Dry foot gangrene, as a part of diabetes and/or atherosclerosis management, has become a major medical problem. This website is intended to allow you to manage your own care, ask the right questions, insist on adequate management and information, and seek an optimal outcome for yourself as an informed patient. Perhaps it will even help the health professionals - vascular specialists and foot doctors (chiropodists, podiatrists) - who are giving care to better understand and, hopefully, incorporate into their practice the nutritional approach to gangrene - its prevention and treatment.
A study recently published in the JAMA states that fewer than 10 percent of all patient decisions are well informed.
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.
Amputations are an extremely feared complication of diabetes as diabetics often loose their protective sensation and may form ulcerative complications, such as osteomyelitis - an acute or chronic inflammatory process of the bone and its structures. An estimated 5 to 15 percent of diabetics require the amputation of a limb due to infection at some point. This rate is 15 times greater that for those without diabetes.
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 procedure 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...
Complications of Transtibial Amputations
Alterations in the amputation stump
Due to muscular atrophy and mobility between the tibia and the fibula, the prolonged use of prosthesis may generate 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
Another common complication is the presence of pain at the amputation stump. Its main cause is the presence of neuromas adhered to local scars. However, even on technically adequate amputations, the patient may have pain.
Frequent in conventional amputations are also intraosseous circulatory alterations on extremities. They result in a painful amputation stump at lower temperatures.
Loss of Limb: The Consequences of Amputation
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.
Level of Amputation: Long-Term Function
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 Medical Treatments for Gangrene
Other standard medical treatments include:
antibiotics (usually intravenously, through a needle in a vein)
blood thinners (to make sure that blood clots don't form)
extra oxygen - either by a mask or nasal prongs, or in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber (very high pressures of pure oxygen are used to treat the gangrenous area).
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
a vessel bypass, to unblock atherosclerotic arterial obstruction/s - whenever possible, followed by a lengthy recovery (a person may need to use crutches, a wheelchair, or a special cast).
The other, less common medical treatment of gangrene - IV chelation therapy - is only considered an optional "alternative" to bypass surgery.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber Therapy
Extra oxygen - either by a mask or nasal prongs, or in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber - can be life saving at times.
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:
produces marked pain relief,
reduces the number of amputations required, and
reduces the extent of surgical debridement required.
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.
High Risk of Infection
In order to prevent gangrene from seeting in and reduce the risk of infection, patients with diabetes (or advanced atherosclerosis) are beeing told to take "special care" of their feet and hands, especially nails. They are advised to:
wash their feet daily with lukewarm (not hot!) water
treat promptly ingrown toenails, corns, and calluses
wear proper-fitting and large enough shoes (with cushoned soles and uppers), preferaby made of canvas or leather
avoid going barefoot outdoors
avoid crossing legs when sitting (as it reduces blood circulation in the legs and feet).
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.
A Tragic Story of a Diabetic Elderly Woman
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.
August 1st, she was admitted to a hospital.
August 6th, she was discharged back from the hospital to the nursing home - without an explanation and despite the fact that the deteriorating condition of her foot was obvious.
September 16th, her son arranged a consultation with an alternative doctor, with the help of a secretary.
October 5th, she was admitted by the alternative doctor to another hospital.
October 6th, her three toes were amputated; unfortunately, an above-knee amputation was required, an operation she could not survive.
October 7th, a fortnights wait for her death.
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...
A study recently published in the JAMA states that fewer than 10 percent of all patient decisions are well informed.
All "cut-and-medicate" treatments of gangrene carry with them one main shortcoming: they do little to stop the underlying cause of gangrene, that is the nutrient and oxygen deprivation in the affected areas due to impaired blood circulation.
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.
Clear-G Formula: The Nutritional Revascularization
Without improving the flow of blood to the affected limbs - amputation is a futile exercise, although it can be life saving at times.
Fortunately, there are people, including a growing number of doctors, who admit that there are successful methods to halt the progression of gangrene, other than temporary medical intervention.
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.
Clear- G Formula: Advanced Blood Circulation Support
Any wound requires more blood than normal in order to heal. If that extra blood is not forthcoming the wound never heals and, in fact, dies back.
The natural restoration of blood flow to the arteries can be done with the help of Gangrene Clearing Formula - a targeted, orthomolecular formulation providing a comprehensive support for the entire circulatory system.
