The weather is getting warm and you put on your favorite warm-weather footwear – sandals. You look at your feet and are appalled. Your toes are too ugly looking to let anyone see them! You have a toenail fungus infection. You want to get rid of it so you call your doctor to get a toenail fungus medication.
Traditional physicians will usually prescribe an oral antifungal medication. If your doctor gives you a prescription for one, you will no doubt wonder about possible side effects. Don’t assume that just because a doctor can write a prescription for a medication that it is safe and free of harmful side effects.
Before getting a prescription filled, research the side effects. You will have to take it for quite a while so knowing what the risks are will help you make a more informed decision and avoid finding out the hard way that the side effects might be worse than the infection.
With millions of people dealing with toenail fungus every year, the desire and search for the safest and most effective toenail fungus medication is constant. Is there such a treatment, though? The only way to find out is to look at the various treatments and what, if any, side effects they have. Let’s start with a look at prescription oral toenail fungus medication.
Scary Toenail Fungus Medication Side Effects
Since toenail fungal infections are very stubborn and often require months of treatment to get rid of them, side effects are important to consider. The oral antifungal medication that your doctor might prescribe has side effects that can be quite dangerous. On top of that, these medications don’t work any quicker that safer, more natural treatments.
The two most commonly prescribed oral medications are Lamisil oral and Sporanox. Both have a long list of side effects that range from minor to extremely severe. If your doctor hands you a prescription for either one of these, doing a little research into the possible side effects before getting it filled is the best thing to do.
Sporanox seems to have less dangerous side effects than Lamisil but that does not mean it is much safer. Among the more minor side effects are stomach upset, constipation or diarrhea, gas, dizziness, headache, bad taste in your mouth, pain in the joints or muscles, itching with or without skin rash and runny nose.
Though the minor side effects are bad enough, it gets worse. The more serious side effects include breathing trouble, constant sore throat, fever, fatigue, swelling in the lower extremities, depression, rapid heartbeat, hearing loss that can be permanent. You have to seriously consider whether the benefits outweigh the risks.
Such consideration is even more important when considering Lamisil. The minor side effects are similar to Sporanox but the more serious ones are even more debilitating and dangerous. With this medication, permanent loss of the senses of taste and smell is possible. As with Sporanox, depression is also possible. As bad as these side effects are, the worst one with Lamisil oral antifungal medication is liver damage that could require a transplant or even cause death.
With side effects like these, you don’t want to take prescription toenail fungus medication for months. The risks are simply too great. On top of that, these prescription medications are quite expensive so if you have to pay out of pocket, treating your toenail fungus this way could severely hurt you financially.
Understanding Toenail Fungus Causes for a Safe Medication
It helps to understand what causes toenail fungus to find the best and safest medication to treat and get rid of it. Keep in mind that no matter what treatment you use, it will still take a long time because fungal infections are among the most stubborn infections to treat even with the best toenail fungus medication.
External causes of toenail fungus infections are often in public places where you would typically go barefoot. These places include showers at the gym, public saunas and swimming pools. Nail salons should be considered as a source of infection because the tools used in a pedicure are sometimes not adequately cleaned between customers. At home, shared nail clippers can become contaminated so they should be disinfected every time they are used and each person have their own clippers.
Toenail fungal infection can also originate from within your body. The cause can be one or more of several reasons. When a person’s immune system becomes weak for any reason, it opens the door to fungal infections. Blood circulation slows down and results in nails becoming thicker as we get older. Diabetes weakens a person’s immune system so diabetics are at risk of contracting toenail fungal infections that can escalate into serious health problems.
To help reduce the risk of becoming infected or getting reinfected with toenail fungus, be aware of the external causes and protect your feet from exposure, and change your eating habits to not only reduce your risk of getting toenail fungal infections but also improve your overall health. When you do get a toenail fungal infection, treat it with a combination of a healthy diet and a safe topical treatment.
