Bright side of Peripheral Neurpathy?

[Ennis-TX]

There is a bit of a bright side to everything, the lack of feeling in my hands and feet to surface temperatures and pain means I can burn, cut, or bruise myself and as long as it is not deep tissue I can go about my normal business and rationally deal with it. Cut my hand, just superglue the cut closed glove up and go about my day. Burn myself, most of the times I do not even notice, "Oh I forgot the oven mitt" til the smell or the the deep burn gets to me, I just rationally stick it in cold water and ice and deal with the peeling later. Today I did something to my foot, ball of my foot is all purple...no clue but I walked 12miles on it, SO THIS one might need a doctor but going been icing it, feeling around seems like it originated under a callouses on the ball and spread along the side.....well I walk 10 miles average a day so this is going to be a odd one.

[ravenwoodglass]

This is not a bright side. Just ask any Diabetic who has had an amputation. You need to be very careful until this resolves.  Carefully check your feet at least a couple times a day. Make sure you don't have any blisters or cuts and if you do clean and cover them and if any signs of infection show get to your doctor promptly.

If you have cuts serious enough to need to use superglue on you need to have them evaluated by your doctor. Let the doctor decide whether you need stiches, glue or just a butterfly bandage. You do not want to glue in any bacteria and if the wound needs to drain the glue will prevent that. Some injuries you want to have air exposure to heal quicker. Talk to your doctor about what you need to do with cuts and scrapes.

Your doctor may also want to do an electromylogram to check your nerve conduction and if you have no feeling in your feet he/she may want you to be evaluated by a PT because numbness can effect your gait making you more prone to falls.

I hope this issue resolves soon for you and for heaven's sake use potholders or another tool whenever cooking or baking.

[Ennis-TX]

I normally do use a pot holder or oven mitt but sometimes I get in a rush hear the timer and just reach in, I have gotten good at stopping myself after initially grabbing it. As for the super glue, I only use it on palm,hand injuries while cooking (these normally involve a knife and do not close or stop bleeding quickly otherwise) , This way I can seal it up quick put on gloves and get back to cooking. As I said the bright side is I can deal with it rationally as there is no pain/panic.

As for the foot, this one scared me as I realize how bad it could be say if I stepped on something or cut my foot. I felt a sharp pain like glass on bone deep in my foot first thing in the morning. I looked at it, gave myself a foot rub seeing if I could figure it out, then socked up and went about my day. End of the day I took off my socks and saw it was blackish.purple running from the callus on the ball where I felt the pain, running in a 1inch wide bruise around the side of the ball to the top big toe knuckle. I had walked a almost a full 12.5 miles that day on it and felt nothing wrong. This morning it seems to have receded to just to the outside of the top big toe knuckle but still blackish from the side of the ball to that callous, no pain still this morning. Might try using a bike today and putting my weight on the heel to avoid aggravating it.

[GFinDC]

Hi Ennis,

If it's healing that's good.  It is definitely important to be extra cautious now.  You should probably check your shoes or boots for forgein objects.  It could be the boots/shoes are defective.  For diabetics they make special shoes that have smooth linings without big stitches inside.  My brother has Type-2 diabetes and he likes the pull on style boots.  I think they call them muck boots?  He has trouble with small things so it is easier to pull on boots than tie laces.

Recently he got a drywall screw in the bottom of his shoe and walked around on it all day thinking it was a rock stuck in the shoe tread.  That was a bad idea.  So now he has weeks of healing and care to do for that foot.

Boots are generally safer than shoes for anyone.  I wear boots with a pull up zipper on the side so I don't have to re-tie them to put on or take off.  Makes it fast and easy.  They are made by Dan Post.  They are similar to these linked boots but I only paid about $60 or so bucks at a discount shoe place.

  Open Original Shared Link

I've had nails in my foot before so anytime I am working anywhere around construction I always wear boots.  It's much nicer to pull nails out of your boot sole than out of your foot!

The problem with numbness is you can't feel a bad fit well, or a small imperfection in the inside of shoe/boot.  Fit has to be right size (should be measured by sales person) and the inner lining should be smooth with no big seam lines.  Boots do adjust their shape to your foot after a few days of being worn.  But proud seams don't go away.  Thick socks might help too.

Is that you in your profile pic?  I see you are wearing gloves.  That isn't such a bad idea either.

[Ennis-TX]

12 minutes ago, GFinDC said:

Hi Ennis,Open Original Shared Link

If it's healing that's good.  It is definitely important to be extra cautious now.  You should probably check your shoes or boots for forgein objects.  It could be the boots/shoes are defective.  For diabetics they make special shoes that have smooth linings without big stitches inside.  My brother has Type-2 diabetes and he likes the pull on style boots.  I think they call them muck boots?  He has trouble with small things so it is easier to pull on boots than tie laces.

Recently he got a drywall screw in the bottom of his shoe and walked around on it all day thinking it was a rock stuck in the shoe tread.  That was a bad idea.  So now he has weeks of healing and care to do for that foot.

Boots are generally safer than shoes for anyone.  I wear boots with a pull up zipper on the side so I don't have to re-tie them to put on or take off.  Makes it fast and easy.  They are made by Dan Post.  They are similar to these linked boots but I only paid about $60 or so bucks at a discount shoe place.

  Open Original Shared Link

I've had nails in my foot before so anytime I am working anywhere around construction I always wear boots.  It's much nicer to pull nails out of your boot sole than out of your foot!

The problem with numbness is you can't feel a bad fit well, or a small imperfection in the inside of shoe/boot.  Fit has to be right size (should be measured by sales person) and the inner lining should be smooth with no big seam lines.  Boots do adjust their shape to your foot after a few days of being worn.  But proud seams don't go away.  Thick socks might help too.

Is that you in your profile pic?  I see you are wearing gloves.  That isn't such a bad idea either.

Yep Dickies makes extra thick socks for steel toe boots that I love, really helps keep your feet from getting blisters etc. I tend to wear steel toe boots a lot and change out the insole once every 8-12 months. I also wear running shoes and change them out every year. As to the gloves, yep with allergies and celiac, I like wearing gloves when out and about (My hands look terrible from various damage). Keeps stuff from getting on my skin and under my nails, I like to wear nitrile ones a lot but it looks better to have cotton ones for going out, it fits well with dressing up.