Everything seemed normal. Our 9-month-old was teething, and, as any parent knows, that means a slight fever and a lot of extra drool.
He also had what looked like a diaper rash. A tiny patch of little red bumps on his butt. But it went away in a day.
No worries, right?
Well… the next day we got a note from the school that “Some children in the infant class had been diagnosed with ‘Hand, Food, Mouth Disease,’ or Coxsackievirus…” and to “be on the lookout for symptoms.”
Oh no!
But a quick Google informed us that the symptoms were pox-like blisters on (you guessed it) hands, feet, and mouths. And (foreshadowing here) “…not common in adults.”
Pshew! Thanks Google!
Our kid had none of that stuff. He was just teething, and had a little diaper rash. Very normal stuff. Right?
“I now remember, vividly, the exact moment the little bugger drooled right in my face.”
Around that time I was lifting him over my head, he was giggling, it was awesome, and… plop! He got me. Yes, it was gross, but it comes with the territory as a parent. And I thought nothing of it at the time. Well, besides “ewww!”
Turns out, that was all it took.
Ironically I was almost over being sick with a chest cold (that the baby gave me a week prior, the little petri dish) so when I woke up a few mornings later feeling very, very icky I assumed it was a relapse of the same cold.
But then the headache crept in. And, wow, what a headache it was. A ballooning, deep, dull pressure behind my eyes that Advil (and later Tylenol) couldn’t really touch.
The added bummer was I was on a business trip, and scheduled to fly back home at noon that day (landing at 3). So I was counting the hours until I was tucked safely, and warmly into bed.
Well, of course, the flight was delayed, and with each passing minute I grew sicker and sicker. My throat started hurting. Fever, rising. And once I managed to get on the plane the compression/decompression in my ears was simply insane. I had never been this sick on a plane before.
*For the record, I don’t think I infected anyone on the flight. I kept to myself, tried to sleep, and was not “sneezy” or otherwise leaking fluids.
But I was not well. Not at all.
I had managed to call my doctor before takeoff, at that point thinking it was Strep, an ear infection, or a bacterial chest infection from the cold, and had a Z-Pack waiting at my pharmacy for me when I arrived. When finally I got home I greedily took the first day’s allotment of the antibiotic regimen.
But that night, even though I was chocked-full of OTC medications (Robotussin, Advil, Benadryl, the whole aisle, really) I descended into total misery. Sicker and sicker. I couldn’t sleep, and I emailed-in sick for work in the middle of the night, because I knew something was wrong. Bad-wrong.
“Then I noticed the first tiny bump on my finger.”
The next morning, under blankets on the couch, trying to pay attention to a movie, I saw it. Red. Tiny. Slightly puffy.
If you’ve ever had a small splinter from, say, doing yard work, you’ll know what this is like. Some miniscule prickle has lodged under your skin. Too small to really bother you… until it becomes infected. Not bad, not painful, but just enough of an irritation for your body to attack it with it’s built-in defense mechanisms, creating a little, raised, red bump.
So there I was: thinking I had a tiny splinter, poking at this thing, convinced there was a sliver of something under there. Itching, tingling, pulsating.
I decided to leave it alone, (me is smart) and, my plan was, if it got worse, I’d deal with it after the antibiotics did their thing. After all, if it was a splinter, they’d probably help with the infection.
But then it started to itch. Which is not uncommon, either, for a splinter. But it really itched, and by by the evening I noticed I had another tiny red bump, on an adjacent finger. And it itched like crazy too.
By this point my fever had subsided a bit, but my throat was still on fire, and I had zero appetite. So I went to sleep with some more Advil and some throat lozenges, thinking “Fever’s going down, I’ll be out of the woods by the morning.”
Nope.
I only managed to sleep for an hour or two before I woke up with a start: both of my hands were itching uncontrollably. And when I say itching, I mean ITCHING. Intense and unavoidable. It was unlike any itch I’ve ever felt before. It was simply un-scratchable.
