Made it through Christmas

Well we made it through Christmas without too much turmoil. Everyone got what they wanted, for me, an IPod touch! Now when Im sitting at my own dr appointments or at my hubbys I can play a game or watch a movie or just listen to music. Its pretty cool, Im still excited over it. I hope everyone else had a decent holiday also.

Ok, for my hands, I have a few bumps here and there, only a couple of them painful on my left thumb. My fingertips just get that hard leathery skin over them and then peel off in big chunks. I hate it.

My feet... ugh, my feet. I wish I could get them to calm down. I have to wear socks all the time right now because my body thinks the purpose for feet is to act like velcro. the center bottoms of both feet are scaling, peeling, cracked. All around my toes I have blisters and peeling skin. The tips of my big toes have blisters and peeling skin all the way up to under the nail. Ive soaked them, slather them with vaseline, which normally softens the skin enough that I can sleep a day or two even without socks on but nothing is working lately. Ive tried to keep as stress free as possible too but sometimes this crap just has its own plan in store I guess.

Now Ive had a bad cold the last 3 days, sore throat, stuffy/runny nose, now a mild but irritating cough. Im wondering what my hands and feet will look like in a week.

Ok, well thats about all thats going on right now. Ill try to post next week again. Its hard with the heavy schedule of doctor appointments. Take care!

Brrrr

Its been so cold! The weather went form summer almost into winter. Its fall and its already spot out a few snow flurries. I'm having a really hard time with my P. Both my big toes are not only peeled off down to the soft tissue but there are more blisters now which means, yep, more peeling to come. I don't know if my skin can grow as fast as whats needed. I also have bad areas between my toes and around the base of them. The cent palm area of my feet are still peeling and now around the edges of both heels, blisters and peeling. My fingertips are also starting to show tiny blisters. Not as bad as my toes though thank goodness. My hands look fairly nice really. I cant complain about them. Just a few sore spots here and there with a blister here, peeling there.... I feel like I'm singing the 'Old Mac Donald' song lol I have one spot on my left thumb that is almost raw. Its the only place on my hands that is "bothering" me.

I have ointment I can put on my toes and feet. I just hate having to do that. I think sometimes it makes it worse. I put Vaseline on after showers and I do soaks about once a week with salts and oatmeal. I use Curel Ultra Healing lotion, omg I love this stuff. I keep socks on my feet all the time, including in bed although on occasion I'm able to not wear socks when my feet aren't grabbing the sheets and blankets constantly.

I had an EMG done on my feet and lower legs. Why didn't anyone tell me this is painful? lol Its not supposed to be. The Dr said that most people find it uncomfortable but that my nerves are more sensitive than most. He said that I have Small Fibro Neuropathy (I think that's what he said lol). Which is common with diabetics and is why I have constant burning and needle type pains in my feet. He also said that it amplifies the pain from my P so I'm getting a double whammy.

I started insulin. I was surprised how easy it is really. I get a little bit of stinging sometimes but giving myself the shots is much easier than I thought. You should have seen me the first time though lol it took me about 5 mins of holding the needle next to my skin before I actually pushed it in lol I'm a big chicken :) But I got over it and now its nothing at all. Been on it a couple of weeks and its bringing my numbers down slowly. Once they get my fasting numbers down they'll start trying to get my spikes down when I eat. Being a diabetic is rough. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Anyway, I got my husbands Christmas shopping done. I need to shop for thanksgiving dinner this week and then Ill be ready to put up lights this weekend on the house for Christmas. Lots of stuff to do and think of the next couple of months.

I hope everyone has a great week and a great Thanks Giving!

Colder days...

Hey everyone! Hope all is doing well. I've been alright, my toe is getting better finally. I started soaking it every couple days in warm water with oatmeal and instead of vaseline I massage in neosporin. Its not so scary looking to me now and the open part of it has closed up.

I had a bad spot on the side of my left foot, almost on the edge but on the top part outside. It got pretty bad and some friends thought it looked like plaque but its clearing up now also. That spot has been there about 7 months. Itchy... omg so itchy lol

The tips of my toes are what I have been battling with the last few months. My hands have been livable. I get a couple of blisters here and there, they dry up, peel in that one small spot and do the same somewhere else. But I thankfully have not been having issues with that. I will gladly deal with my hands this way.

