I have chronic foot-skin issues. Peeling, dryness, deep cracking, and blister-like areas that peel off in sheets. Since I started on the gabapentin, the itching feeling has gone away-- they used to itch also. I have fewer and milder flares at night and less pain overall. The foot issues wax and wane and are usually worse in wintertime-I think because of closed shoes/indoor heat? In the last year or so since my EM has gotten worse I am wearing very ventilated shoes now and rarely wear socks. My feet are much better. I have treated with athletes foot products, both OTC and prescription daily for years at a time-- they provided some relief in the moment but never a cure. Now I also moisturize with Emu Oil. Other commercial moisturizers seemed to irritate my feet and were counterproductive. Emu Oil is literally an oil, so its greasy at first but it absorbs quickly and deeply and is purported to have natural healing properties. I use very small amounts of it and put it on after a bath or shower when my pores are more open. I let it sit for a few minutes and wipe the excess off. At times I also add a tablespoon to a bath and soak in it, it really makes my skin feel great.
I too have that fine coating of white dust the podiatrist said it was the cream that had dried up, but that was only her opinion. I recently purchased some Cerave Sa Renewing Skin Lotion which somebody else recommended. I used it for the first time last night and then this morning so too early to say how good it is. I have just started on a very, very low dose of Pregabalin lower than the normal starting dose as I had a drug interaction with Gabapentin a while ago. However, that was prescribed by my GP and way too high a dose to start on without the other things I take I found out after. I had been in a coma for 2 hours! The endocrine specialist gave me Pregabalin at the normal starting dose of 75 Mgs three times a day, but I was terrified of trying it as the interaction I found out, which is the same as with Gabapentin could cause coma or even death! I went to my new GP yesterday and he said I should try it but at a lower than normal starting dose as I said earlier. I took my first one last night and am alright at the moment, except that I am finding it harder to concentrate and so I have missed the dose I should have had 12 hours later and will just have one tonight for a start. I might even try cutting down on the other drugs which are for Rheumatoid Arthritis as the pain from that is nothing like the pain in my feet and now travelling further up my legs. It certainly sounds as though this drug might at least give me some relief from the pain from what others have said and that would be wonderful.
Hi sheltielife,
I'm sure that in my case the fine coating of white dust was not cream as I hadn't been using for ages (years, actually). The skin is ok with the cream and now I use it everyday. It would have to be tons of cream for that to happen I think :P
Drug interactions can be very dangerous as you (unfortunately) experienced! I hope you can find something that works, take care!
Will do take care that is. I took my first Pregabalin last night I was fine. However this morning I took my other drugs and started to feel a bit weird so I didn’t take the Pregabalin hat should have been about lunchtime in the afternoon I bucked up. So I am going to have one tonight but attempt to not have the other hdrug in the morning if I feel OK I will have my lunchtime pregabalin and see how things go. Talk about DIY doctors! I was sure it wasn’t cream nice to know that yours wan’t , getting really fed up with these people that are supposed to be experts. I was a research chemist until I was retired on ill health grounds so I am not as daft as the experts seem to think. In fact one decent consultant a renal man actually said once that I should have been a doctor as I had more knowledge than most of them. Mind you that’s not difficult these days. The members on this forum know far more than the so called doctors.
I'm starting to regret having studied something else other than medicine. There are decent doctors but very few in my experience (and of many people in this forum, it seems). I've actually written down how it went with bad doctors - makes me cherish the good ones even more!
I've included two pictures of dried foot skin, doesn't look very dusty here, I must get a better camera.
Mine looks similar except that it isn’t just between cracks it’s all over the suface looks like some has scattered talcolm powder over it. Yes there are a few good doctors but not many the older nes don’t keep up with new things as I have said before and the young ones haven’t got experience. The PHDs that started straight from university were hopeless, my parents couldn’t afford for me to go I had to get a job and bring money in and study part time to get qualifications but that meant that I had experience as well. I worked.I ICI.
Frostbite,
Firstly, so sorry to read you are dealing with such painful issues. With your comment about stick on dressings-- have you ever tried Tegaderm patches? I have had a lot of success using tegaderm for skin wounds. It breathes,letting the wound heal, can stay on for 2-3 days and is very easy to live with (thin, clear and acts like second skin). I discovered it a couple years back when I got an infection in cracked toe skin that ended up being MRSA; it was a long rough road getting rid of it! After the first bout with MRSA, it has reoccured at times as skin eruptions randomly (I am now considered a 'carrier'). Treating these wounds requires keeping them well covered and protected. My doctor suggested Tegaderm as a wound care covering. You can shower with it on, and because it breathes you do not have to change it as often unless you need to apply medication-- and it does not stick to the wounds. Usually I take mine off in the shower, experiment has led me to find that is the easiest removal.
frostbite said:
I have had the same problem with dry cracked skin and with my feet swelling up so much it actually busted the skin in a couple of places on mainly the right foot but also on the left one too .... - I was worried about them turning into ulcers which is where they were heading - but I constantly kept the ointments and clean dressings up to them and at least they have almost healed after about 3 - 4 months. I used Betadine in the tube and alternately MediHoney - and Please Be Careful with ANY Stick On Dressinft one on for 3 days and when trying to remove it I tore off some fresh skin causing more grief and healing time - so do take care with stick on dressing/s of any kind ....
