Ewww… My nails are developing longitudinal ridging (I think that is poor nutrient absorption), redish ends, and they are flattening. Jeez, Louise. Kidney trouble? Does anyone else show this? Thanks!
Hi, Doc. Sounds to me as if you may have:
• “clubbing” (the flaytening of the nails), which is a classic sign of congestive heart failure and other conditions of hypoxia/hyperfusion), though it also can suggest other difficulties.
• Beau’s lines (the horizontal dents / ridges / grooves / really weak spots), which can be a sign of a number of metabolic problems including protein malnutrition (if I recall correctly; eyes aren’t focusing just now, so no Google for me) and — among other problems, such as injury, illness, and a bad attack of Raynaud’s — heart failure.
• And, as you say, probably Terry’s nails (the nail bed that is blanched except for a reddish strip toward the fingertip), which are associated with kidney, liver, thyroid. and heart problems.
Although the DDx obviously ought to include a good metabolic workup to R/O kidney or liver or even thyroid problems, and a good look at your diet might be in order, Occam’s Razor would seem to suggest that circulatory problems secondary to dysautonomia and EDS are a likely culprir. (Hmm … sounds like a PhD project to me!)
Personally, I have seen the reddish strip in the distal nail beds shrink this year to less than half what it had been — and the number of floaters in my eyes go way down — since I found out what my pulse and blood pressure were doing and stopped pushing myself to collapse. As often.
My Beau’s lines, which I have had for years (Lyme), are mostly gone now that I am working very hard to keep up my protein intake (had been aiming for 50 g/day and getting 40ish; now aiming for 100 and feeling much healthier … if still horizontalish).
Even before I started pushing protein, I had been taking a pretty good array of supplements — some anti-inflammatory stuff but mostly items to counter malabsorption, including a Vitacost twice daily vitamin and a matching twice daily mineral capsule — and that had helped with both the Beau’s lines and the lengthwise ridges.
Here’s another pretty good page discussing nail problems: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/nail-abnormalities/Pages/Introduction.aspx
Apologies for any typos and infelicities. Can’t really see them right now.