“It felt like I had poison ivy, deep underneath my skin… on my bones.”
Needless to say I couldn’t sleep much. For hours I just kept tossing and turning, and itching and scratching. Rinse, repeat, times infinity (and woke my wife up several times).
The next morning (day 3) I had more red bumps on my hands, and they all felt like they were on fire. So that’s when I decided to consult Dr Google again.
“Red bumps hands itchy” gave me a lot “eczema” results. Also a lot of “dermatitis,” “rash” and “allergic reaction” came up, too.
“Phew!” I thought. Just a little rash. All good.
(We’ve all been there. You just want to believe.)
But then I clicked on “images” (because ‘images’ is often times the best way to get the answers we seek, weirdly). And there I was! Or, rather, someone who’s hands looked exactly like mine; and I clicked the image.
“Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease.”
And…boom!
Immediately my brain did one of those “waka waka” back-in-time things like you see in the movies, where the all the instances that lead up to the present situation flash before your eyes. I could literally see the email from the school in my mind. I pictured those little red bumps on my kid’s butt when I was changing his diaper. I saw that drop of drool falling from his mouth and hitting me in the face. Slow-mo. Plop.
“This is some 3rd World sh$¡t right here.”
So, suddenly, my search term was much more specific.
Here’s the aggregate of what’s out there:
- Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease / Coxsackievirus
• is not the same as “Foot and Mouth Disease” aka “Mad Cow Disease”
• Children under age 10 are most often affected.
• Usually occurs in the summer and early fall.
• You can catch hand-foot-and-mouth disease if:
• A person with the infection sneezes, coughs, or blows their nose near you
• You touch your nose, eyes, or mouth after you have touched something contaminated by the virus, such as a toy or doorknob
• You touch the stools or the fluid from blisters of an infected person
• Complete recovery occurs in 5 to 7 days. * - Symptoms include:
• Fever
• Headache
• Loss of appetite
• Rash with very small blisters on the hands, feet, and diaper area that may be tender or painful when pressed
• Sore throat
• Ulcers in the throat (including tonsils), mouth, and tongue
• Hand foot and mouth disease usually is mild and over within a week. Treatment is directly toward relief of symptoms (fever and sore throat). *
* At least TWO of these points are complete BS, at least for myself and the many other adults who’ve posted about it recently.
“Complete recovery occurs in 5 to 7 days.”
Nope. Try 10-14 days, with scabs remaining long after, and peeling up to 2 months after.
“Hand foot and mouth disease usually is mild…”
Try again internet. The “usually” here is simply misused. At the very least it should be caveated with a “…but severe cases have been documented, so be prepared for a possibly rough ride.”
“Most of the information on HFM on the internet is for parents, treating their kids.”
Why is this the net-net on HFM? Probably because most of the information on HFM on the internet is for parents, treating their kids. Which makes sense because kids are historically the ones that usually get the Coxsackie virus. Small kids crawl around on the floor; they drool, cough and sneeze on each other; and put the same toys in their disgusting little mouths.
The problem is that most of the information available, from all the prominent medical websites, echoed the “adults don’t usually get it” refrain. Which simply isn’t helpful, in the grand scheme of things. Because it lets you put your guard down.
My wife and I would have certainly been more careful if, instead of “…adults usually don’t get it…” was amended with “…is extremely contagious, and children often don’t exhibit symptoms…” If it were written like that things might have been a tad different for me.
But, oh well. It’s ultimately my responsibility and my fault. Such is life as a grown up.
As a result of this fairly blasé attitude by the larger medical sites, the second page of search results nets a lot of articles written by parents (like this one) essentially saying “HFM ‘Affects Just Kids?’… really?! Ha! Look at my hands!”
“What most “official” sites also gloss over is how incredibly painful HFM can be.”
