Athletes Foot Treatment With Herbal

Athlete’s foot is so named because this infection is most commonly seen on the feet of athletes who spend time around swimming pools, steam baths, locker rooms, and communal showers following exercise. These places are breeding grounds for fungus, and so are your shoes, with their dark, warm, moist environment.

Tinea pedis, the Latin name for fungal foot infection, is a skin disease caused by dermatophytes (tiny parasitic fungi) that thrive in warm, moist places. It usually occurs between the toes and on the soles of the feet. The symptoms can appear rather quickly and can include scaling, flaking, and peeling of the skin between the toes, intense itching, heat, redness, cracking, dryness, and finally the appearance of blisters and possible infection if the disease is allowed to progress without treatment. The blisters can break and allow the pesky fungi to penetrate the skin’s surface, thus making the disease even more difficult to treat. Athlete’s foot symptoms tend to recur quite easily once you’ve been infected. All treatments for athlete’s foot should be applied continuously over a period of several weeks to several months until the condition is eradicated.

Remember to always wear shoes when at the gym or walking around the vicinity of a public pool. Keep feet dry, apply a bit of foot powder inside your socks, and wear breathable footwear.

FUNGUS FIGHTER: USNEA, SAGE, AND LAVENDER LINIMENT

This potent antifungal liniment will help alleviate frequently unbearable oozing, itching, redness, and heat. It can also be applied to toenails and fingernails affected by fungus. And it freshens the feet and kills odor! Be forewarned: it will sting raw skin, but it works wonders.

1½ cups usnea lichen, dried or fresh (usnea is quite dry even when fresh, so there’s no need to wilt it)
½ cup dried or 1 cup freshly wilted sage leaves
½ cup dried or ¾ cup freshly wilted lavender buds
1 teaspoon vegetable glycerin
30 drops tea tree essential oil
20 drops thyme (chemotype linalool) essential oil
10 drops myrrh essential oil
3–4 cups unflavored vodka

EQUIPMENT: 1-quart canning jar, plastic wrap, strainer, fine filter, funnel, glass or plastic storage containers

PREP TIME: 10 minutes, plus 4 weeks for extraction

YIELD: Approximately 2½ cups

STORAGE: Store at room temperature, away from heat and light; use within 2 years

APPLICATION:
2 or 3 times per day If you’re using fresh usnea or freshly wilted sage, cut or tear those herbs into smaller pieces to expose more surface area during maceration. If you’re using freshly wilted lavender, strip the buds and any attached greenery from the stems; discard the stems. Feel free to add the bits of greenery into the jar. Place all the herbs, the glycerin, and the tea tree, thyme, and myrrh essential oils in a 1-quart canning jar and pour the vodka over them, so that it comes to within ½ inch of the top of the jar. The herbs should be completely covered. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the mouth of the jar (to prevent the metal lid from coming into contact with the jar’s contents), then screw on the lid. Shake the mixture for about 30 seconds to blend thoroughly. After 24 hours, top up with more vodka if necessary. The herbs will settle a bit in the jar, but that’s okay. Store the jar in a cool, dark place for 4 weeks so that the vodka can extract the valuable chemical components from the herbs. Shake the jar for 15 to 30 seconds each day. At the end of the 4 weeks, strain the herbs through a fine-mesh strainer lined with a fine filter such as muslin or, preferably, a paper coffee filter, then strain again if necessary to remove all herb debris. Press or squeeze the herbs to release all the valuable herbal extract. Discard the marc. Pour the liquid into storage containers, then cap, label, and store in a dark cabinet.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Shake well before each use. Apply enough liniment to completely soak your feet. Massage it in really well, including between the toes. Always treat both feet, even if only one may be affected. Let your feet dry before putting socks or shoes back on (you can speed up the process by using a blow dryer if you like). Follow up with foot powder, if desired.

Bonus
Apply by the drop to infected cuts, scrapes, bug bites, blisters, boils, bedsores or skin ulcers, poison plant rashes, and blemishes to help heal inflammation and kill bacteria.