I am here at work and my foot is killing me! I have a recurring ingrown toenail problem and now (gross-out) I think one of them is infected! It hurts very badly.
The only thing worse than being in this much pain at work, is working in a place where you know they could fix it if only you weren’t at work!! I had my toenail removed a couple of years ago for this very same reason but I just don’t wnat to have to go back and do it again. The procedure is definitely less painful than the ingrown toenails but it takes forever to get an appointment and the whole growing-your-toenails-back thing is not fun.
I have to do something because right now I am having trouble even putting a sock on and tomorrow I have to go to school and walk from one end of campus to the other numerous times.
Sorry for the long, pointless post but it distracts from the pain!
The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they’re going to be when you kill them.
Beth, sounds like the only thing to do now is have it removed or cut back again. In my field, I have seen a small infection spread to the bone. While I don’t want to worry you more than you are already, I urge you to see the doctor and get it taken care of. In the long run, while it will be painful in the interim, it will save you much more pain. Take care.
evil, I understand your pain rather well, because I will be at the doctors tommorow to get permission to go to the podiatrist (Don’t you just love HMOs. )to have this infected ingrown toenail fixed permanently.
My understanding is that he’ll put some sort of goop on the edge of the cut off toenail that will kill the bedcells in that area and the toenail won’t grow there anymore.
>>Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry…unless the other guy is bigger than you.<<
I had ingrown nails on both of my big toes cut back about 17 years ago. There was something put on them to curb the growth, and it is starting to wear off now. My big toes are no longer a problem, but pretty much every other toe is. I had been told that if you cut a notch in the nail it helps the nail to grow properly. At first I didn’t believe it, but it has limited the amount of problems that I do have. Good luck, I know how irritating ingown nails can be.
If I was discussing Lucy Lawless but I wrote Lucy Topless, would that be a Freudian typo?
I tried the notch thing on one of my toenails when it first became ingrown. That one became infected and the other one (no notch) did not. So, I’m not going to try that again!!
My doctor’s office called in a prescription for antibiotics for me and the receptionist told me to take some of the tip off of a Q-Tip and put it between my nail and the side of my toe and that might help it “fix” itself. Now, if I could just stand to touch my toe long enough to do that…
Thanks for the replies! Hopefully, this will stop. But I actually have a question for you medical types out there: Are ingrown toenails caused by pressure on the toes (too small shoes/socks, high heels, etc) or are they caused by a fungus? I have had doctors tell me both things.
The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they’re going to be when you kill them.
I’ve always heard that it can be from cutting your toenails wrong (supposed to be cut straight across) and then wearing tight shoes that put alot of pressure on the nail.
Don’t look at me, mine are a legacy of a misspent youth. As a kid I would pick at my nails (Eat the fingernails, pick at the toenails) while I read…and I read a lot. To this day, I have no fingernails to speak of, and the bigtoe nails are constantly ingrown. From my doctor yesterday: The ingrown toenail becomes infected because the toenail digs into the skin, and because of the pressure when you walk, the skin can’t heal around it, since it is being disturbed constantly. Fungus might come into play as the infectious agent though.
>>Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry…unless the other guy is bigger than you.<<
I don’t have a problem with my toenails, but my husband does. The nails on his big toes are the worst. He’s had them both removed, but when they grow back, they come in the same way. The doctor says his are caused by a fungus. The doctor wants to give him some pills to take (the name is escaping me right now), but my husband is a little afraid of these pills. They’re really powerful, and would basically napalm any fungus in his body. You can only take them for a short period of time, 3-4 days, IIRC.
Husband wants to go back to the doctor soon, but I can’t take the time off work just yet (He can’t chase the kids around after having the nails yanked). I’m going to look in to the drastic stuff, though, and see if the doctor can just make them never grow back. Either that, or a foot transplant.
Changing my sig, because Wally said to, and I really like Wally, and I’ll do anything he says, anytime he says to.
Last time that happened to me, my doc gave me some heavy-duty antibiotics and a note advising my boss that I was to wear sandals to work for a month. It worked for me. Hey, it let me wear comfortable shoes during the summer, too…
)to have this infected ingrown toenail fixed permanently.