I seem to subconsciously subscribe to the do everything wrong before I get it right. So I had what I thought was a callous that had been on my foot (the pad below my big toe) for years. Even my mother thought it was a callous (the apple doesn't fall from from the tree). And one day she blurted out "Good grief! Will you buff that thing down already!"
So I did. But then it spread.
I thought wow, that's interesting... I must need to buff harder and longer.
So I did. I buffed so much that it hurt... I thought well no pain no gain.
And within days it grew more and spread to my finger. At this point the bell finally went off.
THIS CAN'T BE A CALLOUS!
At my doctor's appointment I showed it to him.
"That's a plantar wart."
Cut to: the podiatrist who he referred me to.
"Yep that's a plantar wart alright and a big one. What'd you do buff it?"
"No of course not, do you think I'm an idiot?!"
So he cut, scrapped, froze. I requested he do my finger.
"I can't touch your finger, I'm a foot guy. You'll need to see the derm."
Cut to the derm. He could do it ALL.
Cutting. Scraping. Burning. Salcylic acid between cuttings, burnings, scrapings....
And AGONIZING PAIN.
Now I have a high tolerance for pain, but this shit was ridiculous throbbing pain. I hobbled for weeks before needing to return for subsequent floggings.
After 6 months, he barely made a dent in what had become after my buffing escapades a plantar wart that covered the entire ball of my left foot. He did that sighing moaning thing that doctors learn in medschool - the thing that lets you know that you are pushing the bounds of their day to day practice and their mental hard drives are spinning back to med school. And then he stepped out of the room and returned with some syringes.
"Read this."
"What's this?"
"Well clearly what we're doing isn't working. So we'll need to try the next step up. #*%*&(*$&# (that's me forgetting the name of the injections). Read this. I'll be back in a couple minutes and we can just load you up and you can go home. This should do it."
The sheet listed contra-indications and potential side effects of this chemotherapeutic injection.
CHEMOTHERAPY!@!@!@
I now realize that even antibiotics can be considered chemotherapy (chemical therapy - get it), but at that time it seemed to be way to foreboding for my neurotic female woody allen brain.
When he returned I told him I don't want to do this. I need some time to think before committing to those injections in my body.
He assured me it was localized, so not systemic. And the gist of it was - irritate the cells there enough that they wake up and basically assist in annihilating this pesky hpv thing on my foot.
I left the office, thinking well I'll be covered in a callousy plantar wart before I go that chemo injection route.
I went online.
Here's what I tried that didn't work for me:
banana peels
potato slices
duct tape
wiping or soaking in apple cider vinegar
Here's what finally worked for me:
I soaked a piece of cotton, big enough only to cover the warted area in apple cider vinegar, then covered it with bandaid (super large on the foot, medium on the finger) and changed it only 1x every 24 hours. I did not get the area wet... and the cotton could not be so soaking that the bandage would fall off. So there's a bit of a balancing act there.
Needless to say - Day 1 - not much going on. Day 2-7 - intense throbbing pain on my foot up to my knee...and radiating up my finger to my wrist. This pain was so INTENSE and constant that I could not sleep at night and needed to take ibuprofen just to stop from writhing. In about 2 weeks everything was gone - not to return - even now about 3-4 years later.
$8.00 bottle of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar and $20 for bandages - intense perpetual pain for about 7 days. But totally resolved in 2 weeks.
OR
$800 in copays, hours spent in doctors office, intermittent pain when cutting/burning with residual throbbing for couple hours - only to be progressed up to chem injections with untold side effects, timelines, and more copays.
You decide.
One reco: go for the Braggs - I cannot vouch for any other brand or filtered/pasteurized versions.Curad Extreme Hold Bandages, Assorted Sizes, 30/Box First Aid Knuckle & Fingertip Bandages, Sterilized, 5 of Each, 10 First Aid Patch Bandages, 1-1/2" x 1-1/2", SmartCompliance Refill, 10
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ReplyDeleteThanks Chiris
DeleteI publish now on my site - healinghacker.com. I'll try and remember to repost here as well. Thanks for reading & commenting. Sorry for loooooong delay.
