yellow nail syndrome

Hello all, I'm so glad to find some people that are suffering from YNS that I can relate to! I am 27 years old and was diagnosed about 2 years ago by a pulmonary internal medicine specialist. It took a long time for me to get a diagnosis as it started out as a persistent productive cough (which I still have) and my nails changing/not growing. I saw many doctors that looked at my nails and had no clue what it was (even a dermatologist turned me away!). Finally I found a doctor that was compassionate and willing to listen to all my symptoms and took one look at my nails and knew it was YNS. Now that I have researched it, it all makes sense...I have recurrent chest infections that come and go that I treat with antibiotics when necessary. I use a nebulizer with saline that does help loosen it up but for me the key is avoiding getting infections which is hard especially in the winter months. I also have a puffer (symbicort) that I am supposed to take daily but I really find no relief from it so it is hard for me to remember to take it. I haven't found anything to help my nails unfortunately...I've been taking oral vitamin E, C and D and also applying vitamin E to my nails. I paint them often to hide them but they get quite painful when the skin cracks and get really dry around the edges. I don't have any lymphadema or pleural effusions yet so I'm hoping I can steer clear of those. Most doctor's are surprised that I have YNS at such a young age and one doctor even told me he'd like to see me back in 5-10 years to see how much worse I've gotten! Talk about being a pessimist. I have just recently discovered N-Acetyl L Cysteine which is used in a lot of COPD patients. I have started taking 1000mg daily to see if it helps. It's only been about 2 weeks now so I'll let you know if I find any relief from it.  Anyways glad I found some people to relate to and I'd love to hear more about what people are using to get some relief! It's also nice to have some emotional support as it can be draining having to explain to people my condition and having to hear comments like "you're sick again??" is annoying to say the least. Hope to hear back from some of you soon!

hi im 101 dalmation lol proper name is Debbie.

I have suffered this "YELLOW NAIL SYNDROME" for 8 years now, and still suffering. this is a life long disorder. and extremely rare. my doctors are brilliant with me and giving me the best care that i need with all my symptoms. first when i was diagnosed i was told to take 1000 I.U. vitamin E capsules a day, and soak my finger/toe nails in white wine vinigar, daily. i did this for about a year but found my nails still kept dropping off with loads of pain to the fingers as thre process took months for the nails to grow to a long length. I have suffered constantly with chest infection and bad coughs and breathing problems. i now have C.O.P.D. to which i have inhalers to help me through it. last year 2014 in dec. i had to have a lung operation as the fluid from the yellow nail syndrom that flows through our blood stream, got into my left lung and was filling up badly. the hospital have drained my lung and talcolm powdered it then super glued it so it cannot return. the pain from the operation is ongoing for up to about a year to heal. i still get pains in left side of body when breathing in and out normaly or i try to reach high it causes pain. even hoovering causes pain.

another symptom from this is swollen feet and legs. they swell up now and then and go down on there own. but return swollen again later.

I have recently been told that i may be able to have false but permanent nails attached to fingers/toes where nails have been removed. i am now looking into this with my doctors. as its not nice for ladies to have nails missing. will update more when we have found out what we can do about this.

i hope all the other 100 sufferers out there get to read this and find they are not alone. and we can help each other through this. i was 46 when diagnosed i am now 52. and was very dissapointed when told that there is no cure for this condition. hope this helps.

Debbie.

Yellow Nail Syndrome.

pics of nails hanging off and then taken off.

and a pic of my thimb and toe bandaged up after removal off nails.

hello all, I hope its ok to say, but i have started a facebook page called "Yellow Nail syndrome community". please join. thanks.