Amputees

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MikeyBikey

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I have had a BKA to the left as a result of diabetes related PAD. Two others in my hospital bay (of 4) had diabetic related amputations. I have never seen this mentioned. Are there any other amputees on the forum?

One thing I would say the shock of an amputation is many orders of magnitude than a diagnosis of diabetes.
 
I can imagine that the shock is severe indeed and that people (like me) do as much as they can to avoid that path if they can.

A very tough subject too
 
So very sorry to hear of your loss. I have been trying to imagine the horrific emotional impact of such surgery recently because a forum stalwart was scheduled to have her amputation on Monday and we haven't heard anything from her since Saturday. I actually thought this thread might have been started by her when I saw it this morning. I hope you will both be able to give support and advice to others as sadly, yes it can be one of the major complications of diabetes.

I hope your surgery has gone as well as it possibly can and you are healing well. How recently did you have it done? Have you started physio?

I think it is very brave of you to start a thread like this and I really hope it will be helpful to others. I hope @Ljc will be able to comment when she has recovered from her surgery.
 
Gwynn said:
I can imagine that the shock is severe indeed and that people (like me) do as much as they can to avoid that path if they can.

A very tough subject too
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Yes, it was a huge shock as I went for an angioplasty to improve the circulation as I had an ulcerated toe that was going necrotic. The angioplasty failed and suddenly the underlying infection took off and infected my whole body. And the pain was off the scale! When I came round it was akin to having had an abcessed tooth out.

Both the infection and resulting anemia meant I was in hospital for quite a while. I had to my on my phone for contact as their was no visiting because of Covid restrictions.

My use of the prosthetic is limited as I have had some stump issues so most of my waking day is ina wheelchair. Because of Covid physio has been very erratic. Social services have been useless. So while I coped well with the amputation itself life post amputation has proved stressful.

I will look up Ljc's post.

I decided to raise this issue as until I had the amputation I was unaware how many actually take place.Amonst those I have encountered the vast majority are either diabetes or smoking related, with one being an RTA.

If I can offer any advice or support just ask.

P.S. Also replying to @rebrascora
 
Thanks for that detailed reply. I hope it will help others.

This is a link to Lin's post

Sounds like you had a close call with the infection suddenly spreading quickly. It must be a huge shock to be in that situation!
Sorry to hear you are having problems using the prosthetic and that physio has been impacted by Covid. I imagine physio is really important in these early stages as you will no doubt need lots of physical support. If you don't mind me asking, how long after surgery do you get fitted with a prosthetic?

Hope your situation starts to improve soon.
 
So sorry to hear this! I can only imagine how devastating it must have been.

FWIW, a nice guy who lives in my building had a BKA for PAD earlier this year. He's now getting around very well on a prosthetic and seems pretty cheerful.

As a PAD sufferer, I'm doing everything I know of to avoid getting to this point.

- Gave up smoking.
- Tight control of LDL and trigs - max dose statin, little saturated fat.
- And in general an anti-inflammatory, mainly plant-based diet.
- Weight loss, so BG and BP bopth normalised.
- Lots of walking to build up collateral circulation and hopefully stave off ischemia.

But who knows how it will end up?

Anyway, lots of admiration for posting and good luck with everything!
 
MikeyBikey said:
I have had a BKA to the left as a result of diabetes related PAD. Two others in my hospital bay (of 4) had diabetic related amputations. I have never seen this mentioned. Are there any other amputees on the forum?

One thing I would say the shock of an amputation is many orders of magnitude than a diagnosis of diabetes.
Click to expand...
Diabetes is a major cause of amputations in Britain, if not the major cause. And in the Third World. The St. Vincents Declaration (1989) was a big attempt to reduce them. Patchy progress so far on that. Diabetics remain x15 more likely to have an amputation.
Good wishes for the future.
 
Really sorry to hear your news @MikeyBikey

Can’t imagine how devastating it must have been for things to unfold so quickly and so seriously for you.

Diabetes UK did run a ‘feet first’ campaign a few years back to highlight the number of diabetes-related amputations.

Hope your stump issues resolve, and wish you every speed and good wish in adjusting to your new chapter.

Must have been very difficult dealing with this through the chaos of covid. :(
 
Burylancs said:
Diabetes is a major cause of amputations in Britain, if not the major cause. And in the Third World. The St. Vincents Declaration (1989) was a big attempt to reduce them. Patchy progress so far on that. Diabetics remain x15 more likely to have an amputation.
Good wishes for the future.
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Progress in this area has been far to slow and the UK should be ashamed at having the worse amputation rate in Western Europe! I feel part of the problem is that vascular surgery and limb salvage are somewhat of a Cinderella in health care being a sideline of general surgery rather than its own entity like heart surgery.
 
rebrascora said:
Thanks for that detailed reply. I hope it will help others.

This is a link to Lin's post

Sounds like you had a close call with the infection suddenly spreading quickly. It must be a huge shock to be in that situation!
Sorry to hear you are having problems using the prosthetic and that physio has been impacted by Covid. I imagine physio is really important in these early stages as you will no doubt need lots of physical support. If you don't mind me asking, how long after surgery do you get fitted with a prosthetic?

Hope your situation starts to improve soon.
Click to expand...

I was measured up for the socket at eight weeks and got the prosthetic limb at 10. You have to reach a certain standard of fitness to get a limb. A fit young person who heals well could get one in only two to three weeks but I have heard of more complex cases taking well over a year.
 
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