I am the type of person that will ignore it and it will go away. I have said before that my foot has been bothering me. It has been bothering me now for about four or five months. When it started it only bothered me if I walked a lot and if I rested the foot, it would stop hurting. Well it got to the point where it was hurting everyday whether I walked a lot or not. My ignore it and it will go away went right out the stinking window. Well I finally went to the foot doctor. He was very nice. After telling him that it first started out hurting in two toes and now in three. The base of the toes on top hurts and on the ball, it sometimes feels that there is a pebble in it. He manipulated the foot. Nothing. He put his fingers on the ball of my foot and squeezed my toes together. Okay, now you have something. Pain. He sat back and said, "You have Morton's Neuroma" and explained it to me. He gave me a sheet of paper to read about it. Here is what Morton's Neuroma is "A neuroma is a thickening of nerve tissue that may develop in various parts of the body. The most common neuroma in the foot is a Morton's neuroma, which occurs at the base of the third and fourth toes. It is sometimes referred to as an intermetatarsal neuroma. "Intermetatarsal" describes its location-in the ball of the foot between the metatarsal bones (the bones extending from the toes to the midfoot). Neuromas may also occur in other locations of the foot. The thickening, or enlargement, of the nerve that defines a neuroma is the result of compression and irritation of the nerve. The compression creates swelling of the nerve, eventually leading to permanent nerve damage." Well then. So now what do we do. He suggested a shot of cortisone and inserts for my shoes. So a shot of cortisone, shoe inserts and I was out the door. I must go back in three weeks for a follow-up to see how things are working out. I guess I was expecting the cortisone to do something right away, but I still have pain when I walk.
I have read the paperwork that he gave me, but the bottom line is, I have nerve damage in my foot. There are many treatments to try, but eventually surgery will be needed. So now I know what is wrong and I go from there.
6 comments:
And did you tell him you walk barefoot most of the time? That might have some bearing on it. Now be good, and do what he says!
Good luck, sometimes cortisone shots take up to 2 weeks to work...that's what they told me a month ago when I had a shot in my ankle area. Keep wearing shoes.
OMG - I think you have just answered my internal question..."What is the matter with my foot?" I have the identical thing to what you described, has been bothering me almost all summer. I was attributing it to wearing 'bad' summer shoes, but better shoes hasn't helped. Will go to my Dr. now and check it out. Thanks for posting this - it's proof that any topic can be important to someone in blogland!
I’m sorry to learn of the nerve damage in your foot, but having the information will help you make appropriate treatment decisions.
Hugs and blessings,
Those shots HURT!!! Had two before shoulder surgery and they did nothing to relieve the pain. It just hurt like crazy!
Good luck on what you decide to do. If you're going to need surgery, get it done sooner rather than later. No sense waiting and dealing with more pain.
I've been looking into this foot thing more, as you no doubt have too, but here's what I found. A friend told me about an article in Prevention magazine about Morton's Neuroma, and how it was successfully treated with BenGay. One person said it even made it go away! Well, I tried BenGay and it did take away the pain. Then I treid another rub that was odorless, and it was just as good. However, I did have to apply it every few hours. Today I talked to my chiropractor, and he said, You don't need shots or surgery, but a) never go barefoot, even indoors b) always have good arch support, and recommended Crocs. c) if after a while there's no improvement, he can do laser treatments to zap it. Since reading your post, I've been paying more attention to what I do with my feet, and discovered I often sit at my office chair at the computer and rest the balls of my feet on the ends of the legs, and "hook" my toes around the ends, above the casters. Now that I think about it, how can this be good for hours on end!?! Anyway, thought I'd pass that along. Hope you get some relief!
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