A Rare Diabetic Problem

by Bruce
(USA)

I was diagnosed at the age of 35 with diabetes (I am 41 now). Not long afterwards I was vacationing in Bermuda and decided to rent a mo-ped, which I promptly crashed. I ended up bruising my shins which didn’t concern me until I noticed that after the bruises went away I started getting red, raised welts on my legs. My family doctor had no idea what it was and so after they started multiplying and going from one leg to the other, I started doing some investigation. I found out that this was NLD, which typically appears first on the right shin then the left. Since then they have been growing rapidly, largely due to my out of control diabetes. They have ulcerated a couple of times when I was scratched by my cat or bitten on the legs by a mosquito but have healed, leaving even worse scarring. The worst part of all this is the summer time when I try to cover these 6” long patches on my legs with special makeup that never really does the job. My understanding from my research is that NLD affects approximately 1% of all diabetics and there is a special Yahoo Group of others with this disease. I have tried everything from topical steriods to massage to lessen the redness but no luck. I wish someone, anyone, would start a study on NLD so I can get rid of this complication. I would volunteer gladly.