Here are some of the more helpful “personal” blog articles I found. And big props and thanks to those “normal people” who took the time to document their experiences.
http://unsupermomma.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/hand-foot-and-mouth-disease-sucks/
http://www.kentucky.com/2014/06/15/3293253/tips-on-coping-with-hand-foot.html
It’s important to point out that, most of the time, children tend to breeze through a lot of illnesses that adults struggle with (case in point: my 9-month-old barely got any symptoms). It happens with colds and flu all the time.
Of course, sometimes kids get walloped by illnesses that adults breeze through. So there is really no hard and fast “rule.” But with this particular strain of HFM the parents seem to be bearing the brunt of the pain and suffering.
Is this a different strain? Who knows. But over the last year-or-so there certainly seems to be a ton of adults suddenly getting bad cases of this “kids’ disease.”
Add to that doctors’ current reluctance to prescribe true pain relief medication, in general, (thank you pill poppers!), the wide-held belief that HFM “…isn’t a big deal in adults” is counterproductive. After all, if you follow the advice on WebMd, CDC, etc, you’d think you easily can treat HFM with Tylenol or Advil.
“Make no mistake: HFM really, really sucks.”
Combine that misinformation with the fact that this probably is a new strain (or at least a new varietal), doctors nationwide are being caught offguard.
This is a real shame, because HFM is a hell of a thing.
So back to my personal saga:
At the end of the 3rd day of this super fun magical journey, my hands had way more bumps on them, and it literally felt like they were on fire. The itching and burning had increased exponentially, and I found myself loosing my sanity a little bit: I literally could not get comfortable. I was inhaling OTC medications, and none of it was doing anything to help.
I tried all of the over-the-counter anti-itch medications (literally, all of them), and there was no change at all. No help. Not even a hint of relief.
So, getting a tad panicky, I called my doctor, and he seemed generally amazed that I actually had HFM: “Wait, the “kids’ disease?”
Like most doctors, he doesn’t trust google-self-diagnosis, but after I gave him a rundown of the facts, and sent him snaps of my hands, he agreed that I was right-on.
He went on and on about how surprised he was that an adult “actually got this disease!”
Apparently he’d been Googling, too.
This is where I thank my lucky stars that I was prescribed some actual, bona fide pain killers. I was getting really worried about making it through the rest of that day, and night. But I did, thanks to the meds.
“Hallelujah, thanks be to the Gods for opiates!”
Look. I don’t drink, or do drugs of any kind… but those heavy-duty painkillers were that important to me getting through this. I really can’t imagine what I would’ve done without them.
They really didn’t “numb” the pain, but rather separated me from it. And they allowed me to sit gingerly on the couch, and sort of watch TV, with my tongue hanging out, and drooling a little bit. Otherwise I would’ve probably jumped out the window or something.
A lot of people describe the pain and itching of Hand, Foot & Mouth as being similar to Shingles. I’ve never had Shingles (thankfully) but it’s apparently the same kind of “nerve pain” that’s incredibly intense and all encompassing. Based on this experience I really, really don’t want to get Shingles, either.
Day 5 it had spread to my feet.
I have “guy feet.” They’re tough and calloused. So not as many bumps this time, as tiny red splotches underneath the skin. They were just as painful and itchy as the blotches on my hands, but now I couldn’t walk, either. Yay.
I noticed that I was starting to have problems with my face, too. My nose had started leaking yellow fluid (yes, gross, I know), and I had random patches on my face that were obviously part of the overall program. I even had icky scabs in my earlobe, from that stupid decision to pierce my left ear, back in 11th grade. Even my forehead, and chest had a blister or two.
“Lesions.”
Wow. Just, wow.
Thinking about the overall placement of the lesions, they seemed to crop up in places that I had previous injuries; even decades old. Places I had had a cut, or a burn, or (on my face) where I usually get a pimple. I’m not sure if that means anything, but it was curious placement to me. Almost as if it was attacking my weakest points.
Which brings me to the word: LESIONS. And OMG what lesions they were.
You know you’re in trouble when you not only have one “lesion” (a foreboding word by itself), but instead having plural “lesions” on your body. Any time you have “lesions” you’re pretty much screwed.
