Peeling Fingernails after HFMD

17 Mar 2015

Noticed that about 2 weeks back (i.e. early March, which is 2 whole months after I recovered), my fingernails have started to peel. No kidding.(Note: It could have been earlier but I could have failed to notice as my nails were painted for CNY).  

The uppermost layer is slowly dislodging itself from my nail and will fall off as the nail grows out. Sigh. Mum, who suffered HFMD with me, is also facing the same issue now.

Left Hand: 4/5 nails affected

Right Hand: 5/5 nails affected

In other HFMD related news, the skin on my feet have finished peeling about a month back (i.e. slightly after CNY). Now the skin on my sole is quite smooth again; no more cracked heel problems! Haha!

29 Mar 2015

Peeling is a slow and painful process...

The middle nail kept snagging on stuff so I decided to trim it...

Here's the trimmed nail.

26 April 2015

Terrible state of my nails before flying off for my Taiwan trip.

Left hand: 3 fingernails affected

Right hand: 4 fingernails affected

3 May 2015

Sad state of my nails after coming back from Taiwan. I had to trim a couple of nails OFF to prevent the nail from tearing laterally across even further. Sigh. Very little of my nail is left. The remaining layer is extremely thin, soft and brittle. I have difficulty washing my hair and typing on the computer. I suspect it will take another 1 - 2 months for the tearing/torn nails to grow out completely.

I am so glad my wedding is over if not I would be having such ugly nails!

Other Information

(Source: Medscape)

"Onychomadesis is defined as a painless spontaneous separation of the nail plate from the bed, beginning at the proximal end with subsequent shedding of the nail as the new nail grows. It can occur idiopathically, after trauma, or in association with serious systemic illnesses, infections and drugs reactions. The association between onychomadesis and HFMD was first proposed by Clementz et al, with recent studies of HFMD outbreaks in Spain and Finland providing further supporting evidence.

Onychomadesis occurs as a result of temporary arrest of nail growth at the nail matrix. Other possible mechanisms of onychomadesis in HFMD include inflammation of the nail matrix and intensive hygienic measures resulting in maceration, Candida infection and allergic contact dermatitis. No treatment is required for onychomadesis, and onward referral to specialist is unnecessary. Patients should be reassured that spontaneous regrowth of a new normal nail is usually seen within a few months."

The road to recovery...

.. I have traversed!

And the next road to take is the one that leads me back to work after my past 9 days at home battling HFMD.

I've updated the HFMD timeline post and this will probably be my last post here.

Good health to everyone and keep up the good practice of frequent handwashing! :D

Lifesavers during HFMD

Sharing some of my current lifesavers in this grave time of HFMD... 

THINGS

#1 This swivel chair (or any chair with wheels, basically)

I remember in September when I first brought home the box containing the parts for this chair, my mum exclaimed, "Where are you going to put the chair? Your room is so full already!"

Well, it's a damn good thing I brought home this swivel chair from Ikea (at an offer too - only SGD$39.90 when I bought it!) because it was her lifesaver for 2 days when she was in the stage of painful blisters during HFMD and couldn't walk, and moving around on the chair was much easier on her blistered feet.

I didn't reached the stage of blistered feet; just very itchy feet due to the rashes which were somehow "hardening". Thus, during that time it really itched just to twitch my foot, let alone walk. It was really way easier and more convenient to roll around via this chair than to walk and provoke my feet into itching, which you know, once you start you can't stop, as Pringles would say.

#2 Soft, Fluffy Slippers

When your rashes are in that super itchy stage, even just touching the cold hard floor will provoke the rashes into itching. So soft, fluffy slippers came in really useful.

For my mum, it did good to cushion her severely blistered feet.

And also, if you are going to be applying any sort of cream on your feet (see point 3 below) and need to walk around after that, you'd definitely need a pair of soft slippers!

