horrid athlete's foot, lots of scary stuff re conventional treatments, other ideas?

[southeastlondonmum]

Am 14 weeks pregnant with DC2 and have just vile athlete's foot- even spread to my hands. I am not even competiting in the Olympics....

Anyway- all of the conventional products give really scary warnings re pregnancy- as does the NHS sites and my pharmacist was a bit crap. Any thoughts re alternative remedies that work???

Tea tree oil? Or I have heard people using vicks. Not sure if either of those is contraindicated in PG but worth checking.

Might also be worth trying a local health food shop as they might have something.

E45 or aqueous cream might give you a bit of relief in the interim. Or buy an aloe vera plant and use the gel from inside - it's amazingly soothing - much more than any cream. I've put it on burns and they've quite literally disappeared.

Thanks Button Bee.

A Health Food Shop- why didn't I think of that.. (goes and looks in pregnancy brain) :)

Tea tree oil, definitely. Its brilliant stuff and I'm sure it's fine now you're into your second trimester. They sell it in Boots and health food shops.

Oh shit, really ? I've been using Lamisil and didn't even think to check about pregnancy since it's topical. Eeek. I've only used it twice though (and the effect has been amazing!) so hopefully no real harm done.

Just googled and it looks like animal tests on Lamisil suggest no harm to foetus, but there haven't been any tests on humans so they still say to avoid just in case. Phew, less worried now.

Wicks?

The pharmacist wouldn't recommend any of the anti fungals to me while I was pregnant or breastfeeding. The GP may prescribe off label - ie most of the stuff hasn't been tried in pregnant women, so its often not that there is a problem, just no evidence it is safe.

Tea Tree oil seems to be OK on most sites - get the strong stuff, not the 15% in carrier oil (H&B sell it at 100%).
Someone also suggested Canesten to me, to see if that would help shift stuff.

The other option is to use talc in socks and gloves to try and keep things as dry as possible. I found a hair-drier on a cool setting also helped dry out the crevices.

Hope it gets easier soon - sounds like you have it bad

I have heard of Vic working on athletes foot, just in case you've got that to hand!

Also sunlight, get your foot out in the sun

Right I will try Vicks and tea tree oil and then if that doesnt work, try something harder.

It is really bad- i feel like a leper....

Someone told me you are more prone when preggie!

Salt water works actually, if you want a really easy fix, has to be a strong solution though. Canesten is anti fungal and is absolutely fine, I have horrible thrush when pregnant so use it all the time, even the pessaries. Topical creams are usually fine on unbroken skin (except the acne ones) as its actually really quite hard to penetrate the skin barrier with a cream, unless like ibuprofen gel it's designed to cross the skin into surrounding tissues.

I've got something from boots which specifically says that its safe for pg and breastfeeding women. It's the boots own one that comes in a yellow spray can.

Canesten works a treat.

don't know about if you are pg but vicks is sorting out my totally manky toenails. It's all menthol and stuff, very organic iyswim. Or tea tree.

Not sure why I spelled it wicks
blame the