Athlete's Foot

[Muxel]

Or "athlete's foot" if you prefer the euphemism. Does anyone here know much about it?

Just a few days ago I noticed my feet were stinking to high heaven. I walk a lot in beach sandals and sometimes the sole of my foot would impact painfully on some gravel. I looked at my soles just now and there is a patch of peeling gray discolored flesh that I will have to trim away.

I soaked my feet in apple cider vinegar solution and plan to apply some povidone. Beyond that I do not know: I don't have colloidal silver, nor Lugol's, and I am hesitant to try antifungals.

I would greatly appreciate any advice.

 

[Gaby]

Re: Foot rot

You can consider coconut oil and caprylic acid (octanoic acid), but I wouldn't discard the lugol nor anti-fungals if the foot is really in a bad condition.

You'll have to see also about diet as well, and if there is something there that it is making it worse.

 

[Laura]

"Athlete's Foot" is not a euphemism, it's a more correct term. Plus, it is more polite. "Foot rot" is euphemistic because, in fact, the foot is not rotting - it is usually a fungus.

Athlete's foot, known medically as tinea pedis, is a common skin infection of the feet caused by fungus.

Probably one of the best things out there to use is potassium permanganate foot soaks.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/247213-medical-uses-for-potassium-permanganate/

Potassium permanganate foot soaks treat fungal infections such as athlete's foot. Symptoms of these conditions include itching or burning, usually between the toes, as well as redness or a scaly skin appearance associated with the feeling as if your foot is on fire. These symptoms are relieved by killing or inhibiting the growth of the fungus using the oxidizing action of potassium permanganate. The affected foot is soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate dissolved in water for about 15 minutes twice a day for two to three weeks. One side effect of this treatment is that your foot will temporarily turn brown from the potassium permanganate.

http://www.technology.org/2014/09/30/3-ultimate-uses-potassium-permanganate/

I've found potassium permanganate to work on things that nothing else will help.

 

[Muxel]

Let me try the permanganate and get back to you.

Thanks for the tip about coconut oil as well!

 

[MusicMan]

Hello Muxel, keep your feet as dry as you can. I have found that you can pack your shoes (when you aren't wearing them) with a mixture of kitty litter and bicarb soda, the kitty litter absorbs the moisture and the bicarb soda will deodorize the smell. It is a fungus, and it will reinfect you, maybe some new shoes are in order.
It's a tough one, but keep at it and you will succeed.

 

[Muxel]

reinfect

NOOOOOO!! Haha, actually I did have it once before, when I was younger and didn't take good care of my feet, but somehow it went away and I forgot. Thank you kindly for the advice sir!

 

[Zar]

Let me try the permanganate and get back to you.

Thanks for the tip about coconut oil as well!

Yes, I'm going to try this as well. I've had athletes foot for a while and this one has been so persistent, although strangely it only affects my left foot. I'll try the permanganate and buying new socks. Thanks for this thread.

 

[Muxel]

I've had athletes foot for a while and this one has been so persistent, although strangely it only affects my left foot.

How does it manifest on your left foot? Like a discoloration, maybe a sore, or something? I'm just curious about what to look for (besides the odor).

 

[Yupo]

Podiatrist here.
If you are having an odor issue, I'd be thinking of a bacterial or mixed infection. There is also something called Pitted Keratolysis (a bacterial infection) which is distinctively odorous. I'm sure you can find some image of it on the web.
Tinea seems to like some people better than others, probably due to individual 'flavor' and hereditary immune profile (which might be variable with dietary modification).
Tinea seems to thrive on moisture, so in some mild cases an antiperspirant can be really effective. I like "Certain-Dri" brand. It is so good because it is water based rather than alcohol based. It gets into sweat glands much more easily. I think the package has the detailed protocol included on the insert. It is about $6 at retail pharmacies in USA.

I also like an old fashioned and cheap remedy called Whitfield's Ointment.
It was recently learned that this formula was effective against Psedomonas and other nasty pathogens, so was re-patented after a minor formula tweak and now sells in USA as Bensal Ointment for something like $500. for a little tube, marketed for diabetic wounds and such. At the same time, Whitfield's (at $2./100 grams) vanished. (SO wrong!) I have seen big tubs of it on Amazon, though. When I travel, I always try to buy some of this OTC paste.

