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Foot Gangrene: Standard "Cut-and-Medicate" Treatments
Unfortunately, in most cases, surgery, or amputation is still considered the "only treatment" for gangrene - whenever possible. However, it should be attempted only after all forms of treatment have been exhausted. Surgical removal of the gangrenous body part (or parts) is also accompanied by large doses antibiotics to prevent the gangrene from attacking the rest of the body.
But many diabetics and those with poor circulation experience problems with healing after amputation. If healing is too slow or does not occur, another surgical intervention is needed... The following images contain pictures of long below-knee (B-K) amputation - an amputation of the lower leg between the ankle and the knee (in the distal third of the tibia), also called transtibial amputation. Pictures taken by Wayne Smith, RN in 2000 during his volunteer work at Scheer Memorial Hospital in Banepa, Kavra, Nepal. PLEASE NOTE: These photographic images may not be suitable for sensitive people. After viewing these and other pictures, you will probably begin asking yourself: “How can anyone let their bodies get to that point? How was it possible? It doesn't make any sense at all. Things like that should be prevented from happening!” Unfortunately, it may be just an example of what is happening right now to someone you know or hold dear...
Alterations in the amputation stump The most frequently found alteration is the shortening of the distal diameter of the stump, which assumes a conical form and migrates towards the end of the prosthesis socket. This occurs by the approximation of the fibula behind the tibia due to socket compression, creating pressure points that may cause cutaneous (skin) ulcers and make prosthesis use impracticable.
Pain in the amputation stump Frequent in conventional amputations are also intraosseous circulatory alterations on extremities. They result in a painful amputation stump at lower temperatures.
The loss of foot or leg is not like the loss of one's jewel or money. This type of loss is priceless. It means that you cannot walk or run as before. After amputation of a foot or leg, the body weight of an amputee shifts to the other leg. The resulting wear and tear often leads to problems in the other foot or leg, and in a few years similar problems may develop, necessitating another... amputation. If this degenerative process continues, the results may be fatal. Losing a limb has also a negative psychological impact. It leaves amputees feeling depressed, angry, or alone. They feel that they're no longer whole persons; or fear that others stare at them, or avoid them. Loss of limb can be compared to losing a spouse or a child. The first time you see your body after the surgery will be very disturbing. You may be shocked to look down and see that a part of your body is missing. The trauma is deep and multi-layered. So it is not easy to adjust to the loss. You will have very strong pain after your amputation surgery because the surgeon has cut through skin, muscles, nerves and bone. Your limb will be swollen. Swelling can cause pain and limit movement. After an amputation, the muscles in and around the residual limb shorten. This pulls your joint into a bent position. If it is left like this for long periods of time, it will become difficult to straighten, or even become permanently stuck. Recovery is never a fast process. Each step is difficult: sitting up in bed, then sitting in a wheelchair, standing, then using crutches.
Besides stress, tension, and anxiety, amputees experience pains due to the loss of limb. Here are the most common types of pain: Immediate post-op limb pain - where skin, nerves, bones, and muscle have been cut; it is exeperienced by everyone after an amputation. Residual limb pain - in the natural limb (stump) after the amputation and may be present long after the surgery as the residual limb is usually more sensitive than other parts of the body. Unfortunately, there is no one method or treatment guaranteed to reduce or eliminate residual limb pain. Sometimes surgery is necessary. Sometimes nothing will help. Phantom sensation or feeling - in the amputated "phantom" limb which has been removed, such as itching, tingling, warmth, cold, pain, cramping, constriction, movement and any other imaginable sensation; it is experienced by almost all amputees. The brain is “remembering” the missing part of the limb, and is still “reporting” its feelings. Phantom pain - in the missing or amputated part of the limb; it varies from person to person - a little annoying, very unpleasant, severe, or disabling; it is different from pain in the residual limb and experienced by about 60–80 percent of amputees. Unfortunately, there is not one single guaranteed treatment to reduce or eliminate phantom pain. In most cases, it disappears within months, though most amputees (as many as 40 percent of them) may still experience phantom pain from time to time. Management of post-amputation pain is a major problem and usually requires professional help; however, our understanding of the way at the brain handles pain and other sensations is still fairly crude.
By halting the progression of gangrene you will be able to preserve your limb or – when amputation may be unavoidable - reduce the level of amputation, namely, the length and number of functioning joints to maximize motion in the extremity. Clearly, reducing the level of amputation is an important goal for your long-term function. Individuals with amputations of the distal third of the foot (transmetatarsal level) often achieve near normal mobility with the aid of a custom insole. As the amputation level rises so does the energy expenditure necessary to walk. A below knee amputation (BKA) requires a 25 percent increase in energy expenditure to ambulate (walk). Walking with an above knee amputation (AKA) requires 65 percent more energy than the normal state.
