Herb Benham: Cured of toenail fungus -- and toenail fungus columns
| Friday, Aug 28 2009 02:10 PM
Last Updated Friday, Aug 28 2009 02:11 PM
One reader begged me not to write about toenail fungus again. Unless, she said, I meant to offer it as an appetite suppressant. A new weight-loss program.
I promise. This will be the last column about the disease that turns toenails yellow, causes them to loosen their purchase on toes and condemns the afflicted to a lifetime of shoes or closed-toe sandals.
This club has many members. Mostly guys, it seems (one reader said his wife actually refused to kiss his toes anymore), but pity the women who find themselves with men whose toenails were good when everything was white hot between them and then turned rotten later on.
"Hi Herb
"I cured my husband's toe nail fungus by soaking his feet in a mixture of white vinegar, then cutting back the toenails as far as possible and then applying peroxide to the nail bed. Do this once a day for 10 days. It really works!
"Warm regards
"Marian A. Willingham."
The simplicity of the white vinegar cure attracted my attention, but even more entrancing was Marian's interest in her husband's well-being. She cured, she soaked, she cut back and she applied. In her husband's darkest hour or, in his least palatable one, she was by his side, lightening both his load and the color of his toenails.
I wasn't aware there were women like that still around. I want one. Women who nurse their husbands back to health and finish their e-mails with "Warm regards."
"No one need suffer from ugly toenails. My football-playing grandson passed along (from his coach) information that pouring white vinegar over your toes will rid them of fungus. I took it a step further and filled an eye-dropper with vinegar, splashed it under the toenails and got white, healthy, pliable nails. Heloise recommends hydrogen peroxide for toenail fungus, and that works too. I now have the prettiest, pink toenails ever seen in sandals!"
Debbie White, who works at The Vitamin Shoppe, recommends an herb called "Astragalus" available for less than $10 that works as well as the $300 prescription, without the liver damage."
A retired RN suggests filling a dropper bottle with tea tree oil and a small amount of olive oil. Shake well and apply to nails a.m. and p.m. It may take a year, but it doesn't harm your liver. If it doesn't work, your feet can open up an Italian restaurant.
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Results from the Arctic Freeze experiment. The air conditioning in my car quit five months ago just in time for the warm weather. I could have either spent $1,800 on a car that was worth $1,600 or, on the recommendation of a reader, bought a couple of canisters of Arctic Freeze, a NASA-approved sealant, for $40 and see if it repaired the compressor, fixed the leak in the system and supplied the almost 20-year-old Lexus with a generous burst of Arctic quality air.
It was great. For about one day.
Now my car is hotter than the steam bath at the Elk's Club.
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If toenails weren't enough of a concern now there is something called swimmer's teeth. "Competitive swimmers -- those with structured programs that keep them in the water for more than six hours a week -- sometimes develop brown spots on their teeth." Steve Murray, Paul Salmon and Mark Dawson -- I hope you're reading this.
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My favorite article of the week is about Facebook and comes from the Wall Street Journal:
"Notice to my friends: I love you all dearly.
"But I don't give a hoot that you are "having a busy Monday," your child "took 30 minutes to brush his teeth," your dog "just ate an ant trap" or you want to "save the piglets.
"And I really, really don't care which Addams Family member you most resemble. (I could have told you the answer before you took the quiz on Facebook.)"