Lesions: quite a mental picture that one little word conjures up.
I’m not going to post any pictures of my specific “lesions,” but it was all pretty gross. And when my HR person was curious why I was insisting on working from home on days 8-12, I threatened to send her instagrams of my “lesions.” She took my word for it.
Day 6 saw the blisters begin to scab over, most everywhere. The pain was reduced a tad in my hands, but still quite present in my feet. Even walking to the kitchen or bathroom was a “thing.” I was getting tired of being on the pain killers, too, so I was thankfully able to stop taking them. I was still in pain, and very uncomfortable, but at least not at the levels I was.
Day 7 my hands started to become numb.
How do I describe this? Okay. Have you ever gotten dried Super Glue on one of your fingertips? Well, that’s what my hands felt like, but with a little dash of lingering nerve pain thrown in for kicks.
Day 8 my hands were even more numb, but now my feet felt like they had been dipped in Super Glue, too. But the pain was still making its presence known in the background, now appearing more in “waves” than before. Which is better, for sure, but still there.
And now I’m stircrazy because I’ve been in the house for pretty much a week straight (half because I’m still contagious, and half because it hurts to move).
It’s taken 8 days for my appetite to return, but I was finally hungry again (very hungry) but for the most part I can only eat really bland foods. Which is boring and annoying.
“Day 8…still working from home: typing with hot dog fingers, and monitoring the “ooziness–to–scabiness ratio” of my many, many lesions.”
By this point I was really getting sick of this sick. I was still sequestered away from my family, and things were just barely, slowly starting to clear up.
But I was definitely on the upswing from Day 8 – onward.
In the end it took me 10 days to get to a point where I was able to mingle with my family again. And 14 days – 2 full weeks – to go back to work. Now, maybe I could’ve returned to civilization sooner? Maybe I wasn’t officially contagious past, say, Day 9 (when I was relatively pain free, and more “scabby” than “oozie?”) Who knows for sure. I was dropping disgusting scabs all the way up until the 2 week mark… so are those scabs contagious? Dunno. But they’re disgusting. And if I can do my work from home (I can) I will.
Infect the office with this terrible thing? Nope. I’m not gong to be “that guy.” No sir. No way.
“The last thing I want to do is be known as “Patient Zero” for a workplace outbreak.”
Days 14 my hands started peeling like crazy. Huge, white flaps of skin with pink, tender flesh revealed underneath (so playing guitar was not an option). This meant I still had to wear gloves.
Day 20 my feet finally stared peeling.
And here we are, now: Day 30. My feet are almost done peeling, but there are still some residual white “callouses” on my hands and feet, which I’m assuming will peel off at some point due to normal skin replacement cycles.
The odd thing is I still get occasional bouts of minor itching in my hands and feet. I really, really hope that eventually goes away, too.
“Day 30: WTF?”
Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease can be a hideous, horrible thing. It certainly was for me, and I’m a very healthy dude. I don’t get sick much. I’ve had chicken pox, and all my vaccinations. Etc.
But this came out of nowhere, and rocked my world for almost a month.
HFM is insidious, and probably more contagious than we’d like to admit: especially kid-to-adult.
It doesn’t take a kid to drool on your face, either. It could be a sneeze. Changing a diaper without surgical gloves on. Touching the same doorknob, or even drinking (by mistake) out of the same glass.
It’s not smallpox-contagious. But it’s certainly really-damn-crazy-contagious.
“Is this actually a new strain?”
There’s a noted spike in recent cases, in kids and adults, around the country, right now, as of this posting. So is this a new variation of HFMD? Is it due to the huge influx of immigrant kids, and our overwhelmed intake/screening procedures? Or does it have something to do with the idiotic “anti vaccine” movement? Who knows. But those are the leading theories for the recent uptick in reported cases. But it’s certainly happening, and it’s caught the attention of several news sites recently; so something is up lately:
http://www.kctv5.com/story/25960774/doctors-warn-of-spike-of-hand-foot-mouth-disease
http://abc13.com/health/more-kids-getting-hand-foot-and-mouth-disease/148632/
http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/Hand-foot-and-mouth-disease-on-the-rise-266818881.html
As always, the best defense is always education. But, if you’re unlucky enough to contract HFM, your only real options are pain management, and physical seclusion. To that point:
“Drugs are good, Mmkay?”
