My wife has had venous leg ulcers for 10 years' now, sometimes they heal, but, they always seem to come back, she does have some underlying health issues which may make the situation worse and she would probably benefit from vein surgery (as most sufferers would), but, is unable to have it because she's got ulcers all the time.
Her case is not unique, many sufferers have re-occuring ulcers. 150,000 people suffer from leg ulcers in Britain costing the health service in excess of £400m million a year, a lot of this money going to community nursing, district nurses spend nearly half their time looking after patients with ulcers.
I don't think she helps herself as much as she could, my daughter and I suffer from her leg ulcers as well, we have to do all the things she can't do for herself, I have to attend most social occasions alone, I'm a part-time carer.
I'm on her case now
I've checked out the web, there's a lot of products available which claim to improve leg ulcers, but, these are sometimes unsubstantiated, they might help heal wounds, but, the cause of ulcers is to do with blood flow and none of them appear to address this issue.
Look out Lesley
I'm off work for 2 weeks and I'm going to make sure you do all you can to get rid of these ulcers.
Elevate, Elevate, Elevate
Don't sit on the kitchen
stool, with you legs dangling down, watching telly all day, legs down is no good, legs up is good, lay on the settee with your legs on cushions so your feet are higher than your hips. Elevation used to be a treatment for ulcers, people would go to hospital and lay in bed with their legs elevated, it worked, no longer done because of cost, elevation can reduce swelling. Elevate, Elevate, Elevate.
Pump those calf muscles
Emptying the dishwasher and hoovering is ok, but, it's not exactly enough, take the dog for a walk, it needs one in the morning, we get fed up having to do it, walk to Tesco Express, save us having to get stuff for you on our way home from work, or just do the exercises with your feet, put your hand on the back of your calf and move your foot up and down from the ankle, you will feel the muscle move, this pumps the blood around, just like it says in the leaflet. Pump those calf muscles.
Compression
Put up with it, it works, don't come crying to me saying the bandages are too tight because your legs are swollen, if you was to Elevate more often this might not be so much of an issue.
Lose weight
Eat less sweets and chocholate, being overweight puts more pressure on those veins.
Healthy eating
I know you eat a lot of fruit, which is good, but, you should try to eat more protein, I think you take enough vitamins.
Don't smoke
A tall order, smoking is not good for blood circulation, if you can't stop, at least smoke less.
No gardening
Not that you've done much this year, this is a dangerous pastime for you, there are too many little sharp things waiting to pierce your skin and give you a new ulcer, as exercise, its not as good as walking, maybe mowing the lawn is ok.
NHS drugs
Be careful with those painkillers, I won't elaborate here.
Other treatments
To an extent I tend to disregard the treatments listed here as I would hope that if any of them were useful the nhs would be using them, but, that's not always the case.
Maggots
Good for cleaning wounds, but, doesn't help heal ulcers, useful if you go fishing.
Manuka Honey
This is an antisceptic, it will help with infections, but, doesn't improve blood cirulation, nice on toast.
Nexagon
New drug undergoing clinical trials in US, claims to improve healing time of ulcers.
Serrapeptase
Made from silk worms, claims to make varicose veins to shrink or diminish, no conclusive proof yet.
Solcoseryl
May help skin heal, but, don't improve blood circulation.
Ultrasound
Treatment has been tried, no evidence that healing was improved.
Please e-mail with any comments, links or information.
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