brittle nails / medical site

[vittoria]

my nails are extremely brittle and are literally cracking - like a hairline fracture in a building - and even falling off! A few days ago I banged my foot against a drawer under a bed, and there was a crack on my big toe nail, and a few days later half of my toe nail fell off - I am having trouble walking because the skin underneath is tender and bleeding. What can it be? My husband thinks calcium deficiency, another friend thought either vitamin D or E - could not remember which. It started happening a couple of years ago; about 18 months ago, at a friend's suggestion, I started taking cod liver oil with evening primrose oil and there was an improvement; some time ago, when I was buying a replacement, I bought the wrong one by mistake - cold liver oil with multivitamins - I did not think it would make a difference but my nails got worse again. Has anybody got any suggestions? On a more general note, I had a medical site on my favourites which I had not used for a while called AskDrSteve, I thought it would be a good place to start but it does not seem to exist anymore, does anybody know of a medical site where you can ask this sort of question? Many thanks!!!

[BenDToy]

For alternative treatments and suggestions you could try Dr Ali at http://www.dr-ali.co.uk/ but I would definitely consult my GP. Hope it gets sorted out for you, it sounds pretty awful.