Other standard medical treatments include:
Treatment in a hyperbaric chamber helps a person to quickly oxygenate the blood, and is usually done once a day for months at a time. However, hyperbaric therapy offers varying degrees of success. It is also very costly and may cause some after effects, such as ringing in the ears, nausea, vomiting, sweating, twitching, visual changes, confusion, or apprehension. As antibiotics work in the bloodstream, circulatory difficulties make it hard for the antibiotics to reach the affected areas. Also swelling usually constricts blood vessels and further diminishes circulation. Therefore, surgical treatment is often required, such as
The other, less common medical treatment of gangrene - IV chelation therapy - is only considered an optional "alternative" to bypass surgery.
Although still controversial, some cases of gangrene can be treated by administering oxygen under pressure greater than that of the atmosphere (hyperbaric) to the patient in a specially designed chamber. In other words, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is breathing oxygen at pressures greater than sea level and requires the entire patient be enclosed in a pressure vessel ("chamber"). It is not achieved by topical application of oxygen to the limb. The theory behind using hyperbaric oxygen is that more oxygen will become dissolved in the patient's bloodstream, and therefore, more oxygen will be delivered to the gangrenous areas helping to treat gangrene. Hyperbaric treatment, helping a person to quickly oxygenate the blood, is usually done once a day for months at a time. Some studies have shown that the use of hyperbaric oxygen:
However, hyperbaric therapy offers varying degrees of success. It is also very costly and may cause some after effects. Patients must be monitored closely for evidence of oxygen toxicity. Symptoms of this toxicity include slow heart rate, profuse sweating, ringing in the ears, shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting, twitching of the lips/cheeks/eyelids/nose, visual changes, confusion, apprehension, and convulsions.
These are trivial problems in people with a healthy circulation, but for those with impaired blood flow to the lower limbs, they can become major problems that threaten the loss of a foot.
Here's an illustrated timeline compiled by a devasted son telling the tragic story of the last days of his diabetic elderly mother. You come to your own conclusion. July 28th, she left hospital to enter a nursing home.
October 5th, she was admitted by the alternative doctor to another hospital.
October 20th, she passed away. COMMENT: After viewing these and other pictures, you probably keep asking yourself: “How can anyone let their bodies get to that point? How was it possible? It doesn't make any sense at all. Things like that should be prevented from happening!” Unfortunately, it may be just an example of what is happening right now to someone you know or hold dear...
Also surgery (read: amputation) has its limitations. In some cases it cannot be performed as it may put patient's life at even greater risk! Then, such condition is being qualified as... hopeless. "We're sorry, but nothing else can be done," vascular surgeons keep telling relatives of patients'. And this is true - but only from the medical point of view. What makes gangrene, especially its "dry" version, responsive to the nutritional method is the fact that this type of gangrene involves the resultant obstruction only of the arterial blood supply without interference to the venous return. In other words, in dry gangrene the blood flow (circulation) is only partially impaired and the other part (venous system) is still functioning, or ready to function. Therefore, it is able to cooperate by supporting any attempt to restore internally faulty circulation, especially in its arterial part. The other factor making dry gangrene highly responsive to the nutritional method is the fact that this disease is characterized by a gradual progression>. In other words, due to relatively slow development of gangrene, there is enough time to support the body nutritionally in order to restore partially impaired circulation - in this case, to unclog arterial blockages. These two factors - the partial impairment of the blood flow and the gradual progression of the disease - have been commonly overlooked, not to say ignored, by standard medical treatments of gangrene.
One of the natural, non-amputation methods to effectively treat dry foot gangrene is the nutritional revasculatization. Its first and foremost goal is to improve and - over a period of time - restore the impaired circulation in the areas wounded by vascular ischemia (decreased blood flow) - the most common cause of foot ulcers and/or gangrene. The process of natural revascularization can be triggered with an application of nutritional - natural and essential - factors that - when presented in specific ratios and amounts - are able to correct longer standing deficiencies and imbalances which are known to contribute to the circulatory problems. As opposed to standard medical methods of treating vascular ischemia, the nutritional revascularization helps to reduce the impact of factors that created the buildup of atherosclerotic plaque in the arteries.
