cellulitis

[Londonbound]

Every time one of my carees gets cellulitis, it's a trip to the doctors 5 miles away or a trip to the hospital A&E , hours waiting.
the doctors know she has Diabetes type 2 cellulitis a lot more likely, surely it would make sense to give her a prescription in advance to get antibiotics as soon as possible.
Is this allowed, every time I get a phone call she is not well but I have to go around sometimes late at night to take her to A&E.
With all this about only go to A&E when absolutely necessary why can't someone do this.
She has asked her gp but the local commissioning board is cutting down on antibiotics, fair enough but she doesn't just want them, she needs them, says on the NHS website, can end up in hospital if you don't get treatment sooner rather than later.

Can anyone advise and about cellulitis in general , very little been told about the other effects of diabetes 2 ,, e.g more likely to get infections.

[jenny lucas]

It does sound irritating there isn't some kind of 'speed dial' for the prescriptions she needs so routinetly.

I believe ceullitis is taken very seriously - I was put on AB even for a small amount of cellulitis - especially with diabetes. If the infection gets down through the skin layers into the blood, then the real danger is sepsis, and that kills very, very quickly if not caught really fast.

Presumably with diabetes there's the extra danger of gangrene leading to amputation??????

[jenny lucas]

only a thought, and it may be useless, but any chance of smearing a lot of high-strength Manuka honey on limbs that look like ceullitis is setting in, as a kind of 'warding off'?

(You might even find that ordinary honey, or even sugar, does the trick. I can remember a year or so ago reading about a Nigerian doctor working in the UK, who recommended basically ladellign a bag of sugar onto a wound of someone who was post-op and the wound would NOT heal, despite every AB in the book and then some - and it worked. He said that sugar was the standard treatment in Nigeria as it's cheaper than AB. The hospital was going to run a trial - not sure if they ever did.)

[susieq]

only a thought, and it may be useless, but any chance of smearing a lot of high-strength Manuka honey on limbs that look like ceullitis is setting in, as a kind of 'warding off'?

(You might even find that ordinary honey, or even sugar, does the trick. I can remember a year or so ago reading about a Nigerian doctor working in the UK, who recommended basically ladellign a bag of sugar onto a wound of someone who was post-op and the wound would NOT heal, despite every AB in the book and then some - and it worked. He said that sugar was the standard treatment in Nigeria as it's cheaper than AB. The hospital was going to run a trial - not sure if they ever did.)

I wouldn't recommend this unless directed by a GP, especially if the patient has diabetes. Sugars can be absorbed through the skin into the blood stream as well as via the stomach and, therefore, could raise blood sugar levels.

[Henrietta]

Hi Londonbound
I've found the best way to get really urgent antibiotics is through an urgent GP or an h=out of hours GP via 111 , although this in itself is a most tedious process as you work your way through the spanish inquisition and then wait to be contacted by GP. If you are acting as professional carer can your office not do the ringing around ? Dad had had cellulitis several times and I have never known him getting a prescription before either a district nurse or GP has seen his legs. Sadly the only thing I can recommend to speed things up is to jump up and down and make a lot of noise, sadly not possibly timewise if you are a paid carer. Could you ask any one from the family if there is anybody to chase for you?

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/237378-overview
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Cellulitis ... ction.aspx

[jenny lucas]

Gosh, Susie, yes, good point! Just goes to show Scally was right when he used to warn everyone 'Don't take advice just because your heard it from some random guy on a forum'!!!!

I wasn't thinking though of NOT going to the GP/A and E etc, more just like a 'pro tem' or even potentially prophylactic step to take. (But clearly NOT if the person is diabetic)

There's quite a lot on the Internet about using sugar/honey as an antiseptic/antibiotic which is interesting to read. (But then there's quite a lot on the Intenet about Elvis living on the moon, too!)

[rosemary]

After a hernia op several years ago I was rushed back in to hospital with cellulitis, it was severe. Drs used dressings with silver and they helped a lot.

I have had a leg ulcer now for almost 8 months, it will just not heal. Had several trips to walk in centre and now being dressed by nurse twice a week. Doppler test next week to determine if compression bandages be needed. Anyways, AFTER checking with nurse and GP I actually started using Manuka honey last week and already there is an improvement. However, I know from research I have done online that it does not suit everyone, and in some cases can actually worsen the situation.

Always best to seek proper medical advice.

x x

[jenny lucas]

That's encouraging, Rosemary - glad it's helping. Fingers crossed continues to do so.

I sometimes put a blob of manuka honey on a cut before putting a plaster on it (when I have to put a plaster, that is, simply to protect it from dirt etc). No idea if it heals faster. But you never know! Also, you have to be quite sparing - honey seems to 'spread' all over and it's VERY sticky!!!!

Overall, I try and be 'sparing' with the use of anti-biotics (saving them for when I might really need them), but it's always a tricky business 'self-medicating'. Sometimes I've been shocked at how quickly infection can set in. I had a gardening scratch on my forehead that I thought little of, then within days I had a swollen lymph nodule in my neck, and a kind of permanent itching and inflammation down the side of my cheek where the scratch was....the doc said it was impetigo and could lead to cellulitis and potentially sepsis, and put me straight on ABs! (Healed it pretty instantly!)

One of the saddest stories in medical history has to be the one where there was a chap in the 1940s, who, I think cut himself (also gardening) on a rose bush, I think, the wound got infected, and he was developing sepsis - they rushed him into hospital where, as a last resort they gave him a dose of what was then still in trial - it was penicillin. The impact was dramatic, and he started to heal - but they only had a very limited amount of penicillin....and the sepsis roared back, and the chap died.....

I seem to remember hearing on the TV in a history programme or some such that in the Middle East (eg, crusader times), the doctors used to put mouldy blue cheese on war wounds....with some success. Presumablyf a form of 'wild' penicillin?

[MrsAverage]

Blue cheese?
Honey?
Just need to add walnuts and pears and you have a lovely salad under that dressing , boom boom

[jenny lucas]

Maybe those are the secret ingredients to an instant cure!

(I do love pear/walnut/honey/cheese salads - yummy.)