RSD/ ingrown toenails! HELP! What to do?? Will it heal??
 

(http://www.footlaw.com/glossary/)


Ok, so my big toe on my right foot has been killing me... extra puffy, red and my toe nail is ingrown. I never have dealt with this before, and so I cut the toe nail out the best I could... and I have pus coming out... :eek: :eek:

Come to find out, you aren't supposed to cut the toe nail out?? :eek:

I am worried, because I know it's infected, and I know those types of things are hard to deal with with RSD.

Any ideas and tips?? I am calling my PCP to see what I should do (what doctor to see for it), but how do I go about getting it fixed- like, will the infection heal since my foot has RSD and poor circulation?? What should I tell the doctor, as far as my condition?

Thanks in advance!! :grouphug:


Site on the topic:
http://www.podiatrychannel.com/ingro...ls/index.shtml

Tis the Season!!
 

Hi Vanessa--

I was coming on today to post about this same subject! :winky: In the past week, both of my daughter's big toes have had symptoms of ingrown toenails. My other daughter a few years ago has had surgery on both of her big toes for ingrown nails so I can help with what to do--I was just wondering if this is a common thing with RSD as it has happened before:confused: .

First, make sure your shoes fit really well and keep your nails trimmed--the straighter the edge, the better.

Soak your feet in epsom salt and warm water at least three times a day and gently pull the soften nail up after each soak. My daughter adds essential oils-lavendar and tea tree oil to the water. We put Neosporin on it after each soak which will help with the infection. You may need to get an antibiotic for it. They also have an ear--yep an ear drop that you put on it after surgery to keep the infection and pain down.

A podiatrist is the dr you might want to talk to, but with RSD, probably check with your main dr. Our podiatrist was more interested in the RSD than the toenail:eek:! Also, because of the RSD, we really took the slower road of soaking etc than surgery. Keep a close eye on it because infection can get nasty.

Good luck!
:hug:

Hi there Vanessa,

It is really important that you see a doctor soon to get some antibiotic for the infection as it can become a huge problem on a CRPS foot.
Even without CRPS we must never try to deal with our own ingrown toenails as whilst it may appear that you have cut the nail from the skin there is nail left under the nail bed at the side and this will invariably get infected.
A good podiatrist should always cut the nails of someone with CRPS as they are usually in such awful condition we can make a real mess of them.:eek:
As rsdmom says a good soaking will help and perhaps the application of some Betadine but seeing as there is already pus there you do need either local or oral antibiotics.
Hope you are better soon
Tayla:hug:

Thanks a lot, Katherine and Tayla!! I appreciate it.

I am going to a podiatrist tomorrow. I was wondering if you know the name of the antibiotic they use to treat this infection? I'd like to look it up, and see if it interferes with any of my medications ahead of time.

I am preparing myself for a battle: first, describing to this doctor what RSD is, and how this will affect the healing of my toe and secondly I have to tell him what medications I am on and I am pretty certain that he's going to raise his eye brows at them. I am on Methadone, Darvocet, Neurontin, Lyrica, Baclofen. Amitriptyline, Lidocaine patches and I am just coming off Valium (taking it in AM).

I have never been to this doctor so have no clue if he knows what RSD even IS! :confused: So, expecting the worst and hoping the best!! :wink:

Hi,
I don't mean to scare anyone with this but I have a good friend (he does not have RSD) he tried to take care of an ingrown toenail himself and got an awful infection. He didn't go to the drs. and ened up losing his leg up to his knee. He continus to have very bad health problems because of this and a once healthy person is now totaly disabled.The problems with RSD are bad enough. Please call your dr. right away or go to the er.

Sue K.

Dr is a must
 

I sure didn't mean not to go to the dr-- it is extremely important-especially if it is infected, but wanted to let you know what to do in the mean time.

I don't know the particular name of the antibiotic- :( but I do think taking your list is a great idea. I always take literature from RSDSA and RSDHope to the appointment and if I didn't get to drop it off a day early, I give it to the nurse to give to the dr before they see us so we can talk about it right away and the materials really help them take us seriously. My daughter and family were fortunate to be in the RSDSA newsletters so I have a couple copies of those that seem to help open the conversation.

I am glad that you brought up warts Rogue because my daughter has one and I have avoided having it looked at. Tell me if you find an alternative to freezing or cutting it out.

Thanks so much, RSDmom!! I really appreciate all your help! :heartthrob:

I got the feeling you were telling me to go to a podiatrist as well as the alternative treatment.

Thanks, you've really helped me!

