I went to the foot doctor today, to find out why my big toe clicks when I walk, and why it feels like it's broken all the time. (been that way for a long time...it's always clicked, but the pain didnt start til about 15-20yrs ago after I got out of high school)

Turns out it's arthritis. He gave (sold me) an insert for my shoes. If that insert doesnt work, he's going to do a computerized scan of my feet and make me specialized inserts for my shoes.

Big reason I was there actually tho was to have the doctor tell me what I should do about a nail fungus that was on my toenail next to the arthritic toe.

Gave me a choice. 12 weeks of an oral med that can do liver damage (then why is it on the market?) or I could get the nail removed.

I opted for the nail to be removed. (I dont like taking pills anyways) I let him take the nailbed too, so bye-bye toenail on that toe.

I thought it would hurt more once the anesthetic wore off. Seems like most of the pain is coming from the two injection sites of the anesthesia. (ohmygosh, the anesthesia was the most painful thing I've felt since I had optic neuritis!)

I'm just glad the ugly nail is gone...I dont have to take any meds. Just have to make sure the toe is clean and goobered up with Neosporin for the next few weeks.

It does hurt tho. Cant believe I let him take the nail off, but strangely enough, it wasnt as bad as I thought it would be when he did it. (I didnt watch him do it. Held my Kindle e-book up so I couldnt see him work on it)

Cant wait for it to heal now.

I suddenly find myself at a loss for words.

But, if YOU'RE happy, then I'M happy!!!

B'bye toenail and fungus!

My foot hurts now, so I'm not all that happy. But now I'll be able to wear sandals again. (yay!)

I can go shoe shopping now. (that nail was causing more problems than just being ugly)

I want shoes other than my sneakers. I want pretty shoes now!

I cant wait to go shoe (and sandal) shopping!!!

I've got the fungus on my big toe on my left foot. I've been putting on the paint on stuff for months now. It looked for awhile like that was working. The doc said it would take months. It is finally growing to the top of the toe nail.

But I'm afraid I'm going to have to do what you did.

Not looking forward to it.

Don't wanna think about it.

It is soooo ugly!

I just didnt think I'd have the will to sit there and paint the stupid thing, or remember to take the pills...and with all the side effects that the pills have. Ewww!

So, I just went ahead and gave the toenail it's eviction notice early. Just didnt want to deal with all the crud to try to save it.

I'm already missing a fingernail on my left hand due to a birth defect...so I didnt really care if I were to be missing a toenail too.

That toenail seemed to be affected by whatever caused the weird fingernail birth defect too. It was actually growing sideways. The toe doc said the nail bed was only in the back left corner of where it was supposed to be. It was growing catty-corners across the toe. He said it was weird, but at least there wasnt as much nail bed there as I should have had. So, it took less time and effort for him to remove it.

My family has this weird birth defect running thru our DNA. I thought I was the only one in the family until I found out my aunt and at least one of her kids had it. I was the only one who was missing a fingernail tho. My aunt had all her fingernails, but her left index finger, the nail is growing sideways across her finger. (same finger on my hand is affected, but what fingernail is there, is split in half and both pieces grow independently of each other)

I thought it was just me and my aunt until her daughter had her first kid, and he had nails just like mine...on most of his fingers! His younger brother also was missing most of his nails, and he's got microtia of the ear. (his ears are not quite formed right...little pieces of ear, instead of normally formed ears...and his hearing isnt quite right) Microtia means "small ear".

The birth defect that's causing the weird fingernails can also cause problems with the knees and other problems (kidney problems and glaucoma problems are possible apparently)

I'm just happy that now once my toe heals, I can buy some sandals...and hopefully some pretty shoes (my feet are huge, so pretty shoes are not always possible for my feet)

I'm excited! I've been looking at shoes and sandals on the internet. I cant wait to go out and try some new shoes on. Yay!

My aunt has hers removed and she is so cute. She paints the naked toe now so it looks like it has a nail. I have two big toe in-grown nails that need to be removed. Those darn things are so painful. I just have to get the guts up to do it.

That just hurts to even think about - you are brave.
Glad it is gone and you will now get new shoes !!!

I cut out an article from the newspaper several weeks ago and just barely threw it away!

But it said something about using a laser technique to cure fungus. Might be worth looking into, 4boysmom.

Laser sounds wonderrful!! My fungus arrived a few months after starting Tysabri. I figured it was just one of those darn side effects. It is listed as one.

My fourth son has a friend whose dad is a podiatrist. Maybe he does the laser thing!

I'm going to check into it if it doesn't clear up better in the next couple of months.