I didn't realize how sucky burns truly are

[kansasgal]

I work in a restaurant at the college I attend, and we use a steamer, which heats the food up before it goes on the line to serve. The cabinet is set to 220 degrees.

I was putting food in the steamer yesterday when the cabinet overflowed onto my leg..I held my pants leg out and then grabbed my shoe and sock and ripped them off of my foot because of the pain..and the skin of my foot came off with it.

2nd degree burns on my foot and ankle. I had my co-worker call the boss in from a meeting while I hobbled out to the front and put ice on my foot, they called HR and then they took me to the Urgent Care clinic that they use for Worker's Comp. Where I was told that the doctor didn't believe in painkillers..that they were overused.

I told her that I DID believe in painkillers, I had a burn over 40% of the top of my foot, and that I NEEDED something to take for the pain. She gave me tylenol.

She also told me that she couldn't say whether I could go back to work or not, that was up to my job, but that I couldn't be on the foot and that I couldn't wear a shoe..REALLY. What gives with Worker's Comp? It's like, well, yes, you are injured, and yes, you are in pain, but we don't believe it really helping.

Fortunately, I had some codeine left from a previous surgery (I keep all my drugs, lol) and was able to sleep last night, but MAN does it hurt! I never realized how much a big burn could hurt....

[Sapphire Silk]

Burns are excruciatingly painful, esp 2nd degree.

It is not up to your job when you can go back to work. It is up to the doctor. In most states, once you've seen the WC doc, you can follow up with your own doc if you don't like the WC doc. Check your state regs on this; if allowed, go see your own doc.

Burns like this get infected very easily. Be sure to keep it clean, dry, and covered with a sterile, non-stick dressing. See your doctor at once if you develop a fever.

Also, for future reference . . . avoid putting ice on a burn. Ice freezes tissues, which just makes the damage worse.

Use cold water instead.

Hope you feel better soon!

[Bright_Star]

Why didn't you soak your burnt foot in water? That's the FIRST thing you do when you get burned. Putting ice on it makes it worse.

[ArcticChicken]

Another thing that I find helps with burns, injuries of any kind, really, is to find someone who's willing to listen to you while you cry about it.

The basic method is to get someone to sit down with you, and then you pay attention to how much it hurts, and scream and cry 'till you can't take it anymore, then have them distract you. Repeat until it stops hurting.

All my evidence for this is anecdotal, mind you, but I swear that not only do my injuries hurt less when I do this, but they also heal faster with less scarring.

[SuperRTL]

Something I learned while dealing with a burn from pouring boiling water down my front (2nd degree burns, not fun) is shaving cream. I had a sensitive skin w/ aloe shaving cream and spilled it on the burn on accident. It felt so much better, I covered the whole thing.

[Food Lady]

I gasped when I read that because I was picturing your skin coming off. I'm so sorry that happened and that the doc was being a jerk, basically discounting the seriousness of the injury. Keep painkillers in your system--NSAIDs if you can take them--because they will keep down the inflammation, and if you lapse, the pain comes back worse. (I deal with chronic pain and sometimes my spine shifts and injures a nerve. I know from experience to keep it in my system ). I shouldn't tell anyone how much, but I take 800 mg ibuprofen every 4 hours. Of course, that dose has been cleared by my Dr. I think you can also call nurse lines to find out what dose is safe for your height/weight.

[Hanzoku]

Er... is a doctor allowed to refuse to prescribe any sort of painkiller when dealing with 2nd degree burns? I would think that would be some sort of failure to provide proper care.

[Elspeth]

what Sparky said with a few swear words thrown in for good measure.

Hope you heal quickly!

[kansasgal]

Thanks guys for the information and sympathy..I needed it, lol. Panacea, the next time (which will hopefully be a LOONNNNGGG time in the future) that I get burned, I will use water instead of ice. I just grabbed the first thing I could reach, which was the ice machine.

I went back to the doc today, and she asked if the tylenol was working, to which I said no..she said sorry. The first degree burns have healed, but the second degree burns are still being treated, still cannot wear a shoe and have been advised to keep off of my foot.

The burns are right on the top of the arch of my foot, 10 centimeters by 6 centimeters, and on the crease of my ankle in front, 5 centimeters by 3 centimeters. Only two of the blisters have burst, we are treating the burns with silver sulfanimide? and anti-bacterial meds, redoing the bandages twice a day. The pain is less now, but still there.