So, with the warm weather fading and colder days ahead of us, I wonder what it will do to my hands and feet this year. I know everyone is different. Some flare with cold weather and some clear up. Its a good time for me I think because I can wear nice warm snuggly socks. But then I dont get the sun on my skin either and have no way to buy the vitamin d ointment. Just like everyone else I guess Ill just be hoping for the best that I can.

How do you deal with the cold weather?

Hi, hello, how are ya?!

It's been a while, a very long while actually. Ok catching up here, we've moved, to mid Michigan, I'm not as stressed out now, I'm still having issues.

So for those who don't know, I'm diabetic and I have a few other health issues other than my PPPP. I also have neuropathy and thyroid disease, not to mention I'm plum crazy too *grin* So, the decision was made recently that I am going on insulin. Pills and diet, or lack of diet have failed me so this is the best choice now. I hadn't had any huge flares or breakouts in so long but recently my feet have been giving me problems. Well neuropathy and PPPP is just a horrible combination. My feet are peeling, but its my toes that are taking the brunt of the blisters this time. mostly the tips of my toes. I saw something somewhere that said this is a dangerous and rare type of PPPP but I cant find where I read it at and my derm is a moron and doesn't care long as she gets paid. Anyways, I'm trying to do soaks and then massage in Neosporin on the places its cracked or peeling to the meat, then I massage in Vaseline on the rest of my feet. I have one problematic spot on my right big toe. Its very raw and red but it doesn't hurt really on that spot. However, its one of those spots you know right away you have to keep an eye on it, especially with me being a diabetic.

I'm hoping that when I actually start my insulin that my body will be more in balance and my feet will calm down. I still get spots on my hands but its nothing like it was previously thank God. I get dime size or less spots of blisters that I only notice once they start turning brown or start peeling.

The cover to my camera took a dive, nice design over the batteries, latch broke from the stress of the battery springs. Oh joy, or I would take a pic of my toe.

All in all I say I'm not doing too bad. I keep my spirits up, try to not feel too down and I don't let this control my life. Happy happy joy joy! I hope you are all doing well and that this isn't keeping you down either!

Long time

Been a while but will be posting later tonight I hope!

Settling back in...

Sorry its been such a long time since my last post! It has been a very rough couple of months. We made it through Christmas, but then my mom had a stroke in mid January and I went to Texas to be with her. She is doing much better now and is at home, but she still has a long road ahead of her.

Well it only took a couple of days for my hands and feet to start flaring. At one point I had to go to the doctor about my feet because I had chunks of skin coming off and it was bleeding, blisters everywhere. I was walking, even though I had good shoes, all over the hospital, getting up every 5 minutes for my mom. I started becoming more depressed, its so disheartening to see your mom who you have known all your life and not know if you would ever get to have a conversation with her again. If she understood you even. Emotionally I was a huge mess. My father and I don't normally get along to begin with and going through this proved to make things even worse.

I have been home a bit more than a week now and I'm happy to say that my hands are beautiful! My feet are on the mend as well.I have only one tiny spot on a finger that is sore because a blister wants to pop up. My feet are not as good but they're not terribly bad. Where I had bled before the skin is scaly, scabby and sore. I do have a few blisters still doing their thing. But my hands... they haven't looked this good in a year! Anyone looking at my hands would think I was completely normal :) I'm so happy about them. I'm able to play the piano which I am learning right now and that makes me very happy too.

The only thing I can contribute my hands doing so well to is my medications. When I was in Texas it was very hard for me to remember to take care of myself while I was taking care of my mother. I missed doses of this and that and my system was thrown off. Now that I'm home I'm taking all my medications again and I'm clearing up well. Of course now that I have talked about how good my hands are Ill flare up lol Oh well, we all know this stupid condition has more hills than a roller coaster. But for right now, I'm enjoy being able to touch things, I'm going to "try" to do some baking this weekend. Make some cookies for the hubby and some fresh bread. My mouth is watering just thinking of homemade bread fresh out of the oven, a little butter and fresh honey YUM! Maybe Ill bake some tonight lol

Well here's to everyone having a great day! Take care and be good to yourselves!