Broken bones and diabetes

[falcon123]

Falcon, can I ask how you broke your femur? Mine snapped of its own accord at mile 23 of the Stockholm Marathon! That was 5 years ago now, but I still get the occasional problem.

Hi Northerner, I had borrowed my mate's Harley and after cruising down the local dual carrigeway at the ton hit some diesel on the roundabout. Sounds good but not the truth. I actually told someone this when they started telling me that the fracture was caused by me not eating enough spinach - I do not know the person and they just came up and interrupted a conversation I was having with a friend whilst on crutches. The truth is far less interesting. I actually tripped and went over something else. In hospital the surgeon said that it was just not my day (an understatement) and that if I had been shorter and lighter I would have got away with it (85kg/1.85m). At least subsequent tests in Guy's shown better than average bone density and no underlying cause. Have you still got the metalwork in? Apparently my leg has a higher scrap value than many cars!

 

[Northerner]

Hi Northerner, I had borrowed my mate's Harley and after cruising down the local dual carrigeway at the ton hit some diesel on the roundabout. Sounds good but not the truth. I actually told someone this when they started telling me that the fracture was caused by me not eating enough spinach - I do not know the person and they just came up and interrupted a conversation I was having with a friend whilst on crutches. The truth is far less interesting. I actually tripped and went over something else. In hospital the surgeon said that it was just not my day (an understatement) and that if I had been shorter and lighter I would have got away with it (85kg/1.85m). At least subsequent tests in Guy's shown better than average bone density and no underlying cause. Have you still got the metalwork in? Apparently my leg has a higher scrap value than many cars!

Thought I would move this to its own thread - not really anything to do with diabetic chocolate!

Mine makes quite a good story - running along in Stockholm Marathon, 3 miles to go, feeling good, enormous crack, leg no longer supporting me...they wouldn't let me finsih on one leg and I didn't get my medal!

Still full of the best Swedish Titanium. Apparently, if you're over 40 they don't take it out. This is the leg w/o scaffolding, the break was just above the kneecap:

and this is it now...

How were you during recovery? I had an absolutely ravenous appetite - eating whole cakes and packets of biscuits, drinking gallons of tea - I really don't know how I would have managed if I'd had diabetes then as my carb consumption was through the roof!😱 Anyone else break a bone and have problems because of their diabetes?

 

[grovesy]

I have a freind who is not diabetic but has a metal work in her leg and a very slow healing femur fracture, she has been told her metal work will come out. She is over 40 and under the care of The National Orthopaedic Hospital.

 

[Northerner]

I have a freind who is not diabetic but has a metal work in her leg and a very slow healing femur fracture, she has been told her metal work will come out. She is over 40 and under the care of The National Orthopaedic Hospital.

That's interesting Grovesy. I was told they don't take it out because your bones do not rebuild the strength that you do in the years before 40 y.o. It's pretty much invisible in my leg anyway - you can hardly see the scar, and it would be quite a major op to remove it (as you can probably guess from the pictures!). I always thought I would set of airport alarms, but I don't🙂

 

[falcon123]

I have a freind who is not diabetic but has a metal work in her leg and a very slow healing femur fracture, she has been told her metal work will come out. She is over 40 and under the care of The National Orthopaedic Hospital.

I was told that it tends to stay in unless there is a problem such as a loosening off of one or more screws. This is providing that there is no underlying bone weakness when they would try and resolve the problem. I know someone who has had the metal work out. Although it is very sore afterwards, as there is no break, you can weight bear in a few hours. Another friend has been "metaled up" since a motorcycle crash as a teenager so I think there are no set rules.

 

[falcon123]

Hi Northerner, I was not actually that hungry in recovery. Before I broke my femur I had been suffering back problems for a year. Eight days before the accident I was diagnosed with two prolapsed discs (L5 and L6) after an MRI scan. I think the variety of painkillers was suppressing my appetite. Initially I was put on a sliding scale but about 36 hours after the operation (I had an epidural and was awake through the procedure) I came off it. The problem was that I am on high purity porcine insulin (an attempt to switch to the GM human insulin had not been a success) and the hospital did not have any in stock! I only had the actrapid on me. It took them five days to source this and in the interim my BG varied between 3 and 25 as I was given a variety of insulins. Extremely annoying as I would imagine the local chemist could have sourced it, if not in stock, in 24 hours. Until I switched over to Tramadol from co-codamol my stomach felt quite bloated. The hospital food was quite unappetising! After discharge my appetite was much as normal but I had been on insulin and diet for over 40 years. Sometimes I suggest that I do not eat overly large meals because we were poor when I was a child!

 

[Northerner]

I was probably on about 6-8,000 calories a day and several litres of fluids. Despite that, and despite being practically unable to do any form of exercise, I lost weight in the first three months. I thought at the time that it was just my body requiring all the extra energy to heal me. Don't plan on repeating the experiment now I'm diabetic!

Bad news about the insulin in hospital BTW, I suppose someone had assumed you'd be on the human stuff. I had the epidural too and was looking forward to watching. However, I'd just run the best part of a marathon the day before and the op was at 11:30 pm - I was so tired I fell asleep shortly after the start!😱🙂

 

[grovesy]

I was suprised when she said , as it has taken over a year for it to start healing
. She has been given the impression it could be a focus for infection, and is still on heavy duty long term antibiotics.

 

[am64]

I have a freind who is not diabetic but has a metal work in her leg and a very slow healing femur fracture, she has been told her metal work will come out. She is over 40 and under the care of The National Orthopaedic Hospital.

thanks for contact re national othopaedic hospital it close to where we live and am seeing gp next week for referral for son with broken hand ...maybe well get some answers...its 8 weeks since he broke it...an still in agony
just spent another 31/2 hrs in hospital today no real answers!

 

[falcon123]

I broke my wrist in 2003. After over 8 hours in A&E and an x-ray I was told that it was only a sprain. Ten days later I was still in a lot of pain and had pins and needles in the outer three fingers. I then went to another hospital where after only 30 minutes wait I was sent for another x-ray to reassure me. When it was put up on the screen "lo and behold" a fractured wrist. It eventually took nearly five months to heal because it had not been sorted initially. To this day I have never fully regained the grip I had in the hand.