The key for topical treatment is to
1) keep it up for 4-6 weeks, so epidermis can fully regenerate.
2) get the medicine well beyond the actual rash, at least 2cm. This is the active zone of the infection.

There is also Castellani Paint. I think things like this, Gentian Violet and permanganate are rather aggressive, although they do work. Be careful and be aware of staining if you choose to use these. I can't advise on proper dilutions and treatment schedules.

For Pitted Keratolysis, I favor aggressive treatment with topical benzoyl peroxide and an antibiotic (erythromycin). The shoes have to go in the trash. Usually, you'll know which shoe pair is the problem. There is an overpriced Rx prep called Benzamycin Gel, which works very well on it's own. It is marketed for acne.

In my experience, oral Lamisil is pretty safe if used carefully. In >20 years of using this I have seen only one real problem.

 

[Yupo]

It is very common to have this on only one foot.

 

[Zar]

Thanks yupo for the post, I've tried many different ointments/creams in the past and twice I thought I had gotten rid of it. But probably because I didn't discard my socks/shoes it came back. My second near success was with oral lamisil, it's advised to take a blood test after a month to ensure the liver has no problems. It took me several weeks to get the blood test sorted but upon seeing no visible fungus I decided to end the treatment only to have it return later that month. I'm thinking of doing oral lamisil(I don't have time to apply cream in the morning) and permanganate to really nuke it, while doing coffee enema to ensure my liver get's detoxed. I won't go past the one month prescription with the oral lamisil but will go a few weeks with lamisil cream after it looks like it's healed. The issue I may have is that I'm a carpenter so replacing my just new construction shoes is costly. I'm thinking of using bentonite clay/lamisil powder in my left boot for an additional week or two and check my feet regularly to see if i need to replace my boots or not.

I've had athletes foot for a while and this one has been so persistent, although strangely it only affects my left foot.

How does it manifest on your left foot? Like a discoloration, maybe a sore, or something? I'm just curious about what to look for (besides the odor).

I have no itching/burning/odor/sore, it's just dry flaky skin on upper section of my foot. But there are different strands and I'm sure it develops differently for different people.

 

[Corvus]

Quote from Muxel:

NOOOOOO!! Haha, actually I did have it once before, when I was younger and didn't take good care of my feet, but somehow it went away and I forgot. Thank you kindly for the advice sir!

I had this condition when I was younger also because we trained barefoot on parquet and tatami so there was much of fungus involved but it left by it s own when I stopped being so active and I used sometimes antifungal creams, but it was reddish skin between toes that was itching in my case, and there was also some husking in that place. Now I am still barefoot on BJJ but it is special kind of tatami used and it s cleaned before every training, and I am not so active like then when it was almost every day on parquet or tatami.

At least I know what to use now if it comes back - potassium permanganate, thanks for advice.

 

[furryfrog]

You should look into Candida. Athlete's foot is one of the many symptoms of Candida overgrowth.

Here is a thread on this forum about it.

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,9796.0.html

I was having problems with athlete's foot, along with other symptoms of Candida overgrowth. Now that I have been making progress fighting Candida overgrowth I know longer have athlete's foot issues.

 

[Fluffy]

You should look into Candida. Athlete's foot is one of the many symptoms of Candida overgrowth.

Here is a thread on this forum about it.

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,9796.0.html

I was having problems with athlete's foot, along with other symptoms of Candida overgrowth. Now that I have been making progress fighting Candida overgrowth I know longer have athlete's foot issues.

Yup, agree here, my candida infection is a challenging one, when it's somewhat under control my athletes foot goes away.

What is your diet like?

 

[Zar]

You should look into Candida. Athlete's foot is one of the many symptoms of Candida overgrowth.

Here is a thread on this forum about it.

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,9796.0.html

I was having problems with athlete's foot, along with other symptoms of Candida overgrowth. Now that I have been making progress fighting Candida overgrowth I know longer have athlete's foot issues.

Yup, agree here, my candida infection is a challenging one, when it's somewhat under control my athletes foot goes away.

What is your diet like?

Well that's interesting. Yesterday I ordered all the components to do a probiotic enema and am just about 2 weeks into a keto diet. My diet has been on and off, I did keto from jan to about march, then paleo till about june, then had a dissociative binging episode... and now am climbing back up to full keto. Basically fat bombs (no butter or cacao or egg yold), and meat with some veggies (zucchini, cabbage, avocado, onion).
I will look into my candida situation.