Q. What can cause on and off feet swelling and fluid leak in diabetics?

Hello doctor,

This query is for my dad who is 75 years. In the last two months, one week he has been housebound and the initial one month, he was completely bedridden. He slipped twice on the first day. That is how it all started. His right leg could not carry the weight of his body. He is approx 110 kg, 6 feet tall. He has had this problem for the last 30 years but he had never been bedridden and the medication worked. He is also diabetic, taking medication for the heart - Eliquis 2.5 mg to reduce the risk of formation of blood clots and he also has varicose veins.

On the first day after this started, he took medication himself as per his last prescription. It did not work and after four days, we called the same doctor home who prescribed Insulin, Zocef CV 500 twice 10 days, Levoflox 500 one a day for 10 days and Daflon twice for 15 days. He said to give it nine days before a follow-up.

However, after five days since there was no relief and it had started oozing or edema which he noticed when he was sitting up when two visitors came over. The next day, we called another doctor, a diabetologist, as the previous doctor, then said to visit a vascular surgeon as he could not do anything about the oozing. This doctor completely changed the medicines prescribing Linospan 600 twice, Ceftum 500 twice, Chymoral Forte twice along with two other ointments Nadoxin and Betadine and dressing the wounds. This gave immediate relief. He continued the medication for two weeks till the next follow by the same doctor.

By this time, the wounds (characterized by oozing, discoloration, swelling) had completely healed except a small hole at the ankle. This time, the doctor prescribed Doxy 100 twice for two weeks and Orni O twice for seven days along with the same ointments. After the end of two weeks, he continued this for a further 10 days after which he was prescribed Dalacin 300 mg for seven days. He took this for around 12 days. Since the last 10 days, he has been taking his own medication - Zocef CV 500, Levoflox 500 and Daflon and at present, he is back to Dalacin 300 since the last two days.

He is averse to being admitted to a hospital for the fear of amputation and because he does not want to be admitted to a hospital. He prefers to be treated at home. 10 days ago, my mom also went to our family doctor, who on seeing the pics of the leg said that as per his opinion it required immediate hospitalization and recommended a color doppler of both lower limbs both arterial and venous. My dad cannot walk to get this test done. Please advice. Especially since he is not able to walk beyond the bed to the dining table and for not more than five minutes.

Also, particularly why does the leg get swollen off and on now? After taking the antibiotics for so long (now 67 days), does it mean that there is some internal problem? How can it be diagnosed?