[Sapphire Silk]

Something I learned while dealing with a burn from pouring boiling water down my front (2nd degree burns, not fun) is shaving cream. I had a sensitive skin w/ aloe shaving cream and spilled it on the burn on accident. It felt so much better, I covered the whole thing.

I'm not sure I'd use an aloe shaving cream since that has other stuff in it. But a good aloe gel is great for first degree burns, and 2nd degree as long as the blisters have not popped.

I used to keep an aloe plant in the kitchen and would slice open a leaf and use the sap on minor burns until the gel came out.

Thanks guys for the information and sympathy..I needed it, lol. Panacea, the next time (which will hopefully be a LOONNNNGGG time in the future) that I get burned, I will use water instead of ice. I just grabbed the first thing I could reach, which was the ice machine.

I went back to the doc today, and she asked if the tylenol was working, to which I said no..she said sorry. The first degree burns have healed, but the second degree burns are still being treated, still cannot wear a shoe and have been advised to keep off of my foot.

The burns are right on the top of the arch of my foot, 10 centimeters by 6 centimeters, and on the crease of my ankle in front, 5 centimeters by 3 centimeters. Only two of the blisters have burst, we are treating the burns with silver sulfanimide? and anti-bacterial meds, redoing the bandages twice a day. The pain is less now, but still there.

Understandable So did the doc just say sorry or did she actually do something like giving you pain meds that work? Grr. I hate these docs who are so worried about drug seekers they make real pain patients suffer. You can't fake a burn.

Silver sulfonimides like Silvadene are the "gold" standard for treating minor burns. It may discolor the skin, but it's temporary (sorta like when silverware oxidizes).

Follow your doctor's instructions and make sure you keep all follow up appointments. It'll take a while to heal, but should heal fine. Call the doc if you think things are not going well.

Hope you feel better soon!

[kansasgal]

Understandable So did the doc just say sorry or did she actually do something like giving you pain meds that work? Grr. I hate these docs who are so worried about drug seekers they make real pain patients suffer. You can't fake a burn.

Silver sulfonimides like Silvadene are the "gold" standard for treating minor burns. It may discolor the skin, but it's temporary (sorta like when silverware oxidizes).

Follow your doctor's instructions and make sure you keep all follow up appointments. It'll take a while to heal, but should heal fine. Call the doc if you think things are not going well.

Hope you feel better soon!

Nope, no pain meds. She doesn't believe that burns hurt that much, and pain meds are SOO overused, according to her. Fortunately, I called my doc and he gave me pain meds.

I am following her instructions (except yesterday, I overused my foot and am paying for it now) and hope it gets better soon, as I need to return to work..I'm not getting paid for all this time off.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

If it is a workers comp claim, you will get paid by workers comp for your time off. It is called a loss time accident. Keep ahold of all the receipts for what meds you have paid for to turn into workers comp for reimbursement.

If you have any questions on general workers comp questions, I can help you. Just keep in mind that each state has some different rules, but I can probably find them for you.

[kpzra]

Yeah, burns don't hurt much. That's why when my arm was burned as a kids (1st, 2nd, and some 3rd degree thrown in too) I had to get demerol shots in my butt.

[Seshat]

Take a first aid course.

Now.

If you're working with things-that-might-burn-you, or things-that-might-cut-you, or otherwise anything at all dangerous (like a kitchen, or a workshop, or ... ); you need the correct first-response drilled into you so hard it's nearly instinct.

I've said this before, but my father was an ambulance driver for a time, my Girl Guides (Girl Scouts equiv) leader a hospital matron. She also taught the Brownies (little kids) first aid. Between the two of them, I had responses drilled into me.

I get a burn? IMMEDIATE response, remove the danger, then turn to stick the burn under running water. If there's a second person around, I instruct them to remove the danger. It's so deeply ingrained that I don't think about it until after I'm moving.

Note: if the patient is SO badly burned their skin is peeling off, do NOT stick the burn under running water. Call emergency, tell them the severity of the burn, and obey their instructions. If there's a pharmacist or a doctor in the same building, call them and tell them it's a skin-peeling-off level burn. They'll grab the appropriate supplies and come running. With this level of injury, you worry about paying for it until AFTER the injury is treated. Yes, I'm serious.

