Topic: Lyme Disease and finger and toe nails and rotating your toes
Vanilla
Unregistered
posted
I have been looking over a list of symptoms today that Robin was kind enough to snail mail me.
Regarding nails it says:
Nails that curve under or downward.
Verticle ridges or beads in nails.
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My nails do curve downward. I was wondering how many other people have this symptom and what causes this?
My nails have done this since at least age 24 because I first noticed it then when a someone doing my nails commented on how they liked doing my nails because of the downward curve.
I also have verticle lines which my acupunturist told me where from liver issues.
posted
I don't know about curving, but I can tell you that after about 12 months on abx for lyme my husband's horror movie (fungus)toenails miraculously began to clear up.
Now, 5 months later he is ready to be a foot model. This was before he ever took one tablet of diflucan and did not even treat them topically. His nails had been like that for at least 25 years.
So, yes I think lyme can do a lot of weird things to nails!
Posts: 554 | From Naples, Italy | Registered: Jun 2006
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charlie
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posted
nails that curve downward particularly when combined with clubbed fingers can indicate lung issues...do you smoke??
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TerryK
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Member # 8552
posted
I have the nails that curve downwards. It is common in those who have fibromyalgia. Many people with fibromyalgia likely have it as a result of lyme disease.
Dr. Starlanyl, a doctor who has fibromyalgia. http://www.sover.net/~devstar/aboutfms.htm "You may experience skin mottling, and nail ridges Fingernails can break off, often in crescent-shaped pieces. If nails do grow, they sometimes start to curve under."
My comment - It may be related to a build up of debri in the mitochondria. Terry
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
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cactus
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Member # 7347
posted
My nails have those vertical ridges also, and have curved down in the past.
Both of those issues seem to have lessened in the last couple years of abx. No more downward curve, and less ridges - big improvement.
It might be the Mepron yellow polish - makes them look happy even if they are ridged and curvey.
...actually I can't speak to whether it was Lyme or babs treatment, but in all seriousness, the downward curve disappeared while I was on Mepron.
-------------------- �Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?� - A.A. Milne Posts: 1987 | From No. VA | Registered: May 2005
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trueblue
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Member # 7348
posted
I have vertical ridges but no curving. I've had them for many years and they continue to get worse.
I have noticed that on certain treaments I will get a different band horizontally, almost like a raised part in the nail for that period. I've no clue what it means; it's merely an observation.
-------------------- more light, more love more truth and more innovation Posts: 3783 | From somewhere other than here | Registered: May 2005
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Vanilla
Unregistered
posted
Chas no I do not smoke but my lungs have never been the greatest. I swallowed a chicken bone at age 2 and it made my lung colapse for a bit.
I wish the downward curve in my nails would go away and the Ruffles have ridges look. Mepron did not improve the curve for me.
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Cobweb
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posted
Only my toes nails curve downward-but I think that's because I forget to cut them(hard to reach) and my shoes are too small.
My fingernails however appear to be getting strong and healthy-I didn't used to have to cut them because they just broke off most of the time.
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posted
I have horizontal ridges. My dr. said it is a sign of disease. Someone posted here before
that your nails actually stop growing while all your energy is put towards fighting the disease, then
when they start growing again, it causes the ridge or wave.
Sara
Posts: 81 | From Nashville Tennessee | Registered: Oct 2006
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treepatrol
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 4117
posted
Mine have some ridges now and are more brittle.
-------------------- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Remember Iam not a Doctor Just someone struggling like you with Tick Borne Diseases.
Also another possible nail symptom according to the list is fragile nails. Mine have always been strong and grow like weeds but everyone has different symptoms.
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heiwalove
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Member # 6467
posted
i definitely have vertical ridges, and a couple white spots.. no curving though.
Geneal
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Member # 10375
posted
Signs of hypothyroid include slow growing fingernails
As well as brittle, dry nails that break easily.
My husband had the toenail fungus thing for as long as I've known him.
Sporonax got rid of that in 2 months.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posts: 6250 | From Louisiana | Registered: Oct 2006
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klutzo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5701
posted
Hypothyroidism can make nails curl under on the sides. IMO, almost everyone with a Fibro dx is hypothyroid, and this is probably caused by Lyme.
Anemia or genetics or aging can cause vertical ridges.
Tiny white spots can mean a zinc deficiency. Pitting can mean psoriasis of the hands, esp. if the skin on your fingers also peels around the nails. Large moons with a reddish tint to them can mean heart trouble (I have this and my TCM doc told me that is what it means).
Nail reading is very interesting, and you can Google it for more info ....For example, I read recently that you should have at least 8 moons showing, and that very few moons is really bad, but I can't remember why....Lyme brain!
Horizontal ridges are called Beau lines, and indicate serious illness, usually infection. During bad flares of the infection, the body stops growth of hair and nails to fight the illness, and then starts it up again as soon as it is able to spare the energy. The resulting jerkiness in nail growth creates the wave-like horizontal ridges.
I've had Beau lines on one thumbnail throughout my entire illness, but last year, after 20 yrs. of illness, it spread to my other thumb, and this year has spread to both of my big toe nails. I have had such severe horizontal ridges that my nails split from the depth of the ridge.
My Beau lines helped me in a strange way. When I first saw my Cardiologist for my Lyme-related heart problems, he had never heard of Fibro (which was my diagnosis back then) and was reacting typically (like I was nuts), until he looked at my nails. Then his eyes got really wide and he excalimed: "You have Beau lines!!!"
I knew then that he believed I was really ill, and would listen to me, even if he did not know much about what was wrong. That was a big improvement over most ducks. He is also the only duck that has ever bothered to look at my nails, something alternative docs do routinely.
I also developed severe vertical ridges last year. My nails have curved down on the sides ever since I first got sick in 1986 and was dx'd with Fibromyalgia. Thyroid meds have not changed that.
I have also had pitting in my nails and peeling skin that has to be trimmed daily, ever since I first became ill in 1986.
I do not mean to imply that any of you will have this progression of nail problems like I have had....I have had no ABX at all due to allergy, but hopefully, most of you are getting ABX.
Klutzo
Posts: 1269 | From Clearwater, Florida, USA | Registered: May 2004
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tailz
Unregistered
posted
I'm 42 and even when I was little and my mom used to cut my toenails, my little toe on my right foot was fungified and super thick.
When docs didn't diagnose my Lyme, and one even put me on steroids, BOTH little toes became fungified and thick.
Actually, all my toenails now are a bit fungified. I even made one family doc test it for fungus (before I knew I had Lyme), and it came back negative - go figure.
But all my nails have vertical ridges, and I do have liver issues.
Also, my mom had clubbed fingers and nails that curved downwards, and she died of lung cancer that metastasized to her brain.
I was looking at my fingernails - I have horizontal ridges especially on my pointy fingers. I think that's the lung meridian.
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Vanilla
Unregistered
posted
Tea Tree oil under the nail with a tiny dropper works for toe nail fungus.
I use to have moons and now sadly only have them on my big toes.
Acid water is suppose to help fungus too.
I just tried to reasearch moons and found this.It has nothing to do with nail moons but I found it interesting. I know my friends acupunctursit told her to massage her whole ear until it is warm because there are so many points in the ear and it is quite healing. Reflexolgy has always really worked well for me too. We use to rotate toes and fingers I think when I was learning Amma massage in Japan Town in San Francisco:
"My meditation teacher mentioned once that when he was at a zen temple meditating for six months 20 hours a day, no glass in the windows, the snow blowing in the hall in the winter, the Roshi had all the monks/students rotate their toes every day, clockwise and anticlockwise, and nobody got ill! It was a panacea."
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