How I Dealt With
My Plantar Warts
After doing my research on the Internet, I decided to try the self-treatment
route. Our medical plan would have required that I go to my regular
doctor’s office for a visit, just to get them to say “yeah,
you have plantar warts. Here’s a referral to the podiatrist.”
I didn’t feel like going through the embarassment, I didn’t
want to lose the time, and I didn’t want to give them the lousy
co-payment for the visit. If the plan had allowed me to immediately
go directly to a podiatrist of my choosing, I probably would’ve
done that, instead.
So yeah, I went right for the over-the-counter remedy.
My feet were killing me. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you
that it was difficult to walk. The pain in my heels was absolutely excruitiating.
Things were okay when I was off my feet, but if I had to walk any distance,
I hobbled around like an old man. Not only was it painful, it was embarassing.
Telling folks that you're limping because of a sprained ankle is one
thing ... but telling them that you're limping because you have plantar
warts on the heels of your feet ... ugh! :(
So I started in with self-treatment, with Dr
Scholl's Clear Away One Step Plantar Wart Remover. I went to the
pharmacy, bought a box of the discs and followed the directions. I burned
through the first box in just over a week.
After the first week, I hadn’t felt any relief. The Clear Away
discs were turning my warts white--almost like they were getting bleached
out--but my feet still hurt like the dickens and I was out of discs.
It was a bit embarassing to go to the pharmacy to buy the Clear Away
... so I planned on picking up a box when I went grocery shopping, instead.
Unfortunately, our supermarket was out of Clear Away Plantar Wart Remover.
It seemed like they had every other Dr. Scholl’s product, though.
I hobbled through a few more days without any discs, before I decided
to gather enough muster go back to a pharmacy. I figured I’d buy
a couple of boxes of Clear Away, and since I didn’t much like
the idea of sneaking up to the counter of my local pharmacy with an
arm full of wart treatment products, I decided to drive to the next
town.
Wandering around the aisles of the unfamiliar pharmacy for what seemed
like hours, I couldn’t find the Clear Away. (Okay, so maybe it
was really just ten minutes, but it seemed like hours.) It took me that
long to finally stumble upon the Dr. Scholl’s products.
I was pleasantly surprised to find not one, but two different kinds
of Dr. Scholl’s Clear Away Plantar Wart Remover ...
The first box I bought were of the One
Step variety. The One Step product has the medicated
disc attached to an adhesive bandage and came 16 to a box.
But here was something I hadn’t seen before ... the other variety
of Dr
Scholl's Clear Away Salicylic Acid Wart Remover is a two step system,
with separate medicated discs and cushioning pads. And they are packaged
24 to box. This appeared to be the better deal at the time, so I picked
up a couple of boxes and off I went.
Enduring
the Pain of Plantar Warts
Throughout this ordeal, I’d been dealing with way too much pain.
It became a great effort to walk any distance at all. My gait was completely
messed up, as I tried to avoid putting any pressure on the tender parts
of my heels. I couldn’t be cured fast enough.
Then one day, I came down with a bad headache. I took a couple of Advils
to get rid of my headache and I made an important discovery. Not only
did the Advils get rid of my headache, they got rid of the the pain
in my feet ... at least temporarily.
I found that I could go for a half a day or more pain-free, with just
the aid of two Advils. Yeah!
The Clear Away System with separate medicated discs and cushioning
pads did the trick. They provided more flexibility to suit the size
of the medicated disk to the affected area. I could finally put the
right amountt of Salicylic Acid on the problem areas.
I continued on my course of action, reapplying the Clear Away discs
each day after I took my morning shower, while taking Advil to dull
the pain. After a few weeks, I saw progress, but I had to get more discs.
I finally wised up and ordered them over the Internet! With the Clear
Away arriving in a plain brown wrapper, I didn’t have to be embarassed
at the checkout.
The plantar wart on my right foot gave in first. I knew I had beat
the bugger when it no longer hurt to step on my right heel. I continued
the Clear Away on that foot for a few more days, just to make sure that
the offensive wart was gone for good.
My left heel took a bit longer to clear up--as it had grown a larger
(and needless to say, more painful) wart--but within another two weeks,
it too was free of pain.
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