Fear of getting an uncurable disease?
I've been having this weird fear lately (passed 6 months) that I have some sort of disease. Since then I've been deafly scared of "dying". It's just sitting there in the back of my mind, and every so often I'll think, "What if I have a disease and I don't know about it? If I do I can't get checked out because I don't have medical insurance, but if it's really that bad I can get it checked out. But how do I know it is? What if I wait until the signs really show themselves, but by that time its too late?" I freak myself out thinking this all the time. At first I thought it would blow over and it would be some silly fear, but I continue to think about it. Every time something out of the ordinary happens with my body I freak out again, and wonder if it's a symptom for cancer or something. Is this normal? I'm not even sure getting a full check-up would help, I would worry about them missing something and I really do have something.
What cause bruises to itch? Is it bad to scratch them?
From what I’ve read there are three main factors at work with regards to bruises itching: injury to the nerve endings, damage to capillaries and other small blood vessels, and the breakdown of blood within the tissues.Most bruises are caused by impact injuries. During the impact tissues, including nerve endings are compressed. There is also an accompanying swelling. Between the compression and swelling nerve endings have experienced trauma. As the swelling goes down and the healing process proceeds, the nerve endings begin to function normally. That return of full sensation accounts for some of the itch.Along with the nerve endings being affected, blood vessels suffer crush injury. This results in bleeding within the skin/muscle tissue. As that blood breaks down, we not only witness changes to the coloration of the tissues, but that breakdown releases histamines. Part of that is because as the blood breaks down, bilirubin is released (it is a component of blood). Bilirubin is known to trigger itching in some people.Also the damaged capillaries and small blood vessels are healing. Sometimes they simply regrow along different pathways. This is another source of itching.Basically the itching is part of the overall healing process. You should not scratch the area. Scratching can cause further damage, leaving excoriation wounds that are potential sources for infection.Oddly enough I’ve had countless bruises in my life, some of them severe. Yet none of them itched when healing until the past couple of years. Maybe I’m just getting more delicate in my old age?
Wound is leaking a yellowish sticky pus. Should I go to the doctor? Or just drink amoxicillin?
The yellow fluid that is clear and yellow that seeps from your wound is normal. It is a component of blood that helps clotting. If that yellow stuff coming out is opaque, yellowish, and smells bad—that is puss. DO NOT drink amoxicillin or any other antibiotic unless prescribed and necessary. You don’t know if Amoxy will do the job—maybe a better choice is Cephalex. Reality check though: you’d likely be perfectly fine applying a topical antibiotic on it. If it stays red and angry after apply that, and lasts for a few days or more, that is when I would see a doctor. I say that only if you don’t have other issues such as hemophilia, diabetes, clotting issues or on blood thinners. Just give it a chance to heal and help it along with some topical antibiotic—like Neosporin.
What does it feel like to be shot?
It depends a) where you’re shot, b) what you’ve been shot with, and c) how you’ve been shot.I drove cab for over 25 years, and was once shot in the abdomen with a .45 snub-nose revolver. I was stabbed in various places a number of times with different implements, too, but that’s another story.It was like being punched in the gut by a huge motherfucker and having the wind knocked out of you for a solid month. There was something purplish hanging out of my belly, which turned out to be part of my liver. The bullet was a hollowpoint and had done a lot of damage- just about blew my liver out.The pain was excruciating and unbelievable. I just wanted to die and get it over with. I was told later that I was very lucky, because the bottom of my liver had been blown out but would grow back. A few inches higher, the doctors told me, and that would have been it.To make matters worse, after getting several doses of morphine, it was discovered that I was allergic. It wasn’t killing the pain, and it was giving me a red rash, making me itch all over. Whee.The doctor switched me to Demerol, and that’s about the last thing I remember from that night.The following months were a Demerol-induced haze in which people came to visit me in hospital, but I was too out of it to remember. I was hooked up to an automatic painkiller gizmo that allowed me to self-medicate up to a point.When the pain started subsiding, my belly where I’d been shot started to cramp, which led to more excruciating pain. I had a belly full of staples where I’d been opened up in order to retrieve pieces of bullet. My stomach felt really strange, and the reason turned out to be that the doctors had cut my stomach in half to get it out of the way when they were doing surgery on my liver. My gall bladder was gone, and my pancreas was a mess, resulting in diabetes.Bottom line? Don’t try this at home, kids.
How long does it take for new pink skin to heal after scab came off? How long before the color blends in?
Short answer- if it has not blended in after 6 months —- it won’t.How long a scar takes to heal & whether the scar returns to the original level of pigmentation of the surrounding skin depends on a wide range of factors. The scab you are referring to is usually caused by skin being scooped off & varies in depth & widthFirst the depth of the original injury- the deeper the wound goes thru the layers of skin, the more it is likely to be replaced by scar tissue rather than normal skinThe degree of your skin’s pigmentationYour age , general health & medication (prescribed or over the counter) as some conditions delay healing & repairYour tendency to form scars. Some people have keloid scars which are hard, raised & usually permanent unless specifically treated edHow the wound is treated. We used to encourage the drying of the wound & the development of scabs. Having worked for plastic surgeons during my training and subsequently collaborated with them I have seen the benefit of wet dressings. A scab heals mainly from the edges whereas a wet wound heals from the base & the edges at 2–3 times faster than a scab.We use Solosite as a wound dressing & may use plastic or gel wound dressings over that which are padded if there is a lot of exudate/ ooze from the wound.Once the wound is healed you can use a moisturiser. VitE cream is popular but has no advantage over the same cream without Vit E. People who are vitamin deficient & zinc deficient heal slowly but as to whether supplementing makes any difference………Keep the wound away from sun & especially high UV days until the wound has healed over 6 months. Use clothing or sunscreen to prevent sun damage as the young wound is very sun sensitive for the 6 months.
Why does a wound usually feel like it is pulsing?
it is part of the local inflammatory process. The idea is to maximize blood flow to the area so that blood cells can rush their to do their job.Platelets help seal any wound openings in the blood vessels. Neutropils (white blood cells) go there to start fighting any infections. So do antibodies and other macrophages.However, this inflammation also restricts blood flow around the area so that the infection does not spread.Basically, you now have a large amount of fluid and cells trapped in an area to do their job, which makes the blood pressure in the area noticeable.