Remember: do not think that over-the-counter medications will help you. This is about condition management. There is no “cure.” Go to your doctor and demand proper pain relief, and do not let them talk you out of it. Demand good drugs! Do not leave your Doctor’s office without them! Doctors have been trained in recent years to avoid prescribing decent painkillers (a modern mistake). But decent painkillers are really the only thing that will get you through this.
That, and time.
So, anyways. I hope this helps somebody out there. Hand, Foot, Mouth came out of nowhere, and knocked me on my ass for over a month. It’s one of the worst things I’ve experienced in my life. And I really wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
Okay, maybe I’d wish on my worst enemy… because, honestly, HFM would be a great way to torture someone.
UPDATE:
Coxsackievirus is the gift that just keeps on giving. Wow. Now my fingernails are falling off.
It’s more than 3 months after I was baptized in Coxackie, and a week ago I first started noticing some “patches” under the base of my fingernails. Didn’t think much of it. Until they started to grow out a bit, and the flaky part of the nail started catching on my clothes, and sheets. Really weak, “broken” patches on several of my fingernails and both of my thumbnails. I finally put two and two together and realized that this was a remnant of the lesions that were under my nails! Way under, below the cuticle. The lesions had harmed the nail from underneath.
So now I have a collection of clear fingernail polish that I have to keep dousing my nails in, and I already have one of them wrapped in bandages to keep the nail from being ripped off. Because it’s coming up from the bottom, it’s a bit tricky, because the top half of the nail is 100% healthy, and properly attached to the nail bed. So if I’m in for a treat if I catch this on something and rip the nail off by accident. I DO NOT want that to happen.
My feet are still peeling too, and I’m starting to think a couple of my toenails are going to start getting funky (they grow a lot slower than fingernails).
Yay.
Tags: blisters, bumps, cdc, coxsackievirus, disease, foot, hand, HFM, HFMD, itchy, mouth, outbreak, rash, red, virus
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CALAMINE LOTION!!!!!!!!!!!! I tried everything, and because this is DRYING it actually gave me *some* relief.
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That didn’t help me one bit, either. I wish it had.
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Thank you so much for posting this. I’ve been feeling like a monster since I got it and I finally don’t feel alone!!
I’m currently in the peeling phase of this awful thing and I’m wondering if you used anything on your hands to help with the process/healing/anything?
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Unfortunately no 🙁 All I had was a scrubby sponge, and a nail clipper and some nail scissors to try and trim the peeling skin. I wore cotton “photography” gloves the first week i was back at work. I looked like a Michael Jackson wannabe, but with 2 gloves instead of the one.
For the record I am STILL peeling on my feet, 3 months later.
Also (and i’ll update the post) a few of my fingernails are falling off because the lesions that were UNDER my nails have corrupted the integrity of the nail bed. So I have to wait until my fingernails grow completely out (many months) to get past this.
Toenails grow slower, still, and I think I might have a couple of those to contend with, too. Ugh.
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Oh gosh I am so sorry to hear that! Fingers crossed (no pun intended) that your nails stay on!!
How are your hands now that the peeling has stopped and how long did they take to heal? Practically all of my fingers are peeling from the tips down (palm side) leaving the skin raw and reddish underneath…I swear I won’t have any identifiable fingerprints at this rate….
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Yup. My fingers were all very red and very der for a couple weeks. It was hard to even type. No fingerprints either. That’s when I committed all those jewel heists, so I made the best of it, lol.
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Thank you so nuch for documenting your experience here–now I don’t feel so alone. This is truly one heinous illness.
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Thank you for reading! I really do hope it helps other people. And I really hope you make it through with your sanity!