Denise
Good sharing, yes, apple cider vinegar (ACV) helps to boost metabolism, blocks the body’s storage of dietary fat plus breaks down and dissolves existing body fat. Read more benefits about ACV at:
Deletehttp://kidbuxblog.com/apple-cider-vinegar-acv-helps-to-boost-metabolism/
I am on day 4. I cannot walk, sleep , eat or think because the burning throbbing pain is so intense. I must keep going. I have to win against this. I feel sick and fevered. My foot looks awful. Please tell me this will get better.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous -
DeleteSo sorry to hear that you are in such pain. I know - it really is surprisingly relentless & painful - and you're talking to a woman who spent 36 hours with back labor pains. Well alright that was worse - but still. My foot & finger hurt insanely for about 1 week. I too could not sleep - and had to take ibuprofen pretty much every 4 hours. While I can't tell you what to do - I can say that my foot throbbed crazy mad up to my knee (from the acv on my foot) and up to my wrist (from acv on the tip of my finger) for about 5 or so days before the pain subsided.
When you say you feel sick & fevered - if you do truly have a fever it may be good idea to see the doc. While not my favorite thing to do - fever if related to your foot sounds like a doctor visit.
Also, my foot looked terrible (I should have photographed it but didn't). It was white and red and throbby where the warts were. But if you feel like you have anything like an infection - then again might be good to see the doctor. I had already been to doc so I knew for certain what I was facing (plantar wart, not infection or other issue).
My foot did get better though. The pain started to subside after about the first week. And thankfully I'm wart free years later.
Hope this helps.
Please let me know how you are - and if you do see doc.
Denise
Denise, thank you for posting this article. My son had a wart on his toe. We tried multiple things - Compound W, silver, etc. While layers of the wart would come off, there was always more wart underneath!! That wart seemed like the never ending wart.
ReplyDeleteAfter trying apple cider vinegar, his toe is wart free!! :~) :~)
He did experience pain. But not nearly as bad as what you experienced. (The pain only went part way down his toe.) Just like with you, the pain started subsiding after the first week. Then the wart turned black. Soon after that, parts of the wart started falling off. At first, more wart appeared replacing what fell off.
In all fairness, we did take skip several days of treatment for a camping trip. So, we might have caused that issue. Or it could have been more of the wart coming to the surface. I have heard of that happening, too. Once the camping trip was over, we started back up with the apple cider treatments. A week or two later, all of it turned black and fell off - without any new wart appearing.
Thanks again for posting your experience. I doubt I would have tried apple cider vinegar without first reading your testimonial.
I have one on my big toe. A deep little guy too. It throbs especially bc its right on the bone were i put my weight. But i have gotten rid of a wart on the ball of my foot with this acv before so i know it works. Hope u guys tough it out thru the pain
ReplyDeleteI’m on day 9. It did sting the first few days but then that stopped. It got really ugly looking too! I would put a piece of cotton soaked in ACV on and cover it with duct tape at bedtime and then replace it after my morning shower. I also used a pumice stone each day to file it down. Day 9 and it’s turned all black and looks like it’s going away! I’m continuing with the treatment until it’s ALL gone!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! I'm not sure if I would pumice it - because you can spread any living virus into your skin AND you'll put all that viral skin onto your pumice. I actually spread the wart from my foot to hand by using pumice and having a cut on my finger.
ReplyDeleteBut that aside - congrats! Do it until there is not sign of wart and it doesn't hurt to pinch the skin. Even then I did it for a couple days past that.
You just saved yourself at least $500 in co-pay visits to the derm!
I'm grateful for this post!! I'm in the midst of the throbbing pain about 1 wk in to soaking in acv. Praying pain eases soon can't sleep.. good to know not alone!
ReplyDeleteDo I have to use Braggs's only? I've been using american garden and somehow the wart wouldn't turn black or something. It's throbbing yes but they say this will only last for 1 week and I'm on my 2nd week now. I don't know if I'm getting this right.
ReplyDelete