Atheletes foor/fungal nail infection?

Help me please!!

About a year ago I went to my doctors as I suspected I had a fungal nail infection, I had some clippings sent off and it came back positive, only thing is the doc sent me on my way with no prescrition as the drugs they were prescribing have a health risk now!!! it has now spread to all my toes and they are very brittle and horid looking. And im pretty sure I have athletes foot now aswell, I have tried the creams and sprays and nothing works?

I wash my feet daily so I dont understand how my feet can get in this state.

Any suggestions /remedi please let me know as im anxios to get this sorted.

Cheers

I have

The anti fungal drugs are hard on your liver. The nail fungus has to grow out so you would be on the drugs for a long time - thus the liver damage potential. The newspaper column written by Dr. Gott has repeatedly recommended using Vick Vapo Rub (or another off brand) to treat nail fungus. I would also suggest that you give up white flour and sugar - basically refined carbs so you are not feeding the fungus - and add active culture yogurt to your diet. New shoes - ultra clean socks - treat your shoes if you can't throw them in the washer (I wash athletic shoes even if they are leather) Good luck.

Vics Vapor Rub...you may laugh. I swear. Research it on the Tinternet.
Have a look at this too...

http://www.earthclinic.com/CURES/fungus....

Ditto and sorry I don't have any suggestions but I can tell you that when I went to my GP he showed me a reference book that he uses which was full of an amazing amount of different types of toe-nail conditions.

So you are not alone mate.

T-tree oil can be a great remedy for this - but it needs to be good quality concentrated oil, not one that is diluted.

Other herbal remedies can also be quite helpful - but often the treatment needs to be internal, rather than just topical (on the skin itself).

You should also question your nutritional state - are you getting the optimum levels of nutrients into your body - because fungal infections are often related to poor nutrition. This may not be as a result of poor diet, but from a poorly functioning digestive system - do you get any bloating / indigestion / diarrhoea / constipation? If you do, then you should seek help with this, and your feet will then get better!

An experienced practitioner in nutriton or herbal medicine should be able to help - find a local practitioner, rather than depending on the local health food shop as the quality of their advice varies considerably.

if you have fungal nails and don't have any pre-existing liver problems like hepatitis, liver damage, cirrhosis, etc., then you should be fine to take oral antifungal medication. if you are still worried about the liver, then your podiatrist can monitor the liver function with a simple blood test while you are on the medication. unfortunately, the topicals don't work much. I have heard of vicks vaporub; try it if you have no alternative. I think it will only make your toes smell better. I hope you have good insurance because the oral antifungals can be quite expensive. The two major oral antifungals are: Lamisil and Sporanox

What a horrid doctor!

Go to another one for starters - there has to be something they can prescribe.
As the problem is fungal and the only thing which naturally treats fungus is bacteria, it may be worth trying treating your toes with something like live yoghurt which contains lots of bacteria (brings a whole new meaning to cheesy feet!)

they only damage your liver if you already have liver disease, otherwise they would not be able to continue to prescibe them.
this was a common problem in the uk where i worked, the doctors were discouraged from prescribing a pill for what is a mainly cosmetic problem because of the very high cost of terbinafine (lamisil) tabs. the problem is also that they only have an 80% cure rate
if you live in the usa just go to a private podiatrist who will prescibe them for you, it will cost a lot probably close to 2000 dollars for a full course of 12 weeks.
if you live in the uk you could try a different doctor i guess, but you will have to give them a sob story and tell them your nails are flaking and growing in and it has spread to your skin and you are worried about it cracking and getting infected etc.
have you tried lamisil spray - thats pretty good, or bathing your feet in strong tea tree oil solution, these will work eventually, unfortunately topical treatments that you have to apply to the outside take approx 1 year to work on a fungus which takes a lot of memory and will power.
you probably picked it up off someone else, or trying on shoes.
sometimes recurrent or hard to get rid off fungal infections can be a sign of lowered immunity or diabetes

10% of the adult population of UK have fungal toenail infections. Most of these are Tinea Rubrum. It was a bit unusual for your GP not to offer treatment as it does as you have discovered spread and become very unsightly.

There are treatment options, I agree oral antifungals are potentially hepato-toxic ( Liver ) but the are commonly used. There is however a non-toxic alternative in the form of Loceryl a topical laquer. It is available over the counter, but need to be used for 1-2 years, this odviously works out a bit expensive it you cannot get it on prescription.