Addressing Toenail Fungus Internal Factors
Some people have tried to treat toenail fungal infections just with topical treatments and wondered why it took so long and came back soon after seeming to clear up. A big part of the reason is that they didn’t change their diet and kept feeding the fungus so it only retreated rather than get cured. To really get rid of toenail fungus permanently, you have to change your eating habits.
One of the first things you need to do is make sure you drink plenty of water to flush out your system. Too many people drink far less water than they should and this can play into recurrent health issues like toenail fungus. Drinking more water is the first step in not needing toenail fungus medication as often.
Another vital change you need to make is to eliminate sugar. Fungus feeds on sugar and any kind of sweetener, including artificial sweeteners. Fungus can cause your body to crave sugar so be prepared for that when you stop consuming anything containing sugar.
Take in probiotics, either from natural sources like unsweetened yogurt or supplements. Probiotics help keep the natural bacteria and fungus in your digestive tract in balance. If you are taking or have recently taken antibiotics, your gut flora will be out of balance because the antibiotics kill bacteria indiscriminately so the fungus over grows and causes fungal infections. By taking quality probiotics such as Restora Flora from Quantum Wellness, you can reduce the need for toenail fungus medication so often.
You probably will hear your mother’s voice here but Eat Your Vegetables! Though it may seem like a broken record, there is more than a little truth to the admonishment that you need to eat your spinach, broccoli, kale and other green vegetables. With avocado being so popular these days, you can be right with the trend when you include plenty of it in your diet.
In addition to the green vegetables, eat garlic. It is nature’s medicine. It helps keep your immune system strong and fight off all kinds of infections.
Keeping well nourished for overall good health is important at all times and even more so when you are fighting any kind of infection. Toenail fungus medication works more effectively when a healthy diet that doesn’t feed the fungus is followed. For this, you need folic acid, vitamin C and protein. Foods that contain these are easy to find and quite tasty so you won’t feel like you have to hold your nose to get them down. Lean meats, leafy greens and citrus fruits are good sources.
A diet that is specifically designed to help get rid of fungal infections works by starving the fungus to weaken it so the topical toenail fungus medication is much more effective. This diet mostly lists what to avoid and stresses staying with a healthy diet of mostly vegetables, lean meats and some fresh fruit.
The foods to avoid on the antifungal diet include fungi such as mushrooms and anything containing yeast, products of fermentation (alcoholic beverages, soy sauce, vinegar), hard cheeses, sugar and all sweeteners (including honey, molasses and artificial sweeteners), fruit juice and dried fruit. Canned fruit should also be avoided unless it is canned in plain water without any sweeteners.
If you want to be sure you are getting all the nutrition you need, you can take advantage of nutritional supplemental drinks such as Mega-Nutrition Organic Superfood. This product is especially good to use when your daily schedule makes it hard to get all the protein, vitamins and minerals you need. You will get the antioxidants, probiotics, enzymes and more that you need. With all the health benefit you get, it will be something you look forward to drinking daily.
To go further and take full advantage of a comprehensive diet that will address the internal causes of toenail fungus we recommend to read Dr. Bakker’s book Candida Crusher.
Both candida and toenail fungus are forms of yeast infection. They should be treated identically in terms of nutrition and Dr. Bakker, who has specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of yeast infections for over twenty years, shows in this book how to do that. This is truly a must read for anyone affected by toenail fungus.
Addressing Toenail Fungus External Factors
Though most people with toenail fungal infections think it is as simple as applying a toenail fungus medication and nothing more is necessary, there is more to it. First is selecting the right medication. Not all remedies are the same.
Even some natural remedies have side effects and shouldn’t be used for the length of time it takes to clear up a fungal infection. One of these is pure Tea Tree oil. While it is great for many things, it isn’t suitable for toenail fungus because it can’t be used every day for as long as it takes to cure the infection. Some of the other remedies are simply ineffective. They may help some but are not strong enough to completely clear out the fungus.