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Thanks for your coherent description of this awful virus. How where your lips during this time? Mine feel nearly as hard and calloused as my hands. At least it sems I was so lucky it didn’t get my feet. I’m affectionately calling it the c*ck sucker virus. Did either of you also get a rash? I hope you’re on the mend.
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Thanks for your comment! My lips were okay, thank goodness. I am on the mend still, with my fingernails still trying to grow out. And I was right about my toenails, because now one of my big ones is about to fall off. Ugh.
By the time this is over it will be almost 6 months of virus, and residual effects. Yay.
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I thought my feet weren’t going to peel. But sure enough, as soon as my hands got a little better, my feet start peeling. My nails still look normal but I’m not going to hold my breath. I can’t believe how bad this disease is. I went to the ER to make sure I didn’t have meningitis (my rash came out of nowhere). They did not know anything about hfmd. At least I can hide my feet. I was wearing kitchen gloves on my hands in public. It’s a little comforting to know I’m not alone. C*cksucker Virus.
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Gah. So glad I’m not alone!! Why is there no info on HF&M in adults online?! I saw 5 doctors in the course of a week and the last Dr was the only one to mention HF&M. This is also the first place where I’ve read that piercings get angry too … I mentioned that to my doctors and got nothing. I’m at the peeling part of this awesome ride. Almost all of my fingertips have peeled and the sides of my fingers are starting to peel too. While they aren’t lobster red and painfully tender anymore, I’m so ready for it to be over…I’ve been switching between heavy hand cream and neosporin. Any tips anyone?!
Support group needed?? I’d say so.
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Honestly, I just peeled my hands, and then used a nail clipper and small scissors to trim the skin. And I also wore those light, white photography gloves at work.
So sorry you went through this. It really, really sucks!
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I’m on my 2nd hand peeling. This time it is so tender. I have a parrafin wax pot that I’m using and it’s helping some…which is better than nothing helping at all. I would check your local goodwill for one. You put on lotion then dip your hands in warm wax. It’s the kind of thing that people get as a gift and never use. It seems no matter how much lotion or what kind, my hands are still sharp and prickly. And I think the blog author mentioned playing guitar. I feel your pain. I played a couple of songs today but I couldn’t keep hold on the pick. It was nice to resume my daily life somewhat but it’s hard to do anything with the sensitivity of my nail beds. I’m probably losing my nails too. If you are reading this, you are not alone. I hope we all feel better soon. This is the worst and most drawn out sickness I’ve ever had. Hang in there you guys.
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I actually just got a pair of moisturizing gloves at the drug store. They have a rubber or gel like inner lining…so I’ve been putting tons of lotion on my hands and then putting my hands in the gloves (even sleeping with them on some nights) and that has been helping with the rough jagged edges and even some of the redness with the new skin.
Not a $10 I would normally spend, but I do think its been helping a bunch.
Good luck!
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I actually think that would’ve helped me! Even though the lotions/creams/balms i tried didn’t do squat..the simple act of rubbing my hands together, hard, was the only thing that brought me any sense of relief. I would do it for hours :
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Be careful when your nails start coming off from the bottom. I play guitar too, and I got my fingernail stuck in a string on a big downstroke! Aggh!
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Oh my goodness! I have this strain right now. Worst Christmas ever! My 2 year old got about 10 spots and was fine after a couple of days. I got it a couple of days later. I was up in agony for 48 hours until luckily, I remembered that I had a few pain pills left over from a surgery. It and ice packs were literally the ONLY thing that helped. Nothing else touched it. I am now on day 6 with the superglue fingers, but still have a few itchy new lesions that are popping up here and there. I am convinced it is the worst virus ever.
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Ugh! So sorry you’re going through this over Xmas. Unfortunately you have several weeks to go to be completely out of the woods 🙁
Hang in there! 🙂
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Just now getting over it having started with intense lethargy on Christmas Eve. Not too bad spot wise although most of the other symptoms described above were present, but the worst aspect for me is the sore throat and particularly a persistently ulcerated tongue (3 Jan) and getting worse. Wakes me at night and difficult sleeping. I take it that I can expect this to resolve in a few days. No sign of nail trouble yet!
