Diabetic Cellulitis Treatment

About two weeks ago I was at working and I felt a dull pain in the heel of my right foot. I thought I had simply irritated my foot however as the day progressed, it became more and more painful. I went to a walk in medical clinic and the doctor noticed that there was a little bit of swelling in the inside of my right heel, and it was noticeably red in color. He wrote me out some instructions to get an X Ray as well as a blood test to see if there was an infection which I was going to do the next day. He also gave me a prescription for an anti-inflammitory called Naproxen.

The naproxen was a little hard on the stomach and required foot or a glass of milk be taken with it, and I found that it caused some drowsiness.

I woke up in the middle of the night with a throb and pain like I had never felt before. Fearing the worst because the pain had come on so rapidly and gotten very bad very quickly, I decided to get up and see what was going on.

I could not put pressure on my heel, and it had swelled up to almost twice the size it normally was.

I went to the Vancouver General Hospital at about 5:00am and saw a doctor right away. He put me on an antibiotic called cephalexin and diagnosed the problem right away.

Cellulitus, which is an infection of connective tissue with severe inflammation of dermal and subcutaneous layers of the skin.

As a diabetic, I am aware of any sores on my feet, or cuts that are not healing. There was nothing out of the norm on either foot that I was concerned about. My family has been blessed with dry cracking heels throughout the year and I had a few very small cracks on my heel which is more than likely what caused it he had said. A bacteria could have gotten in there and made its way to the connective tissue in my foot.

Treatment Included:

Soaking my foot in Epson Salts
Rest (stay off the foot)
Elevation over the heart
Antibiotic Drugs
Anti Inflammatory Drugs

Within a day and a half the swelling had mostly subsided, the pain was going away, and the redness had turned into itchiness which is a sign that it was healing.

After a week I had finished the Antibiotics and everything seems to have gone back to normal.

As a diabetic, it is important to be aware of any pain, sores, or cuts on your feet. Lack of circulation can cause infection quite easily but with a little care, can be avoided.