Question: The traditional treatments for my horrible toenail fungus are really extreme and toxic and not at all guaranteed to work. The herbal remedies (i.e. tea tree oil, oregano) don’t seem to do much for me. It’s pretty far along and I’ve had it for several years now. I’ve heard it’s not dangerous but it’s really unattractive and probably a sign of imbalance. Help!
Answer: The treatments you’ve tried haven’t worked because they do not address the root cause of your problem. Western treatments—drug therapy and even the latest laser treatments—focus on the nail itself. The herbal treatments you mentioned also approach the problem from the outside in: they try to kill the fungus “attacking” the nail. But working from the outside in will never achieve long-term results for this health issue because it is caused by an internal energy imbalance. Unless this imbalance is corrected, any external treatments are not going to work for very long. That’s why these kinds of treatments are basically temporary—they need to be repeated over and over to make the results last. And most of the time, you never really get healthy looking nails.
The root cause of nail fungus is a Liver energy imbalance. In TCM the nails—both the fingernails and toenails—are related to the Liver. The Liver is responsible for the condition of the tendons, and the nails are considered an outgrowth or “surplus” of the tendons. So you can’t really have healthy nails and tendons without a healthy Liver.
One of the Liver’s main jobs is to store blood. The blood nourishes these areas of your body. Problems with the nails, including cracked, dry, brittle nails, and toenail fungus, are actually signs from the body that the Liver has an energy function disorder. An experienced TCM practitioner would determine exactly how your Liver is imbalanced and treat it with acupuncture and classical herbal formulas that you take internally. This treatment approach works from the inside out to restore the balance of your body. And the effects are long-lasting once the Liver is balanced and you maintain that state. Also, a healthy and balanced lifestyle and diet can help keep the body balanced.