Soft fluffy slippers from Daiso (i.e. only $2 per pair)

#3 Aloe Vera Gel

I used some expired aloe vera gel on my very itchy feet (well, it was manufactured in 2008 so it most definitely must have expired by now)  and it did help for like... 10 mins, which I suppose is better than nothing. 

Online, I read that calamine lotion may help. I suppose moisturizer may also help.

That be said, the itch is not as bad as the itch I experienced from a previous bout of eczema, during which ice/ an ice pack really helped to quell the itch. What I didn't like was when the ice started to melt, then it got really messy. Maybe it might be cleaner and easier to just dunk your feet in a basin of ice cold water, if you are that desperate.

#4 Bottles of water in the room

Saves me the trouble of having to walk to the kitchen to refill my glass of water, especially in the middle of the night when I wake up with a dry and painful throat. But of course, cold water is still most soothing on my painful throat, and sometimes, it is worth the long walk to the fridge...

#5 Dettol, of course

Obviously, I have to mention Dettol coz that's what inspired this blog - remember, eat-breathe-live Dettol. Well, right now we're still rather backward, using the normal press and dispense kinda bottles, but I really think we should get this No-Touch Hand Wash System!

We found Dettol wipes very useful also, to clean all surfaces that infected people like me touch. I practically keep a packet of Dettol wipes beside me in my room, constantly cleaning my laptop keyboard, mouse and phone.

Most recently, Mum acquired this Dettol spray (just like insecticide), which is pretty convenient too. It's seriously quite interesting, the range of products that Dettol has to offer.

#6 Disposable plates and cutlery

HFMD is passed through saliva and bodily fluids so to be safe, we used disposable plates and cutlery, to avoid the chance of blisters on hands weeping and falling on to the food/plates and/or improperly washed plates and cutlery which might still have traces of saliva on it. Better to be kiasu and safe than sorry!

FOOD

(A) What works for me:

Warm, soupy stuff with noodles e.g. fish slice horfun/beehoon, fish ball soup

Ice cold water

Ice cold paracetamol 

My mum swears by yoghurt but I haven't tried that yet.

(B) What doesn't work for me:

Ice cream and dou hwa seem to sting my throat (perhaps due to the milk content). The pain is bearable when swallowing but it is significantly higher than when I eat the above food in A.

Things that are too sweet (e.g. honey water) seem to sting my throat too.

HFMD Timeline

History of HFMD in the Family in the past week

• Mon 22 Dec 2014 - My 1.5 year old nephew Dilly was diagnosed with HFMD. My sister brought her 5 month old baby, Emmy over to my house to stay, in hopes of keeping the germs at bay. I most definitely carried and played with cute baby Emmy while she was at my house.

• Tue 23 Dec 2014 - Sister decided to return home at 1am coz Dilly who was at home with my brother-in-law Andrew was missing her terribly and couldn't sleep. But still, we spent a lot of time with Emmy in the morning before I went to work, and during dinner and after.

• Wed 24 Dec 2014 - Went to Sister's house for a Quarantine Party Christmas eve dinner of pizza with the immediate family. Mum assured me it would be quite safe as long as I didn't carry the babies and constantly sanitized my hands, especially before eating.

• Thur 25 Dec 2014 - Sister came over with Emmy at 9.40pm to pass us a logcake. I must definitely have poked Emmy's fatty legs, arms and cheeks. She's just so cute.

• Fri 26 Dec 2014 - Mum and Emmy were diagnosed with HFMD.

My HFMD Timeline (to be updated progressively)

[Note: Pictures of rashes on feet included. Need to manage expectations here... There is nothing glamorous about HFMD at all... So you know what to expect...]

Day 1, Sat 27 Dec 2014

• Woke up with a darn painful sore throat unlike any other sore throat I ever had before. And since I just had a sore throat 2 weeks ago, I thought it was way too soon for me to get another sore throat. Fully aware that Mum, Dilly and Emmy already had HFMD, I decided to err on the side of caution and give my gift exchange with my friends a miss. (On hindsight, that was a damn good move on my part, if not we would have been exchanging germs in addition to gifts)
• My temp was 36.9 when I first woke up but went up steadily to 37.5 and the highest recorded was 38 degrees. After that, my thermometer unceremoniously died and I could no longer take my temperature . 

