Impaired skin etc. healing/bruising in HMS?

[pink]

I bruise realy easily (as well as bleed v easily). For example - last wednesday (over a week ago) I had acupuncutre and she did it into my hands so can get most joints - apparently its a gateway to the body - and on my left hand accidentaly knicked a blood vessel. Still badly bruised and swollen now!!!!! Lucily she did my feet today so at least if bruised its not as visable.

[Finarda]

I'm going through a really easy bruising phase - more so than normal. I reached into the cupboard one morning and caught my arm on the cupboard door - enough to graze the skin. However, all along the 2-3 graze is a massive bruise on either side - it extends about 3" on either side, so about 7" in total. I'm getting fed up explaining what the 'horrendous' and 'horrific' bruising on my arm is - need to come up with a dramatic story.

I have another 4" on my leg too as well as 20-30 other ones. You know it's bad when the kids at my son's pre-school are all in admiration over the number of bruises I have Mind you, I have some pretty good cuts and scratches too - darn gardening!

Fiona

[bohoinparadise]

It always looks like I'm getting into fights since my arms and legs are prone to random bruising. I got into a car accident a little more than a week ago and my wrists and left thigh are completely purple.

Does hms cause bruises to heal much slower than normal? I'm curious because my bruises seem to stick around for weeks.

[Ali13]

I would assume it does cause them to heal slower. As I said above, it's been almost two weeks now since I had bloods taken and I'm still badly bruised!

[WinonaLemonade]

does anyone else get bruises on their heels from their shoes. i especially get them all the time on my left foot. also my feet don't blister from my shoes but if they scrape past my skin they take a thin layer off the top. my skin is quite fragile.

also i never thoguh that i had soft skin because i always though it felt like it was covered in powder but my sister said it was really soft and i felt everyone else in my familys skin and theirs is so rough compared to mine so i have soft skin when i never though i did. i have also worked out why i get patches of smooth, shinny skin, it's from where a thin layer comes off and it heals but i never notice that it's come off only where it's healed.

and the last thing is on my back and around my shoulders i always get blood under my skin from where i sleep on something from my pyjamas like a seem is this the same sort of thing like easy bruisng?

[WinonaLemonade]

does anyone have any ideas about what i can do to stop the skin that covers my foot arches and the same area on the other side of my foot from breaking, my heels usually just bruise because i've got a lot of build up of tough skin.

[WinonaLemonade]

the skin on the back of my right heal split today along the top one of those creases and bled into my sock, i think it's all been brought on by me wearing the correct size shoes. i always wore ones that were too big so i could fit my insoles but i just got a small pair of size 4s this time. i've tried plasters and two pairs of socks but i'm kind of stuck

[Finarda]

When I take care of my feet (pumice and moisturize) then my feet are nice and smooth, but when I don't they form cracks wherever there is dead skin build up and they end up cracking and bleeding.

At the end of every other shower I pumice my feet to get rid of all the dead skin, then I pat my feet dry, put a thick layer of moisturizer (for sensitive skin - I use Aveeno) on then quickly put a pair of cotton socks on. If it's the summer and i'm not wearing socks every day then I wash and pumice my feet at night then moisturize and wear cotton sports socks to bed.

I find that without keeping the skin soft, it just cracks open. Same with my fingers. And lips etc.

Fiona

[WinonaLemonade]

thanks for replying, i use a lot of moisturiser which helps but my feet are just being really rubish. i think maybe they might improve if the skin gets to toughen up a bit.

[jax]

Hi WL and Finarda,

I also used the pumice, moisturizer and then socks routine and find it's really good.
My feet aren't that soft from years of running barefoot as a child but the heels are.
The best products I've found are the E45 and Baby moisturisers.

My hands are a different story - skin is velvety, fragile and looking quite haggard.
Not sure what to do there really except wear gloves at times to protect them.

WL I find when I have blisters they eventually heal and I use plasters and area toughens a bit
and I've been able to then wear the shoes more easily. The other alternative is to try and
perhaps also look at the interiors of the shoes you are purchasing and try buy
the shoes 1/2 size bigger. The flats I bought recently were 1/2 size on the side of too small and
interiors were tough too and gave me terrible blisters. Leather that gets softer with time can be nice.
Sometimes suedes are nice as they are softer too, albeit more difficult to look after.

Hope you find something that suits and it gets better.

Jax
xxx

[WinonaLemonade]

i bought shoes that are too big but not as much as before because i have size three feet but they are really wide so only usually fit into size 5s. on the measuring machine in derry's when i was in primary school they were an I in the width and i think girls average as an F and boys as a G. they only go really wide when i stand on them. my insoles usually stop my heels from moving around in the back so i also thought maybe it's down to me not wearing them at the moment. i was going to try sticking some tape round the backs of my heals.

[paw]

Winona, you might find a better fit in boys shoes for things like trainers. They are wider than ladies/girls shoes. No matter what the shoe measuring device says you wear, listen to your feet. The feet say "OOOOWWWWW" when you wear the ones the measuring devices says fit, but clearly that is not working. You can add a heel cup in the shoe to fill up extra space if you need to.

Buy shoes that feel comfortable right in the store. You should not have to "break in" your shoes to make them feel good. If you need to, look for a wooden shoe stretcher and you can widen leather shoes before you wear them.

I have a strange bump at the back of my heels (insertion of achilles tendon) so I put moleskin on the shoes there so my foot does not rub a hole in the lining of the shoe. That keeps it smooth and I don't make holes in my socks and get skin breaks there. It is so much easier to pad and cover problem areas in the shoe than doing your feet everyday. Usually the pad will last as long as the shoes do, sometimes I have to replace it after a lot of use.

Last, make sure you have good socks. It helps me a lot to wear socks for runners that have a special blend fabric that keeps sweat away from your skin. The sweaty skin is easier to break down and tear. Like the others said, make sure to keep the skin moisturized and use a pumice stone to rub away callouses. When you get too much thick skin on your feet, fissures (crevices) develop and they can get infected and bleed which is a real problem when you have to walk. If you have infections, see your doctor for that.

[WinonaLemonade]

thank you paw!

[paw]

I hope you find at least one pair of really comfortable shoes Winona.

I have the really wide feet too. My DD's feet changed her last year of high school. She went from normal width shoes to very wide like mine. In our case we have "splaying of metatarsal bones" which means that the first and fifth metatarsal bones (long bones on top of foot) have actually changed their angle and they have spread out. If I bend my toes down I can see the knuckles at the head of the metatarsal bones and the centre three are all properly spaced but the first and fifth have a larger space at the knuckle than the others do. So I need very wide shoes though that area. DD is the same.

This can cause skin problems if there is too much skin pressure. As long as I make sure the shoes are large enough I don't have corns, callouses and skin breaks in those areas. Good luck with the shoe shopping! You might be able to stretch the shoes you are having problems with if they are almost wide enough. I really should have gotten a mens shoe stretcher for the extra width. I did not think of that and I have a womens. I added a bit of extra to the width by putting something in the middle which works okay.

[SAMMY]

Paw. I never thought about men's stretchers either and use pens or cutlery in the middle of mine! Sooooooo many shoes that all of a sudden don't fit over night! I remind myself of a hobbit! Anyway. This skin thing. Since I have gone downwards quite fast recently, so has my skin. I seem to have lost the elasticity and not only that but I do have a perfect set of chicken feet for hands now! Evening Primrose oil taken in large quantities has helped a lot but the battle of the skin has taken over again. It looks like I'm really dehydrated and if I pinch my skin it takes a long time to settle back down again. Any ideas?? SAMMY