The Feet Have It – Part I – Chilblains

I think this is the oddest of my foot entries. This was also not my problem, but my teenage daughter's. At first, we thought it was a rash, or topical affliction. But, it really didn’t ever blister. Her toes just kept looking redder, bothering her more – pain and itching – and then started to swell and turn purplish. It actually looked pretty disgusting.

I knew it wasn’t fungal, since we tried Grapefruit Seed Extract dilution on it to no avail. She actually soaked in the dilution and said it made them itch more. So, somehow the heat was affecting it.

I got online and started looking. It was an interesting search that ended at Chilblains. It was because her feet got cold I guess. But not just her feet needed to be warm, her whole body. Though her ever-helpful parents had constantly reminded to put socks and long sleeve shirts on in the winter house, she would rather complain about the cold than do that. When she got her diagnosis from mom, along with several web pages to peruse, she took great interest in putting on more clothes to keep warm.

The treatment I decided looked most effective was actually to keep the whole body warm. Being adventurous though, I added a warm Epsom salt foot bath to the list of do’s. I had her sit a couple hours with her feet in the Epsom salt bath, and keep herself very warmly clothed. I did my part by stocking the wood stove hotter so the temperature in the house was around 75 or higher. She spent most of the day in her room, at the end of the house, doing school work though. It was harder to keep her room warm with the wood stove, so I suggested she move to the room the wood stove was in.

Her brother and I dressed more lightly, and it took a few days, but eventually the Chilblains disappeared almost as suddenly as it showed. The color in her toes went back to normal, but the stretched skin still looked odd and grotesque. Most of the improvement was, oddly enough, after soaking her feet. I didn’t use very hot water, mostly just lukewarm. I think that helped. From the reading I did on several different sites, it sounded like a circulation issue and extreme temperatures aggravated.

Therefore, the feet have it on this one. My “odd foot affliction” award goes to the Chilblains. Surprisingly, it wasn’t my feet that had it either.

I believe this is probably the final installment in the Feet Have It series. I hope you found our oddities amusing and a bit informative.

Good luck with your feet and your health!