A Burnham-On-Sea mum has warned other parents about a Coronavirus symptom that she says has affected her 11-year-old son for two months.
Louise Male says that at times her son Joshua has been unable to sleep or walk properly, suffering from extremely swollen and itchy toes that started when he had a case of Covid-19 in early November.
She says: “It’s hard to see your child in pain and by week five or six he was crying at night because his toes were so swollen. I posted about it online and have had so many people message me saying their child has had the same thing.”
“I have seen so many pictures of people’s feet, and one woman’s daughter has exactly the same symptoms as Joshua.”
After October’s half-term holiday, Joshua returned to his local school for three days before his whole class was sent home due to a positive case among staff.
He started to experience some unusual symptoms several days later and Louise explains: “He said ‘Mum, my feet are really itchy’. We thought it was some kind of Athlete’s Foot so we got some cream from the chemist.”
The itching soon spread to “the tops and sides of his toes” and was not eased by using the cream. Louise went back to the local chemist for advice and they suggested anti-inflammatory creams but none of them made any difference.
“When he got home from school and he took his shoes off, and his feet warmed up, they got more painful. They were worst at bedtime and first thing in the morning. One foot would be really cold and the other would be really hot.”
When the local doctors surgery said they were unable to see him quickly, she went to the local minor injuries unit where Joshua was seen by a nurse.
Louise says the nurse concluded he had no infection, but that she didn’t know what was wrong with his feet, and that the doctor should check his medication.
A day later, Joshua’s mother secured a phone appointment with his Doctor. She added: “They rang at 4.30pm and they said, ‘It’s not his medication, it’s Covid toe’.
Mrs Male said the doctor prescribed hydrocortisone one per cent cream and ibuprofen for the pain, but the cream “made no difference”.
“We had nights up where he just couldn’t sleep and he found it so hard to walk. We had to go into school at lunchtime to give him Calpol because he was in so much pain. We also wondered with the ADHD if it was hurting him more than it would hurt us, because he’s more sensitive to things.”
Mrs Male was then forced to take him to Taunton’s Musgrove A&E and adds: “Before I took him to the hospital he just cried all night. Musgrove A&E have seen so many people from our doctor’s because they just can’t get an appointment. The hospital told him that his toes would be famous because they sent them to a database in Bristol.”
Two months later, Joshua’s feet are just starting to improve. “Since he has not been at school, we have encouraged him to keep his feet up as much as possible, to keep the swelling down, and not to wear shoes. He is having more time on his screen than we would like, but he is resting his feet, so it’s a trade-off really.”
“We have also stopped the cream because he said it wasn’t helping and he hasn’t noticed any difference. They are not as bad as they were, and the skin on the three worst toes is starting to crack. They are going a purply, black and blue colour, but they look better than they were.”
The New York Times reported on cases of ‘Covid Toe’ in America where there have been scores of cases linked to coronavirus.
Last year, the Royal College of Nursing reported that medical staff should be on the look-out for “Covid toe”, which can look like chilblains and often appears in patients who go on to test positive for Covid-19.
The American Academy of Dermatology Association has also noted Covid toes cases and said they can occur at any age, including in adults.
Web MD also reports that Covid toes can last for several months after cases of Coronavirus.
