis and Lymphedema – Bah Humbug!
Cellulitis/Lymphedema is nasty. Did I mention it is painful? Moreover, it takes ‘forever’ to heal – or so it seems. This time, the weeping sores have spread all the way around my lower left leg.
Seeing the blood on the old pads covering the wounds was new. The blood was new but I was told by a medical person when I called the office that it meant the skin was healing and not to worry. Well. Okay.
I am not worried either that yesterday in the shower hunks of skin sloughed off my leg. The stinging and burning was harsher than usual but I could not see what my husband was talking about until I saw the photos he took of my leg before he rewrapped it.
The medical person who told me my leg was healing might be wrong. According to her, I should have healed last week.
Nothing, this time, resembles what has happened with prior cellulitis/lymphedema ‘attacks’.
What have other patients done to help heal cellulitis/lymphedema? I don’t know what to do next. What we’ve been doing isn’t working.
Beginning to feel like a monkey swinging off the end of a branch high up on a snag tree in the middle of a windstorm – I know storms abate and wounds heal!
Thanks for reading… Sharon O’Hara
Google curcumin the active ingredient in turmeric. After you have done your research (Mayo clinic is a good site) get some and use it! I used 1000 mg twice a day with food and lots of water until I healed and now I take 500 mg everyday just because. I buy it online from drugstore.com and use Doctor’s Best. It works! Regards, Mary
Mary I can see you posted this a few years back – but you said that the curcumin healed the wounds of your lymphedema – How long did that take ?- I see where you mentioned that you still use a maintance level of curcumin. Is this still working – I have my fingers crossed that it still is – I have lymphedema on my lower legs – what you wrote makes sense – I am trying not to get to excited – that you have found something to help keep the wounds at bay along with the pain.
Let me know. Sincerely, Jane
Jane, I’ve just finished another Lymphedema/cellulitis/MRSA session in my lower legs and telling the story what worked for me. Finally and the incredible docs, staff – a miracle I’m still here.
Thanks for writing Jane!
Sharon
Hi Sharon,
What is MRSA? Did you try Mary’s idea of the Curcumin? I know what you mean by extreme pain. I want to get rid of it once and for all if possible. I have had the una boot but it seems like every February I’m back at the wound care center – and it is wearing very thin- before lymphedema my skin was soft and smooth but it did not like any thing on it = thank you for responding. Sincerely, Jane
Try an unna boot.
Get a referral to the wound care clinic.
Boy, that’s bad. I get almost dry…then I’m on my legs too long for days, and/or I haven’t taken my bumetanide (pee pills – they say it doesn’t make a difference on leg water, but it does for me, significantly) for a couple days in a row, and I’m back to using Kotex to sop up the water. Your legs look like they haven’t been getting dry at all, they are soggy. How often are you wrapping? I would think you’d be going thru your wraps a couple times a day with drops that size. Do you get your legs up, trunk down, several times a day, too?
Are you receiving Manual Lymph Drainage weekly from a trained therapist? Your doctor and the wound care clinic should have this for you as an on going self care treatment. I’ve had lower leg lymphedema with several bouts of cellulitus. Once it has been healed, I have sessions at least twice a month to maintain fluid balance. I have also found that tumeric works.
Nancy, Sally Santana has sadly passed on, but your comments are here to help others learn to live better with this disease and get the help we so desperately need.
You passed on great questions to ask our doctors and others.
Thank you for taking the time to let us know what is available. I have a list on my blog of people – places that I know about to get help for lymphedema and cellulitis. Time to update it.
Thanks again… Sharon
Mary, Joe, Sally – THANKS!
Mary, I’m seeing my pulmo tomorrow and bringing a print-out of this post and your idea about the curcumin doing the job nothing else is touching for me. I have a lot of things to ask him.
Joe, I’ve recently used the unna boot three times of excruciating pain…it felt like cement rubbing against raw skin. I refused to use it again although I was told it had cured me in two week some years ago. The only things I remember are the pain when the sores open and weep lymph fluid.
Sally, this is the worst and longest session I can recall. Other medical conditions make elevating my legs most of the time, impossible. Some nights/days I stand up all night long for relief of RLS – NOT good for Cellulitis/Lymphedema. I alter standing with sitting and dozing in an office chair.
What has helped work the best for me keeping this away so long were the pressure stockings and the intensive water work-out with swim coach, Marilyn Grindrod… but I can’ t get in the water with the running stuff that fills my slippers through the wraps.
Thank God for Melissa teaching C how to wrap my legs!
You are right about the p pills helping keep the fluid down – the problem for me is the bone on bone left hip…it doesn’t like long sessions on a toilet seat… which happens with the higher dose p pills.
The huge ‘Big John’ toilet seat helps.
Thanks! Sharon
Thank you for the good writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it.
Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! By the way, how could we
communicate?
Thanks for your kind words.
Sharon O’Hara familien1@comcast.net