Day 2, Sun 28 Dec 2014

• Woke up still feverish, in pain from the body aches. Dragged myself to the nearby doc who  said it looked like (with my fever and red spots in my throat plus family's history of HFMD) but may not be HFMD yet as I didn't have the characteristic rashes. Sent me home with a 2 day MC and asked me to come back in 2 days time if the rashes appeared.
• Fever seemed to have subsided by the night after trusty paracetamol.
• Discovered some crusty spots around my nose and my chin area.
• Sore throat didn't seem so bad, and I was able to wolf down with no pain nonsense like ice cream, fishballs, chicken mushroom puff, cookies etc for my supper.

Day 3, Mon 29 Dec 2014

• Woke up with a goddamn painful throat (I thought it got better the day before). OMG. It was like knives tearing your throat apart in a million directions, whenever you swallowed your saliva. Even eating ice cream hurt. I decided the best is just not to talk and accumulate as little saliva as possible.
• Around 6pm, my feet felt tingly. If I just twitched my toes, I could feel the itch... like all the blood coursing through my foot and sending an itch over. However, I couldn't see obvious rashes yet. Certain parts of my foot were red though. 
• Later at night, the itch from my feet started to kill me. Have you had mosquito bites on your sole before? That's basically how it felt, but a thousand times itchier. I kept twitching my feet in order to get some relief from the itch. I had to take an antihistamine to sleep.
• Noticed a few red spots on my knee, and some on my hands, particularly at "common pressure points" e.g. the sides of my fingers which I use often.  The spots on my hands weren't itchy though.

My specimen right foot. No obvious spots yet but certain parts were already red and very itchy.

Day 4, Tue 30 Dec 2014

• Sore throat still painful, but less bad than Monday.
• There were now obvious red spots on the soles of my feet which had itched like crazy. Basically all the parts of my feet which touch the floor when I stand, had rashes on them (so my arch is free of rashes, hopefully). The rashes also seemed to be "harder" so it was super itchy to walk, and kind of hurt to stand for long. Noticed rashes even on my bunions (that part was SUPER itchy), on the sides of my feet and in between my toes.
• More dots on my hands appeared.
• Took a miracle for me to hobble out to the doc's to show him my rashes in its full glory. Basically he said, "I'm sorry, it looks like HFMD. I will have to notify MOH and give you an MC for the rest of the week. I hope you can still enjoy your New Year though." Erm, thanks. I am now a statistic. And nope, I don't think I'll be enjoying the New Year.
• By night, the rashes (particularly those on my feet) started to turn a darker red. But they were still itchy. 
• Noticed very miniscule ulcers on my lips. They are not painful for now. Hope it stays that way.
• Also noticed a few spots of rashes on my ears.

Obvious red spots which were DAMN ITCHY.


Day 5, Wed 31 Dec 2014

• Sore throat still painful.
• Feet are not that itchy anymore. The rashes have "hardened" and turned a deeper red. Most of the rashes on my feet are that deeper red so it doesn't itch that much but are tender to the touch. The rashes that itch now are the isolated brighter red spots on my feet.
• Noticed a cluster of rashes on  my right elbow.
• Noticed one of the rashes on my knee has ruptured. Oh dear. I didn't even scratch it.

When I woke up, the rashes had hardened.

By night, they had turned a darker red. The darker red makes me look more diseased but they are actually healing and aren't itchy anymore!

Close-up of my right foot.. You can see there were lotsa rashes around my bunion. I feel like the parts that became a darker red in comparison to the rest were those parts that were supremely itchy.