Oh: and burns are one of the THE most severe pain levels possible. If someone has experienced burn debridement, that's their 'level 10 pain' on the pain scale. Debridement nurses are among the nurses I most respect, because their very job is to inflict one of the most severe pains it's humanly possible to feel. It's absolutely essential to do it, otherwise the patient loses mobility in the healing skin and therefore in the affected body part. But I strongly suspect that the turnover for burns nurses is one of the highest in the profession, just from sheer emotional damage done to the nurses.

Since yours doesn't need debridement, you're probably "only" (HA!) in level 7 to 9 pain. Being told to suffer/endure it and offered just tylenol? I'd be tempted, very strongly tempted, to get my own doctor to write a report on the level of injury you have, take photographs of the wounds, and attach those to a complaint letter to whichever board is responsible for ensuring that doctors are practicing proper medicine. I don't want to throw the word 'malpractice' around because it has a proper, formal definition and I don't know if this fits; but it certainly doesn't come under MY expectation of proper medicine.

As Panacea said, burns can't be faked. And anyone trained medically should know how severe burns pain is. The question should be 'which pain treatment?', not 'do I give this patient pain treatment?'


Anyway...


1. Have your own doc look at it, and write you the necessary authorisations and forms to get paid for your time off, get paid for treatment costs, and get proper pain medication. If necessary (and your doc or his reception/secretarial staff should know if it is), have your doc refer you to a trusted peer for a formal 'second opinion'.

2. Keep a doctor, preferably your own doc, in the loop on the progress of the burn. Also, consistently see the same pharmacy technicians/pharmacist when collecting treatment stuff. A pharmacist is likely to have watched burns heal before, and can help you monitor whether the healing is normal or not. If there's a nurse or other qualified person associated with the pharmacy, ask to make a weekly (or so) appointment to have her check on the burn's healing. The pharmacist will be able to tell if they can do that.

3. If the pain bothers you despite painkillers, play 'fool the nerve' games. Google a nerve diagram of the human body, find out which path(s) the nerve(s) to the affected part(s) of your foot/leg take. Above the pain area, but still where the nerve is, put hot packs or cold packs or one of those 'post sports' heat creams. Or massage the muscle, slap the skin, or tickle the skin, or scratch the skin (not enough to injure it!). Basically, experiment with sensations.

Nerves can only transmit X amount of information to the brain. You want to make the nerve transmit 'hey, I'm hot/cold/slapped/tickled/scratched/rubbed' rather than 'aaaaah! paaaainnn!'

If it wasn't damaged skin, I'd be saying to do these things at the pain site. But in this case? Nuh-uh. Especially the scratching or the cream, because they might damage the already-damaged skin (& underlying tissues).

Experiment with sensations, experiment with locations 'upstream' of the burn. You'll probably find that several different sensations work, and also that you need to switch around a bit. Nerves can 'tire' of transmitting a particular signal. (It's actually more complicated than that, but that's close-enough for government work. :P )


4. DO A FIRST AID COURSE.
The St Johns Ambulance Service had a bumper sticker campaign out, a while back, that listed just how many Australians died every year due to ignorance of first aid skills. Given our population, it was a staggering number. (I do forget what it was, but as a percentage of our population it was nasssty.)


The following plea is to everyone, not just the OP:

Please, please, for your sake and the sake of everyone around you, do a first aid course. Your doctor or your pharmacist should be able to tell you who to contact. There may also be subsidised courses available if cost is keeping you from it.
Think of it as an investment in your and your family/friends' wellbeing. If you have even enough spare money to buy a latte a week, save that instead until you've paid for a course.
(I know some people on this forum don't have that sort of spare money, but I feel very, VERY strongly about the wisdom of having first aid knowledge. It's one of MY soapboxes.)

[Sapphire Silk]

I would certainly encourage anyone to take a basic course in first aid. I took a 16 week, college credit course in First Aid (it was only 1 credit hour IIRC) my first semester in college and it was one of the most USEFUL classes I have ever taken. Even as a nurse, it was incredibly useful.

When I first started working as an ER nurse (was still an LPN at the time), I had a roommate who was in paramedic school, and who later worked out of the same ER I did. He often complained ER nurses had no idea what paramedics had to deal with in the field.

So I took an EMT course. It was about 8 weeks, and I think I paid a small fee for the book and the instructor . . . but I got state certified and it was also an incredibly valuable course even though I never rode on the ambulance as one.