I saw a few doctors today. The squeamish may not wish to read on…
So you know what happens to people who stay up too late a couple of nights in a row to finish a story they’re working on? When they’re in a string of not getting quite enough exercise? What happens is that they get another bout of tonsilitis, that’s what.
At least, I do.
Now, here are some observations.
#1. Gargling with bamboo salt does help. It’s an old Korean remedy but it works wonders.
#2. Drinking a lot of fluids doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t seem to help as much as the bamboo salt, but it does some good.
#3. It’s not supposed to be an indicator of anything seriously wrong; the dermatologist I talked to said that she gets it too, sometimes, just from sitting in the office and talking to patients all day.
Why did I see a dermatologist? It’s a long story full of old misdiagnoses, but the final response is this: if there’s something with your nails and it’s affecting two feet and one hand, it’s extremely likely to be a fungal infection. For years, doctors jumped to the conclusion that it was a psoriatic nail thing, and the first time I saw her, the dermatologist suggested the same thing… until I told her it was affecting two feet and one hand. (This was an observation Lime had made.) The dermatologist was surprise to hear it, and nodded, saying, “Ah, then it’s definitely a fungus.”
The nice thing is that this damned condition is finally being treated. I kind of had given up on it a long time ago, but there’s a good chance the nails will look betterif, perhaps, not quite “good”, within six months.
The downside? No alcohol for the period of treatment. Ah well… I shall be experimenting with different teas, I imagine. And getting used to drinking water. Ah well…