Also after the healing had taken place and during in the uncovered areas I used some UDDERLY SMOOTH EXTRA CARE cream with the 10% Urea - Works like a charm and I am on my 4th tub of it and won't bother with anything else .
Take care out there -
Cheers to All -
Greg (frostbite)
COOMA NSW
Australia.
1
I have had EM for 15 years & my feet have been peeling the whole time. After I take a shower I put Amlactin lotion on them & this helps although I then have to get them cool right away. Any lotions or creams will cause my feet to burn. It used to seem like when they flared it was like burning my skin. Then the skins would peel off like after a burn. It’s a little different now because now I also get Pernio from them also getting too cold & they peel with that, also.
128-image.jpg (784 KB)
Yes. My feet are EXTREMELY calloused and tryd out.
Hi tarsius
my feet look like yours - as though they are covered in fine white powder. (And I have cracked heels too) I thought maybe I had afoot fungus but doctor took a swab and that was negative. (Ive also had peeking feet in the past). Lately the very tops of my toes have been burning especially when bedsheets touch them. They feel raw, but are not to look at. Very confusing.
blue
Hi blue,
My feet are better with the cream but still have very dry areas despite using it. Also, now they get oddly blue and warm.
False negatives are not uncommon in fungi cultures but I think that in my case at least it was just too much fan + swelling. The very tops of my toes sometimes have red dots that are very painful to the touch but sounds different from what you have.
Take care!
blue said:
Hi tarsius
my feet look like yours - as though they are covered in fine white powder. (And I have cracked heels too) I thought maybe I had afoot fungus but doctor took a swab and that was negative. (Ive also had peeking feet in the past). Lately the very tops of my toes have been burning especially when bedsheets touch them. They feel raw, but are not to look at. Very confusing.
blue
Hi Tarsius,
Whenever I sit or lie down it's always in front of a fan so my skin does dry out. I used to use sorbolene cream as soap but then I couldn't tolerate it anymore as it made me feel hotter. I just started using QV bath oil in the shower (would be a very slippery business trying to stay standing without a non slip rubber bath mat) and while it very quickly resolved my dry itchy skin it made me feel too hot just as the sorbolene did. I am about to try the QV body wash again, I seem to remember that helped at one time.
blue
Hi blue,
My skin improved a lot with a body lotion from Lipikar (gel fluide) twice a day, just a few tiny spots of dry skin now on the toes, the rest is fine. The ankles aren't "bleeding" anymore (I think I had micro-wounds as it looked like it had damaged blood vessels and the cream burned the first few days before the skin healed, then it stopped).
Good luck!
Hi roach131,
my feet have peeled in the past. So has my face. The peeling was different on my feet than my face but both were similar to how skin peels after bad sunburn. I did have a major flare that caused my face to peel the first time. It's peeled since but not as dramatically and I wasn't flaring as badly. My feet peeled at a time when my feet were flaring red very often. I've had neither for a while. Knock on wood and don't let the god's hear.
As I wrote earlier, my toe-tips feel raw and hot but they don't look raw and, often, don't look red. This started a while back but it's only very lately that I've had trouble with the weight of sheets on my feet.
Blue
Hi Roach 131, I also suffer the same symptoms as you. My feet burn, blister and then peel. It is not a fungal disease and is nothing like Athlete's Foot. The skin comes off in sheets underneath, between my toes and the back of my heels. I have found Doublebase Emollient Shower Gel a great help as it can also be used as a dry skin cream. I get it on prescription here in the UK. I hope this is some help.
I have this problem with my toes. If they are submerged in water for even a short time they peel like crazy even though I apply lotion daily. This problem has gotten worse as my EM flares have gotten worse traveling farther up my legs. I only recently realized it was an EM symptom!
ArticLava,
I have a problem which is a bit reminiscent of what you describe - if my toes are submerged even for a short time I get cracks between my toes. But this might be athlete's foot combined with EM and dysautonomia (in my case, excessive sweating). They peeled but with the cream that's better now.