Day 6, Thur 1 Jan 2015

• Rashes have lightened in colour - for both my feet and hands. Rashes do not itch or hurt when I wriggle my feet. Basically, there's no more sensation in them. I suppose that's a good sign!
• Throat feels much better than previous days, although there is still some pain when swallowing. But overall, it's quite manageable, considering I did not take paracetamol the entire day. Sometimes throat feels ticklish and I end up coughing. Is this a sign of healing?
• The rashes on my nose and chin area seem to have "hardened" and turned a deeper red, same as what happened to my feet. Some of the scabs have fallen off. 
• Spots of rashes on my ears have "hardened" and are no longer itchy.

Definitely much lighter than the day before! So happy to see the healing progress.

Day 7, Fri 2 Jan 2015

• NO MORE SORE THROAT! Can you scream yay with me?! I ate a tiny piece of chocolate for the first time in forever... ahhhh.... such bliss! However, my throat does still hurt when I yawn.
• Throat still feels ticklish which makes me want to cough. 
• Rashes on my feet have lightened even more.
• Overnight most of the scabs from the crusty spots on my face fell off. Yay!

Day 8,  Sat 3 Jan 2015

• Since this is Day 8, my 7 day quarantine has been lifted!
• Same as yesterday, no more sore throat and can eat anything I want with no pain at all. Throat only hurts when I yawn.
• Throat still feels ticklish which makes me want to cough. 
• Rashes on my feet have lightened even more than yesterday!
• Strangely, the skin on my feet has begun peeling. I read online that it has happened to quite a few people too.

Day 9,  Sun 4 Jan 2015

• My rashes are lightening every day, and my skin on my sole is also peeling a hell lot. The skin on my thumb is also peeling (my mum's hands are also peeling). I suppose the peeling is part of the recovery phase.
• I have zero sore throat; doesn't hurt when I yawn... I feel completely normal!
• So this will probably be my last post on this blog, since I'm recovering fine and am going back to work tomorrow. :D

Jan - Feb 2015

• Took about 1.5 months before the skin on my sole fully peeled off (it was done peeling slightly after CNY)
• Skin on spots of rashes on my fingers took far shorter to peel in Jan.

Mar 2015 onwards

• Noticed in early Mar 2015 that nails started to peel. Please read the dedicated post on peeling fingernails here. Basically, it is very annoying coz it snags my clothes or my long hair gets trapped in the tear when I'm running my fingers through my hair, and it causes the tear to get even worse! Sigh.
• April - early May 2015: Most of my nails are peeling very badly. I have had to cut off the peeling part of the nail for 3/5 of left hand's and right hand's nails , which means very little of my nail is left. The remaining layer is extremely thin, soft and brittle. I have difficulty washing my hair and typing on the computer.

When Inspiration strikes...

Having just been diagnosed as a case of adult HFMD, and having to eat, breathe and live Dettol for the past few days, I found a sudden inspiration to create this blog called The Dettol Diaries. 

Of course, it is also out of sheer boredom that pushed me to do this, considering I am quarantined at home with nothing to do. Walking is arduous for me as every step/twitch I take triggers the itch of the multitude of rashes peppering my sole. Basically, it feels like you're stepping on a thousand mosquito bites on your sole. So I am just confined to my bed and the best way to stop thinking about the itch and keep my fingers busy is to type.

I told my Sister (whose babies passed the HFMD to me) about my bright idea...

Sister: What will you write about? Don't be rash.

Me: I'm just itching to write something.

Sister: I'll lend you a hand... and foot...

Me: I suppose this blog will be my... MOUTHpiece.

Haha.

That's right, my throat still hurts like hell. Every swallow feels like a million knives tearing my throat apart in a thousand different directions. It is a pain to swallow even my own saliva, so I'm trying to minimize talking as well.

So I will just make use of this blog to chronicle the HFMD journey of an adult.

And to the online literature out there that states that HFMD is not itchy for adults, please let me assure you that is completely UNTRUE. It is taking every fibre of my being to resist scratching the angry red rashes on my feet, or even twitching my feet just so I can get 1 second of relief from the itch.