2 replies to this topic

[mcwriter]

This is a new development for us. Yesterday my husband took a shower. It was a little longer than his normal shower, he said the heat helped ease the pain in his back some so he stayed there a little longer. When I dried him off, there were spots on his bottom almost the size of dimes, though oval shaped, all nearly the same size near his crack where he would have been sitting. Naturally after some thought, it is now obvious that these are from the drain holes of the shower chair and they are not in the same pattern, therefore he did shift some.

Today these same spots are still present and looking exactly the same as last night. No redness, the surface of the skin feels exactly like the unaffected surrounding areas of skin, no pain with touch, they simply look like a grouping of bruises.

What can be done for this? Why would his skin suddenly be doing this? He is in no danger of pressure sores, he does move around enough, so that isn't it. Has anyone else experienced bruising from a shower seat like this?

Obviously, I need to get him a padded seat and make him a doctor's appointment, but is there anything else I can do? Could it have something to do with Type 2 diabetes? His med for that keeps him at the right levels, so I don't know why all of the sudden his skin is doing this weird thing.

Any ideas?

[sisterM]

Well, even I as a non SCI person had something very similar happen to me. Last summer on a hot and humid day I was sitting at a picnic table in the park. The kind that is made of a perforated metal with a rubber coating. Well, the next day when I actually looked at the backs of my thighs. . . there were red marks in the same pattern as the picnic table. I did not bump into the bench or do anything at all out of the ordinary while sitting there. Very strange I thought. They did not hurt and nor were they raised - just discolored. It took a few days for them to go away. I am not overweight either. My blood pressure can get low sometimes. . . something in common with SCI folks. Was it the heat and humidity - like a long hot shower?

Random reply, I know! The situation just caught my eye!

[mcwriter]

Yup it was a long hot shower, a bit longer than usual.

It was alarming and of course my first thought was pressure sores, but the spots were not in any way consistent with that.

So yes, it sounds like what you had was the same thing. I am just very surprised that they have lasted this long. I wondered if there was some special thing to do to treat the spots/bruising?