Simply put, our Gangrene Clear-G Formula works to improve and/or restore circulation. And improved circulation allows the body to heal itself. What could be better than a nutritional supplement fixing the impaired circulation that develops in a diseased body? There have been medical studies on the beneficial effect of nutritional supplementation on the circulatory system; it appears people with poor blood flow do benefit from specialty dietary supplements. Nutritional factors - naturally occurring substances, not drugs whose substances are foreign to the body - are able to boost the body chemistry by
As far as the cardiovascular system is concerned, according to orthomolecular nutrition, if the right building blocks (nutrients) are present in the body - in the right amounts and at the right time - the body will do the rest. In other words, if you want to stop the progression of gangrene due to impaired cirulation you need to get to the root of the problem. By just pulling a dandelion out by its leaves, you are not going to get very far.
We hope you will join them. Sooner, rather than later...
Our Gangrene Clear-G Formula is a complete "multi" supporting healthy blood circulation. It has been designed to provide optimal concentrations of vitamins, anti-oxidants, lipotropic factors, chelated minerals, trace minerals, and digestive enzymes as they are all necessary to optimize the blood flow. In other words, Gangrene Clear-G Formula does not "destroy" gangrene! It helps the body to eliminate its cause, namely, to stop the progression of gangrene through improving and, over a period of time, restoring impaired blood circulation that is known to contribute to gangrene. In our clinical experience, Gangrene Clear-G Formula does that in a way of:
As you can see, the Gangrene Clear-G Formula consists only of the natural factors vital to the cardiovascular system and present in specific ratios and amounts in order to correct longer standing deficiencies and imbalances that are known to contribute to the common circulatory health problems. This superior dietary supplement has mitigative, preventive and protecting properties. However, there is no one "miracle" ingredient in the Gangrene Clear-G Formula. It is a special and unique, orthomolecular combination of all of ingredients that helps to accelerate the inner self-healing effect. In many individuals, Gangrene Clear-G Formula has also been able to
And there appears to be no harm in taking the Gangrene Clear-G Formula.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Dear Andrew:
* The testimonial above is a true, documented story. It has been reviewed, however, it is the sole opinion of the listed individual.
Dear ReverseGangrene.com, First, let me thank you for the unique way you created your web site. It was very easy to find and your words were sincerely understood. I’m living proof that gangrene can be reversed. In April 2005, I was in a hospital bed, and about an hour away from a scheduled amputation of the fifth toe of my right foot. Right from the hospital bed I called your toll- free number and asked you if it was possible to reverse gangrene even though I was told earlier that morning that bones in my toe were also infected, and the answer was “yes.” I declined the amputation, and two days after taking Gangrene Clearing Formula, the gangrene portion of my toe began to fuse with the non-gangrene area. The rest is history. My toe is healed and the infection is completely gone. No one can believe it. Many are calling it a miracle, especially since the doctors at one of the most well known university medical centers told me that an amputation was the only remedy. Day after day as I changed the dressing on my toe, I was amazed to observe steadily growing white healthy tissue. Eventually the gangrene of the affected part came off and the remaining part of the toe healed nicely. I’m happy to have saved most of my toe, in light of the fact that the surgeons wanted to amputate it all the way up to the metatarsal bone in my foot. I must admit that it took courage and close to five months for a complete healing, but it was well worth it. The most important thing here is that the gangrene was REVERSED! Your Formula specifically targeted the problem and is very potent. It really works!!!!! I might add that you were always available to me for personal support. Also, my sugar is now under control without insulin. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Denis Wedge Pennsylvania, USA * The testimonial above is a true, documented story.It has been reviewed, however, it is the sole opinion of the listed individual.
With no doubt, development of gangrene - to a great extent - is related to what you eat and how often you move.
In most cases, unhealthy lifestyle - faulty diet and physical inactivity - contribute to the production of degenerative changes in the body, such as atherosclerosis or diabetes, that most of the time lead to gangrene.
There is strong evidence that exercise and stress reduction - if done regularly - are both protective of the cardiovascular system and supportive of the immune processes.
At Full of Health, we are sure that the nutritional approach to gangrene - so simple that, at first, its simplicity makes you difficult to believe - will do as much for you as it has done for our clients and customers.
If other people have benefited from our Gangrene Clear-G Formula, you, or someone you know or hold dear, can benefit as well.
back to web version ReverseGangrene.com © 2000-2008 Reverse Gangrene. com: Foot Gangrene Controlled Naturally With Gangrene Clearing Clear-G Formula. Stop the Progression of Gangrene: Avoid Toe, Foot or Leg Amputation. All rights reserved worldwide. This document may not be copied in part or full without express written permission from the publisher. The information on gangrene and nutrition provided herein is a general overview on this topic and may not apply to everyone, therefore, it should not be used for diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. While reasonable effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information on reversing diabetic and non-diabetic dry gangrene naturally, Full of Health, Inc. assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from use of the foot gangrene information herein. |