I wouldn’t wish this crappy (literally) condition on my worst enemy. Got it changing grandson’s nappies, and he’s very keen on slobbery kisses at the minute. Very underrated disease with very little info on adults other than this very helpful site and blog. I’m a retired surgeon, so was totally ignorant about it all-
Good info on the throat variation. Sounds really uncomfortable.
PS, thanks for the kind comments on the blog 🙂 Get well soon!
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Thank you for posting your story! It is so frustrating that there is no info on this disease for adults on websites like mayoclinic, webmd, etc. My experience has been a bit different so I thought I’d share since I haven’t read my version anywhere yet.
I had the flu turn into pneumonia and was recovering from it. A week later, my throat feels weirdly swollen but not painful. That lasted two days and I thought it was from the inhaler I was using. Then the roof of my mouth felt swollen the the next night I saw red spots. I went to the doctor the next morning thinking it was thrush and they told me it was hfm. That would put me around day 4-5 or symptoms.
Day 6 I have a slight fever of around 100 and i am exhausted and stay in bed all day. Around 8 pm I got the worst headache/migraine of my life and threw up. Roof of mouth spots are smaller and red and part is white spots.
Day 7 mouth is looking almost back to normal. Fever of around 99 and still extremely tired and stayed in bed all day.
Day 8 I felt great and back to normal. Yay!
Day 9 I wake up feeling like 4 pins are pricking my foot and there are 4 red dots there. I put lotion on my feet, put on socks and slippers all day. I felt an annoying tingling/pricking come and go randomly on my whole body for about 4 hours. The spots on my foot were gone when I checked them at night.
I never got spots but I am on day 11 and still feeling the annoying tingling/pin prick feeling on my hands, arms, feet and lower legs. It’s so weird – like its pricking from the inside out.
I am thankful I am thankful I did not get painful spots, but really wondering when the tingling will go away.
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Wow, that is a bit different. I really hope you got a mild strain!
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Update:
It took 6 weeks before recovery. The worst aspect was painful mouth ulceration which didn’t let up. One after the other and two or three at a time. Sleep interrupted. Bonjela no good. My wife followed suit with the same symptoms for the same length of time. The hand and foot lesions were comparatively mild and resolved after 3 weeks -
Hello! I got the worst ulcers ever in my lips and mouth. I was not able to eat or drink water. My gums also got swollen and bloody, I felt like the walking dead and looked like a zombie too. I only got blisters in one hand and two weeks of looking hideous on the third week my feet started feeling numb and painful with every step. This virus makes your skin turn into a gooey sticky painful mess. It was horrible waking up with a bloody pillow and huge swollen lips. For the most part the lips have healed but nerv pain remains in my gums and I think two of my nails are about to fall out. This disease is horrible. I didn’t go to the doctor right away when the first symptoms appeared I thought it would blow over and simply dismissed my malaise as work related stress. A week later I looked like crappy and in pain and that’s when I finally went to see my doctor. I was surprised he knew what I had. When my dr told me i had hfmd I couldn’t believe him because I had read that symptoms were not that severe and that it would cleat out in a couple of days. From my experience HFMD keeps on going. It boggles my mind why there’s so little info out there. Well at leat my dr knows his stuff.
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Hey there! So sorry you’re going through this (and apologies for not approving your comment until now, i was out of town and my wordpress app apparently wasn’t logged in :/).
It seems like the medical community is finally starting to pay a little attention 🙂
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I’m so glad you shared this experience. My path literally mirrors your own. Day 1: Flu symptoms
Day 2: Felt a bit better
Day 3: Noticed a small red blister on my index finger first knuckle palm side (I thought it was from playing bar chords). A few hours later I noticed a few more blisters on my distal phalanges.