Simply put, 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
correcting possible deficiencies and/or imbalances and
providing optimum conditions for the proper functioning of the body's own intrinsic ability to heal itself.
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.
So far, we have introduced our proprietary Gangrene Clear-G Formula to our clients and customers in 40 countries: the United States (including Virgin Islands and Hawaii), Canada, Malaysia, Australia, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Thailand, New Zealand, Germany, Belgium, Trinidad, Mexico, Italy, Pakistan, Singapore, Mauritius, Suriname (South America), France, Bolivia, Russia, Croatia, Poland, Portugal, Denmark, Israel, Azerbaijan, Kenya, Bosnia, Malta, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Greece, Spain, Kuwait, Germany, Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
This all-natural combination of 105 nutrients and phytonutrients (plant nutrients) not only keeps your blood flow to the affected limbs in check (as drugs do), but actually helps your body rebuild the organs and systems that control blood circulation - without side effects.
No wonder, our proprietary Gangrene Clear-G Formula can produce results that doctors have rarely seen before, even with hard-core prescription drugs. And, unlike pharmaceutical drugs, it is very body-friendly.
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:
reducing the dysfunction of endothelium - the innermost arterial lining by stimulating the body’s natural built-in, internal free-radical scavenging system
overcoming peripheral vascular ischemia by improving and/or restoring circulation - blood flow to the wounded areas
encouraging vasodilatation - widening (dilation) of the lumen of blood vessels
promoting the body's ability to develop collaterals - new, small blood vessels in the problem areas
delivering more vital, oxygen-rich and nutrient-dense blood to the affected areas
producing the growth factors - the necessary for healing substances released by the body into bloodstream and stimulating the growth of tissue and skin
preventing and/or fighting off the infection of gangrenous tissues.
Advanced Blood Circulation Support
Powdered Dietary Supplement
0.85 Lb / 385 Grams
120 Phytonutrients and NutrientsSUPPLEMENT FACTS: Amount Per Serving (1 Scoop)
1. Vitamin A (as Vitamin A Palmitate)
2. Natural Beta-Carotene
3. Vitamin C (as Ascorbic Acid and Calcium Ascorbate)
4. Vitamin D-3 (Cholecalciferol)
5. Vitamin E (as D-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate and Mixed Tocopherols)
6. Vitamin B1 (Thiamine Hydrochloride)
7. Vitamin B2 (as Riboflavin and Ribloflavin-5-Phosphate)
8. Niacin (as Niacin, Niacinamide and Inositol Hexaniacinate)
9. Vitamin B6 (as Pyridoxin HCl and Pyridoxal-5-Phosphate)
10. Folic Acid
11. Vitamin B12 (as Methylcobalamin)
13. Vitamin B-5 (Pantothenic Acid as D-Calcium Pantothenate)
Our Mission: To Contribute to the Optimal Health of Others™
One of the most effective dietary supplements in the world™
This product is manufactured in a NSF GMP registered facility in accordance with cGMPs for Nutritional Supplements in accordance with USP 31. The laboratories are ISO 9001:1994 certified and ISO 17025:2005 accredited. Raw materials used in the manufacturing of this product are in full compliance with the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002. Raw material safety and quality is ensured by the manufacturer's Supplier Qualification Program.
QUALITY & SAFETY ASSURANCE
Mix well 1 scoop of powder in 4 ounces (½ cup) purified lukewarm water. Leave it for a few minutes, stir thoroughly and consume. Then pour in the same cup another 4 ounces of water, stir again and drink. For general circulatory health, have 1 scoop 2 times daily (beginning after breakfast). If necessary, this dose (1 scoop) may be taken 3 to 5 times per day , or as recommended by a qualified healthcare professional.
Refrigerate the jar after opening.
If you are under a physician’s care or taking medication, or if you are pregnant or nursing, consult your healthcare practitioner before using this product.
Quality and purity guaranteed. This product does not contain MSG, wheat, gluten, soy protein, fish, shellfish, milk/dairy, corn, egg, nuts, sugar, salt, starch, artificial coloring, preservatives, or flavoring.
FULL OF HEALTH, INC. Since 1996 Clear-G Formula® : Advanced Blood Circulation Support*
* This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Full of Health® and Clear-G Formula® are registered trademarks of Full of Health, Inc. Serrazimes® is a registered trademark of National Enzyme Company. BioPerine® is a registered trademark of Sabinsa Corporation. BeFlora® is a registered trademark of Roxlor Group.
