Suburban Ditch Medicine: Athlete’s Foot
Time for some more medicine your pharmacist doesn’t want you to know about, eh?
Athlete’s foot is common, painful, aggravating, and the expensive stuff you buy in drugstores often either doesn’t work at all, or only works for a few days. Trust me, this isn’t because there just isn’t the technology in our modern world to cure the most common human fungal infection. (Note: Many types of foot and nail fungus stem from the same or similar funguses, so these remedies are generally worth a try for anything external & non-mucous-membrane.)
My ex-husband is a carpet cleaner, meaning that he works with steam and his feet are constantly wet. A couple years of living with *that* will teach you everything you need to know about athlete’s foot, trust me. I shall spare you the experience (for which you’d better be grateful!) and here, have some cures!
Behind the cuts are three different athlete’s foot cures:
1. The Soak — for treating bad cases
2. The Powder — for keeping the evil at bay
3. The WTF — a seriously weird way to keep from getting it
Enjoy, Mighty Proletary!*
(*Yes, you’re the Mighty Proletary. Hey, Cecil has his Teeming Masses, and Benchilada has his Interwebs, and everybody’s got a pet name for their little corner of The Readership but me. So I picked Mighty Proletary. I know, it’s a serious moniker to uphold, but I know you guys can do it. ;)
1. The Soak. This is what to do if you (or an unlucky someone) has an actively aggravating (red, itchy, or worse) case of Icky Foot. First, go buy some (real, pure, preferably organic) Tea Tree Oil. It’s not cheap, but it lasts forever and it’s good for a lot of stuff, including this (it’s a hella antifungal, and an *above* hospital-grade antiseptic — external use only, though). Prepare a hot footbath (as hot as the ickyfoot-ee can take it, but remember, feet are sensitive) and add a teaspoon or two of the tea tree oil. Soak a minimum of 1/2 hour. Repeat for at least 3 days, preferably 5-7. This will get rid of the pain-itching and kill the fungus — but chances are that if you leave it alone at this point, it’ll come back due to re-exposure. Follow one or both of the steps below to prevent that:
2. The Powder. Now THIS is some footpowder. You’ll need a coffee-grinder or the equivalent, and the following cheap herbs. (Note: You can also buy the herbs pre-powdered, IF you know you’re going to use them fairly immediately. If you can’t get straight-up herbs (NOT PILLS!) in your area, try Mountain Rose Herbs — I recommend them highly.)
You’ll need:
Black Walnut Hulls
Calamus root
Sage
For measurements, use twice as much Black Walnut Hull as Calamus, and about four times as much Calamus as Sage. Make sense? Lots of Black Walnut, half as much Calamus, a bit o’ sage. (The sage is deodorizer.) Get it all down to a fine powder, and sprinkle in shoes. Empty and re-sprinkle regularly. Will keep athlete’s foot from recurring, and make things smell nice to boot. (Um, sorry about that pun.)
Bonus tip: Add about 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper in the winter to keep feet warm. Don’t overdo it! ;)
3. The WTF? …This is gross, but it works, both to help get rid of athlete’s foot and to keep it from coming back. Ready? Pee on your feet in the shower. Yup, no kidding. Er, not suggested anytime *other* than in the shower, however. But peeing on your feet (or I guess someone else’s, though I can see them not appreciating that) will kill fungus and sterilize minute cracks in your skin where the fungus can hide (and since you’re in the shower, all the cracks are nice and opened up). This is an old preventative often recommended to actual athletes when sharing communal showers, believe it or not. And yes, before you ask, women can do it too.
Um, rinse those feet well when you’re done, however. Or add some extra sage to your footpowder! ;)
-PD
17 devoted students of Roshi accepted this page in 0.282 seconds without moving, or saying a word.
As a long-term sufferer ( 20 years, no less!) (I have a certificate to prove it))I tried everything on the smorgasborg, except the intriguing remedies above, but including tea tree oil, which became my standard treatment which sort of worked but not really…. (for my persistent fungus, O.K?).
Eureka! I have tripped over a remedy which actually works perfectly- manuka honey. A wee dab between the toes most mornings as a treatment and preventative. It really works perfectly, honestly it does. Have been using it for a few months now, wet winter months included and narry a sign of parasitic life down there.
For you off-worlders, Manuka is a little tree that grows here in Aotearoa. A close relative grows across the ditch in the land of Oz.
Manuka is also called tea-tree, and is where the oil comes from you see. The honey is exported, and might be in yr deli or organic store. It has other theraputic properties, and also happens to be edible….
FM
No kidding? That’s one I’ve never heard of…but I do know that honey has impressive antimicrobial properties in general, so I believe it. Tea tree oil is a great fungus-cure, but you’re right; it has limited abilities with chronic cases — I’ve noticed that myself.
Thanks VERY much for the tip!
“A close relative grows across the ditch in the land of Oz” — *rotfl*
-PD