{"id":773,"date":"2012-03-09T11:46:03","date_gmt":"2012-03-09T10:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?p=773"},"modified":"2012-03-14T11:24:19","modified_gmt":"2012-03-14T10:24:19","slug":"happy-feet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?p=773","title":{"rendered":"Happy feet"},"content":{"rendered":"

I woke up on Wednesday morning and groaned at the latest “diabetes” story on the radio 4: Diabetes amputation rates show huge regional variation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rather than teach the newly diagnosed that actually, checking your feet regularly (and if you have a diagnosis of neuropathy, daily) is an\u00a0effective way \u00a0of picking up infections that may lead to amputation, Diabetes UK wish to ensure diabetic feet are checked annually.<\/p>\n

After all such infections only occur just before our hospital visits.<\/p>\n

My experience with topical infection has shown that seeking treatment for subcutaneous infections meets with complete disinterest from doctors who very reluctantly will prescribe the appropriate level of antibiotics.\u00a0 I have had a skin cream, much like E45, prescribed in these instances to end up three days later in hospital having an abscess drained!<\/p>\n

GPs need to understand that diabetics, especially with severe nerve damage, need access to antibiotics.\u00a0 Much like a human missing a spleen, our bodies do not fight infections easily and time is of the essence.<\/p>\n

We need to understand, that we need to look after this.\u00a0 I met a soldier once who examined his feet and legs daily to ensure his most precious equipment worked well: he saw this as his responsibility.<\/p>\n

As a diabetic, we have the responsibility to look after ourselves.\u00a0 We need to check our feet regularly ourselves or ask a loved one to help.<\/p>\n

We also need the medical profession to understand the risks we carry.\u00a0 Antibiotics, even given out of hours, are much cheaper than operations and prosthetics.<\/p>\n

How to check your feet<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Check the skin for tears and abrasions (cuts), punctures and splinters (large and small).\u00a0\u00a0 You are checking that the\u00a0skin is intact.<\/li>\n
  2. Have you any new blisters or corns? – remember them, that’s where you’ll start your check tomorrow!<\/li>\n
  3. Are there any red or hot patches?\u00a0 When you have a skin infection, you will often have a localised rise in temperature round the primary site.\u00a0 If you can’t tell, some adults have difficulty detecting differences in temperature, ask someone to check for you.\u00a0 If you have a “hot area” and have been wearing shoes and socks – remove them for 30 minutes and recheck.\u00a0 If it’s still hot, seek medical attention.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I woke up on Wednesday morning and groaned at the latest “diabetes” story on the radio 4: Diabetes amputation rates show huge regional variation. Rather than teach the newly diagnosed that actually, checking your feet regularly (and if you have a diagnosis of neuropathy, daily) is an\u00a0effective way \u00a0of picking up infections that may lead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-type-1-diabetes"],"yoast_head":"\nHappy feet - Finding the chase and cutting to it<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?p=773\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Happy feet - Finding the chase and cutting to it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I woke up on Wednesday morning and groaned at the latest “diabetes” story on the radio 4: Diabetes amputation rates show huge regional variation. Rather than teach the newly diagnosed that actually, checking your feet regularly (and if you have a diagnosis of neuropathy, daily) is an\u00a0effective way \u00a0of picking up infections that may lead […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?p=773\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Finding the chase and cutting to it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-09T10:46:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-03-14T10:24:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sam J Watkins\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sam J Watkins\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=773#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=773\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sam J Watkins\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b001c9aecccd284b29f0d69e10c68af5\"},\"headline\":\"Happy feet\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-09T10:46:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-03-14T10:24:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=773\"},\"wordCount\":377,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Diabetes\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=773#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=773\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=773\",\"name\":\"Happy feet - Finding the chase and cutting to it\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-09T10:46:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-03-14T10:24:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b001c9aecccd284b29f0d69e10c68af5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=773#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=773\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=773#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Happy feet\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Finding the chase and cutting to it\",\"description\":\"A collection of thoughts, reactions and general comment\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b001c9aecccd284b29f0d69e10c68af5\",\"name\":\"Sam J Watkins\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0f33fed47b6bcd59c4fb4184af075e1f981651c38fd946b5cc6d4ed5ff0e18fd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0f33fed47b6bcd59c4fb4184af075e1f981651c38fd946b5cc6d4ed5ff0e18fd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0f33fed47b6bcd59c4fb4184af075e1f981651c38fd946b5cc6d4ed5ff0e18fd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sam J Watkins\"},\"description\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/sam-watkins-6564311\\\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samjwatkins.com\\\/blog\\\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Happy feet - Finding the chase and cutting to it","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?p=773","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Happy feet - Finding the chase and cutting to it","og_description":"I woke up on Wednesday morning and groaned at the latest “diabetes” story on the radio 4: Diabetes amputation rates show huge regional variation. Rather than teach the newly diagnosed that actually, checking your feet regularly (and if you have a diagnosis of neuropathy, daily) is an\u00a0effective way \u00a0of picking up infections that may lead […]","og_url":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?p=773","og_site_name":"Finding the chase and cutting to it","article_published_time":"2012-03-09T10:46:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-03-14T10:24:19+00:00","author":"Sam J Watkins","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sam J Watkins","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?p=773#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?p=773"},"author":{"name":"Sam J Watkins","@id":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b001c9aecccd284b29f0d69e10c68af5"},"headline":"Happy feet","datePublished":"2012-03-09T10:46:03+00:00","dateModified":"2012-03-14T10:24:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?p=773"},"wordCount":377,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Diabetes"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?p=773#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?p=773","url":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?p=773","name":"Happy feet - Finding the chase and cutting to it","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-03-09T10:46:03+00:00","dateModified":"2012-03-14T10:24:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b001c9aecccd284b29f0d69e10c68af5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?p=773#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?p=773"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?p=773#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Happy feet"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/","name":"Finding the chase and cutting to it","description":"A collection of thoughts, reactions and general comment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b001c9aecccd284b29f0d69e10c68af5","name":"Sam J Watkins","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f33fed47b6bcd59c4fb4184af075e1f981651c38fd946b5cc6d4ed5ff0e18fd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f33fed47b6bcd59c4fb4184af075e1f981651c38fd946b5cc6d4ed5ff0e18fd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f33fed47b6bcd59c4fb4184af075e1f981651c38fd946b5cc6d4ed5ff0e18fd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sam J Watkins"},"description":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/sam-watkins-6564311\/","sameAs":["http:\/\/samjwatkins.com"],"url":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=773"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":785,"href":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773\/revisions\/785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samjwatkins.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}