As you can see, 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
reduce and stabilize the blood sugars, therefore,
lower insulin requirements (in many cases, better than most prescription drugs).
And there appears to be no harm in taking the Gangrene Clear-G Formula.
I contacted you last year in early December about my father's condition.
He had undergone 2 different surgeries on his right foot: one to remove the 2 outside toes, and then a year later the 3 middle toes. At that time, they also did a bypass and thought my father would be OK.
He had tried IV chelation a few years ago, and I think that helped him some. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to continue the treatments.
Early December, when gangrene in his right foot set in, my father was getting ready to die. The only option he was given by the doctors was below the knee amputation without any guarantee of success. He turned that down. The surgeon had also told my father that basically all his arteries below his knee were “just hanging there like strings.”
I had read enough even then to know that without treating the underlying problem, at best everything being done was no more than putting a band-aid on a huge problem.
Fortunately, as I was looking for information on managing the pain for gangrene, I ran across your website.
Today, he is still walking OK and there is no smell (only 2 months after the gangrene began to set in). He is relatively pain free and hopeful that he has some time left (he says he is too ornery to die).
When I first spoke with you, you said there was perhaps a 50/50 chance that your Formula would help my father, so he agreed to try it.
As far as I am concerned, if not for your product, he may not have made his 80th birthday earlier this month, or if he had, I don’t think he would have been as relatively pain free and in a good condition as he was.
When I ask him, he comments that he is sleeping well at night, without foot pain waking him up. I know when his toes were gangrenous and pain at night was a big problem for him.
My sister, who does not see him as frequently as I do, also commented that his color was looking better than it has in a long time.
Thank you for your product. I believe that it is responsible for giving my father some additional time with good quality.
I have attached a picture of his foot from the bottom. While I am certainly no expert, it seems to me that the foot is healing. I was even able to remove a large section of dead skin off of the top of the foot this morning and underneath the skin seemed pink and healthy.
I am so thankful for this Formula and plan to share the results my father has had with the podiatrist he had been working with. He works with many diabetic patients and is open to alternative therapies. He might find this interesting.
Thank you again. I'll let you know how things go in the upcoming months.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
I just wanted to let you know that my dad's foot now appears to be TOTALLY healed.
The 'scab' came off about a week or so ago and the tissue is healthier than it has looked in years.
I have attached the pictures of his foot as it is now.
I took my father to see his podiatrist last week and he was very happy to see the condition of my father's foot. I brought him an empty jar of your formula.
This doctor works with a lot of diabetic patients, perhaps he can steer others your way if they develop gangrene.
Thank you again for the work you have done to create this product!
P.S. Finding your formula was a specific answer to a specific prayer...
* The testimonial above is a true, documented story. It has been reviewed by Full of Health Inc, however, it is the sole opinion of the listed individual.
Testimonial: "Ulcers On His Legs Completely Healed"
Thursday, July 19, 2007
On behalf of my family and myself, we would like to express our gratitude to your company for developing the Gangrene Clearing Formula.
My father is a diabetic and due to poor circulation to his legs, he began to develop sores on his legs and foot. The sores on his foot eventually turned black as he developed dry gangrene.
After repeated visits to a podiatrist and a vascular specialist, the dry gangrene began to spread and he had to be admitted into the hospital.
Both doctors suggested that my father's left leg be amputated from the knee down.
I immediately researched the internet to educate myself on what the doctors were stating, to confirm their recommendation. Fortunately, I found the website for Full of Health Inc. and decided to start the treatment and postpone the surgery.
After three weeks, the ulcers on his legs completely healed and the black scabs on his toes began to fall off and revealed healthy new skin.
The nurse that has been cleaning my father's wounds daily has expressed complete amazement and requested Full of Health's phone number to recommend it some of the patients she treats.
The progress that my father has experienced after three weeks of taking the Gangrene Clearing Formula has saved his leg, lifted his attitude and made him feel more energetic.
Thank you again for helping families that are faced with loved ones that are only given the option of amputation.
And thank you for all your insight and information you provide to my father and I.
Rafael E. Cervantes
* The testimonial above is a true, documented story. It has been reviewed by Full of Health Inc., however, it is the sole opinion of the listed individual.
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!
* The testimonial above is a true story. It has been reviewed by Full of Health Inc., however, it is the 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.