Oh no! Another problem to deal with! I wish you the best of luck on your appointment tomorrow. Maybe he can cut the nail along the side so it doesn't grow into the skin again. I had this done (pre RSD) and it has been fine ever since.
Linmarie
:hug:

Alternative treatment for wart removal: Duct tape. I kid you not. Medical studies have found that duct tape is as effective. It just takes longer.
Duct tape for the treatment of common warts in adults: a double-blind randomized controlled trial.
Arch Dermatol. 2007 Mar;143(3):309-13.Duct tape for the treatment of common warts in adults: a double-blind randomized controlled trial.CONCLUSION: We found no statistically significant difference between duct tape and moleskin for the treatment of warts in an adult population.
Clinical inquiries. What nonpharmacological treatments are effective against common nongenital warts? J Fam Pract. 2006 Sep;55(9):801-2. "Duct tape may be equivalent to cryotherapy"

I hate ingrowing nails. I am a specialist at getting them. Mum deals with them - well, she is a nurse.. she just gets char or the carer to sit on me, picks my foot up and starts attacking it. Generally with a scalpel or a pair of scissors (I don't know if anyone gets large lumps of dead skin on their feet which goes black and falls off?) and then when she's cut round them she goes in for the nail, makes a triangle and then pulls both ends out and then soaks my feet in theatre antispetic, wraps them in clingfilm and leaves. It works and it's because the drs make such a mess of them and otherwise I end up with infections all the way up my legs so it's not good. There are only so many times you can get septiciema!!

but if you don't have my mum. Then go to the drs..

love ya

Froggsy xxxx

Please don't take this as advice if it's your affected foot. Go see a doctor.

I've had problems even predating the RSD with this. The trick is to find it early while it's still just irritating the skin. Under these conditions just apply an over the counter product call OutGrow on it. This stuff turns the skin to leather and allows the nail to grow up over it. Once it's infected you'll have to cut the nail back and start over probably. Keep it cut back until the infection is completely gone and then use the out grow.

Trimming the nails properly is important to stop these from recurring but RSD tends to destroy the nails so you may find the problem less avoidable. Cut the nail as straight across as practicable leaving the edges free of the skin. There is a little "runner" that grows uder the nails at the edges. Don't pull on this if you see it. Just cut it off.

Hi :)

Ouch that sounds really painful! I was having that problem recently in my bad foot, and the doctor did a procedure where he removed the whole right side of my nail that borders the skin. It is now growing in perfectly straight and will prevent further ingrowns! It was not a big procedure - got it done the day-of at the podiatrist's office at a regular visit. If you aren't into that idea, you should at least get it looked at by a podiatrist. They can give antibiotics as well as cut back the nail. Good luck!

i hope you get some good sound sleep tonight sweety.

may the lord wrap you in his healing arms. :hug:

Thanks, ((((((((Curious)))))))))!!

For everyone else: last evening I went to the podiatrist, and he did a surgical procedure to permanently cut off a chuck of the side of my nail. I thought I was in pain before... now it's really bad! If I thought I had pain before... :eek:

SO, the plan is, in two weeks, the podiatrist is going to do the same thing to my other big toe, because that one's bothering me a lot too.

For those of you with swelling, PLEASE control it-- this is what happens when your feet swell day after day and you allow it: your feet swell enough that the skin wraps around the toe nail, or the nail cuts into the skin. See, my swelling was minimal, and I thought I'd be fine to leave it be, because I wasn't fond of wearing compression stockings (added thing was that it is so hot here, and thick stockings...). So, this is what happened.

I decided to get a more invasive type of surgically removing the toe nail so that 85% guarantee it doesn't grow back (the other was 50-50 chance). I figured I might as well do it that way, so that I don't have it growing back and flaring up my toe.

SO, not doing well at all! I started the methadone last night, and hardly got any relief... I was just foggy, dizzy, sleepy and the like. Hopefully once it gets into my system it'll do something.

Hope you all are doing well! :hug:

Ouch
 

Hi Vanessa-

So sorry you had to take that step--my youngest daughter had to go through that on both toes as well. She actually had the surgery four times. Once on one foot, and three times on the other. First time- went ok, but they missed a piece, second time got the piece (after my 7 year old told the doctor she wanted him to do the procedure AGAIN because it still hurt so bad). He hadn't believed there was still a piece in there. The third time we found out about this medicine they put on to keep it from growing back. She is 11 now and hasn't had a problem with them.

Keep your foot elevated and the chocolate coming and hopefully this will settle down in a few days.

You definitely did the right thing if the dr thought you needed this. Ingrown toenails are very painful and can really wreak havoc.

:hug:

Thanks to everyone who's written and PMed me on the subject! :hug: :hug:


In my pain, I forgot something this morning- my podiatrist knew what RSD was, so I didn't have to educate him!! Woo! At least that went well, if not for the pain in my foot! The nurse was really interested, and I gave her papers about RSD from RSDSA.org and RSDHope.com :) She even asked questions and talked to me for a while.

Love ya all! xxxxxxxxxxx :hug: :hug: :hug:

I have found out that my nails grow diffrent now since RSD my toe nails are thick and fragile, I can trim them and they come back fast....I also have problems with hang nail from the nails growing diffrent..

Chris,

Me too!! My nails crumble and tear when I try to clip them. My one toe nail is almost all the way off... the joys of RSD... I do know what you mean, clipping them is a disaster!

Nails and hair get SO messed up with RSD! :eek:

mine crumble and fall off etc as well. My little ones don't seem to grow and are about 3 mm long and they are just odd , lumpy, horny and mank. GRRRR

love ya

xxxxxxxxx