Ok, um OW!!

[Missy]

I have been hiding a icky little secret. My heels are horrid. They are cracked and often bleed. They flake and even chip. You can thump em with a utensil and hear it like knocking on a door. THey are sore and hurt so very bad to walk on them. They cracked open and sweat or sock fuzzies get in there into the crack and it hurts so bad you have to scrape me off the celing.

What is it? Athletes foot. However i have been told several things by doctors. "You're over weight and the stress of it is putting undo pressure on your feet building up a callus that can't support your weight...therefore the cracks" to "your skin is just too dry, apply vasceline at night wrap in plastic wrap before bed" etc etc etc. Pedicures did no good. Lava rocks and other pumise items, again did nothing. Bath poofs, nope, soaps, nope, special abrasive socks, nope.

I did finally find a routine that is working beautifully though. Here are the routine steps that are working for me. I am not a doc, so talk to yours before you give it a try (if you have the same problem)

1. 2 gallon hot water 1/2 capful of bleach. (sounds awful, but at such a low dose you don't even so much as smell it.) soak feet (not if skin is broken ...skip the bleach) trying to hit the fungus.

2. scrub heels with a green scrubby. Dedicate it specially for this purpose and clean it thouroughly after use. The bleach water will kill off the germies. Put it where it won't get accidently used to clean the bathroom etc.

3. oil heels and feet. I have what's called "Miracle oil" got it at a salon. But a heel/ foot oil from any brand would be effective

4. cuticle oil on toe nails...just because. again, brand doesn't matter

5. heel creme worked in on entire foot mine is cucumber melon scented. smells great. once again use any brand you like

6. clean socks. have a few that you can wash special in bleach and hot hot water. again, kill off the athletes foot fungus.

7. athletes foot spray in the shoes i wore today. dont' want to do all this just to have active bits of fungus just waiting to pounce when i least expect.

This regimin was suggested to me by a salon supply owner that sees it all the time, and I gotta say, it's like night and day the difference in my feet. I actually am getitng feeling back in my heel bottoms. I could walk across hot coals with the callus build up i have had!! But now, the skin is soft, and i can actually feel my carpet, or soft cushy socks under my feet agains my skin.

[KWLinda]

Missy, So glad you found something that helps! Doesn't it seem when your feet hurt in any way that it just makes life miserable in general? I know it does for me. I've never had to deal with the athlete's foot but do get callouses from walking on the job so much and use a pumice stone (like the scrubby) after showering then lots of lotion to keep them soft.

[birthgeek]

I used to have really bad heels, but I don't think they were *that* bad. I'm glad you are finding good results from your regimen! I wanted to also suggest that you can put some drops of Tea Tree Oil in your carrier foot oil, as an additional fungicide.

Oil of Oregano orally can also kill fungus in your system (make sure you ask at your health store, to make sure you get the right kind), as well as taking grapefruit seed extract.

I once found a great lotion, Lac-Hydrin (12% lactic acid) that melted away my hardest 'hooves' within a week with little effort otherwise. Just some more ideas.

[Droppedonmyhead]

My daughter had a similiar problem when she was little. Her poor feet always had cracks in them. I would take her to the beach several times a year for the natural abrasion of the sand and the healing qualities of the salt water. In between the beach trips, I would put anti-fungal liquid on her feet and put white socks on her when she went to bed. Eventually, it went away. . .but was the hardest thing to get rid of.

[Goodwin17]

Fungus is a tough organism to combat. Something else that I tell my patients that you can get over-the-counter is Burow's solution. You pour it into a foot soak, and it helps kill the fungus. I hope that it continues to improve. I'm not good at taking care of my feet, and I have some big calluses on mine. Guess I need to get out that pumice stone.

[kymom]

I have the same problem. I soak mine in vinegar and water. Then I oil them up really good< any oil I have> and wrap them in plastic and put them on a heating pad for an hour or so. It is working so far. I went to the doctors four times and got no relif.