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.