Day 4: Woke up with blisters/lesions covering my hands, feet and around my nose. Also on ear lobes and in scalp. I’ve never been more grateful for 6″ of snow on the ground. I would stand in the snow in my bare feet while squatting down to dip my hands, as well. I’m surprised the snow didn’t start steaming.
Day 5: Blisters darkened making it appear even more painful that it felt, which is really damn bad.
Day 6: Blisters started lightening in color.
Day 7: Lesions were disappearing quickly
Day 8: Fingertips started peeling
Day 9: Palms and soles of feet really peeling badly
Day 10: Showered and a piece of skin the size of my hand began to peel. I had to use surgical scissors to cut it off. It was as thick as a piece of beef jerky and really, really gross.
Day 11: Well, that’s today. I feel like a leper. I’m tired of this. It’s difficult to type, turn on a lamp, open a bottle of water, etc. My feet are on fire.My hands look like I have a chemical burn – they feel like it, too. I can’t wear a dark suit or sweater because my scalp is sloughing as well.Bottom line for me: I would only wish this on my worst enemy. I am 45 years old and have been through an awful lot in my life, but I’ve never experienced a virus as frustrating, painful and embarrassing as this. How much longer will this go on?
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Thanks for posting. First off, apologies for the late “approval” – i was out of town, and my app didn’t tell me there were comments! Lol.
“Leper” just about describes it. Really a kind of disease you’d THINK was eradicated already. Like something from the middle ages.
As I wrote in my initial article, the whole thing takes a while. I finally had my toes grow out months, and months after the initial “hit.” So hang in there!
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As I endure this recovery, which is more like a process, I have found a couple of things that help with the peeling and finger/toenail issues.
I’m sure most people reading this have seen the instrument that is made for cutting cuticle snags. It’s shaped like a pen and has a super sharp blade on the inside of the u shaped metal tip. This little tool is perfect for sliding along the sharp peeling edges of skin. It shaves the peeling borders down and kept me from picking at it.
Lac-Hydrin 10 plus is something a dermatologist friend gave to me. It is a lactic acid based moisturizer and it worked miracles on my hands and feet.
Lastly, if you are unsure and afraid about losing fingernails, just tap the top of your nails on a flat surface. If they click with a hollow sound, accept that the fingernail is compromised and is going to go. Keep it trimmed very short because if you snag that nail on something there will not be enough cuss words in the English language to express how it feels.
Finally, in the immortal words of The Outlaw Josey Wales, say to yourself, “I shall endeavor to persevere,” as that is all you can do. It’s going to be a long process for me, but I will make it.
Couldn’t they have named this something more dignified? I put my foot in my mouth enough as it is. Even if you say, “I have Coxsackie Virus,” your screwed. That certainly brings a much worse image to mind.
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I had HFM Disease 2 months ago. I’m in the fingernails peeling stage now. I’m just wondering if anybody’s hair was falling out like crazy for a couple weeks? It has mine but I am not sure if it’s from the HFM.
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Thank you so much for posting your story! My son (21) came down with this dreadful thing 9 days ago, out of the blue. Ten days ago, he was playing tennis, going on long bike rides etc. At this point, he still has the lesions on his hands but they are now spots, not blisters. He didn’t get it too badly on the soles of his feet. A fever of almost 104 launched the thing, but diminished each day for the next 3 days. The throat was dreadful – it cleared up after about 5 days. But _ and I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced anything like this – starting on day 5, he started developing groin pain! By day 6, it had moved into one testicle and by day 7, it had moved into both sides. Today (day 9) he is better – on day 8, he said it was better in the morning but worse in the evening, after trying to get out of the house for a bit to regain some sanity. He says it hurts when he stands up and is more comfortable lying down. We’ve been to the doctor twice. On day 7, he gave him some antibiotics for the groin problem – maybe they are helping a little but not totally clearing it. I’d be most grateful for any insights! (We are in the San Francisco area – I don’t know how this thing moves around geographically).
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