Other options such as chlorine bleach, Vick’s Vapor Rub and Listerine provide little to no help. Bleach, like pure Tea Tree oil, does have side effects and isn’t good to use long term. The others might result in some improvement but cannot cure the infection. Though some people seem to swear by these remedies, they can’t be relied on for a complete cure.
To find the best toenail fungus medication, you want to get one that is highly effective and doesn’t have any side effects.You also don’t want it to break the bank or be so cheap you wonder if there is any real medicinal value.
You might be thinking that no such toenail fungus medication exists and that you might have to try a prescription oral antifungal medication to get rid of the infection. Before you come to that conclusion, you will benefit from learning about an over the counter topical medication that does meet the ideal of being very effective without any side effects.
The toenail fungus medication you should give serious consideration is EmoniNail. It has a therapeutic dose of some very effective active ingredients. This active ingredient is called Undecylenic Acid and is recognized by the FDA as an effective antifungal. EmoniNail not only kills the toenail fungus but also helps to clear up that yellow keratin that makes nails look so ugly.
EmoniNail is easy to apply to your nails with the provided brush. It is rated as one of the best over the counter toenail fungus medications because it is made with natural ingredients, has no side effects and works better than many other treatments.
If for any reason it doesn’t work for you, you don’t have to be out the money you paid. EmoniNail offers a money back guarantee within 60 days if you aren’t satisfied. You have nothing to lose except the toenail fungus. With the excellent customer service the company provides, it is a win/win situation to give it a try.
One last external approach to dealing with toenail fungus is making sure your toes get sunshine and fresh air. Sunshine helps to kill fungus so that can help make any toenail fungus medication work a little more effectively. Fungus likes dark, damp places like the inside of your closed-toed shoes you have been wearing all winter. Even though you want to hide your toes, they need the sunshine to help them heal. Fresh air will help keep your toes dry so fungus isn’t encouraged to grow.
Don’t forget about the shoes your feet were cooped up in all winter. Those shoes are likely full of fungus spores and you don’t want to wear them without a thorough cleaning to get rid of the spores. If you do wear them without cleaning them inside well, you could likely undo all the work you did in treating and curing that toenail fungus. To clean your shoes of fungus, air dry them well after cleaning the inside thoroughly with a good disinfectant made for the purpose. There are a few companies that make cleaners for this purpose and they are not difficult to find.
Final Thoughts on Toenail Fungus Medication
With all the options for treating toenail fungus, choosing the safest and most effective can be intimidating without getting reliable information. This is especially true for oral antifungal medication because of all the side effects prescription medication has. You don’t want to just use one of them because your doctor advised it and find out too late that you are one of the people prone to have the worst of the side effects.
You want a safe, natural topical toenail fungus medication that works. One like EmoniNail is the best place to start, along with quality probiotics, organic superfoods, and healthy dietary changes that will help you feel better overall as well as help treat the fungus.
One thing to remember is that, regardless of which toenail fungus medication you try, all of them take two or three months and sometimes longer to completely clear up the infection. Don’t give up after just a few days or even a few weeks. Fungal infections of any kind are stubborn and will fight the treatment as long as possible.
Instead of stuffing your feet back into the shoes that helped the fungus grow, wear sandals so your toes get fresh air and sunshine. Make healthy changes to your eating habits that you can stay with for your lifetime plus some changes to stick strictly to (avoiding sugar) until the infection is completely gone.
While you are treating your toes, treat your shoes as well so you don’t risk reinfection because of fungus spores living inside your shoes. Clean the inside with something that kills fungus and air them out well before putting your feet in them. You might consider throwing the shoes away and replacing them if the shoes are well worn.
Following the best advice in treating your toes with a toenail fungus medication could find you improving your health all around. Not only will your toes look and feel so much better but you will also look and feel better all over.
>> Learn more about EmoniNail to address external factors
Learn more about ways to address internal factors: