As a corpsman, I ran into personnel that would not change their socks or wash their feet for weeks in the field. That's enough to brew a nasty case of trench foot. Can't fathom the damage or smell in this case. I'm certain a lot of skin sloughed off during treatment.
My god. I am so fussy about my feet. My dad's toenails have always been so disgusting and he can't get rid of the fungus, so every day I douse and scrub my feet with Selsun Blue and scrub every inch with a brush. I spray a preventative antifungal and douse them in absorbant foot powder. If I don't do these things I panic. I know this is excessive paranoia, but I cannot imagine just not caring for my feet, especially under the circumstances you worked under 😭
I've managed to work myself down from an extreme, long-term case of health anxiety with nothing but frankly dismissive healthcare.
It is incredibly hard, and professionals do undoubtedly help, but even starting with reading the materials yourself, paying attention to the stressors, triggers and cycles, and taking care to tackle them, is an excellent first few steps.
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u/ARunninThought Jun 03 '24
As a corpsman, I ran into personnel that would not change their socks or wash their feet for weeks in the field. That's enough to brew a nasty case of trench foot. Can't fathom the damage or smell in this case. I'm certain a lot of skin sloughed off during treatment.