Got feet?

[pbray]

As anyone who has read my books suspects, I've had issues with my feet for years. (Go ahead, count up all the times my central characters worry about their feet. It's not something I do deliberately, but despite my vigilance it keeps creeping in there.)


My left foot began hurting for no apparent reason on Sunday. I was literally just sitting around and when I stood up, the left heel hurt as I walked. I chalked this up to my arch being loose in my shoe. Went home, took my shoes off and figured it would be better on Monday.

It wasn't better on Monday. I limped, but did my normal routine, including a half-hour walk at lunch. My foot hurt by the end of the day, so I took it relatively easy Monday night. Tuesday morning I woke up, and what started as slightly painful became increasingly painful throughout the day. Like an idiot I still did my lunchtime walk, which proved to be a mistake as the foot pain worsened throughout the day. By the end of the day I was walking on my toes. Went home, put foot up on couch, which helped some, but it was still aching when I went to bed.

Woke up this morning and my foot felt better, but with each step I took it reminded me that it wasn't happy. After a few minutes I reverted to walking on my toes again, which is how I made it in to work.

I had a vague idea that this might be a heel spur, but Googling indicates that heel spurs are general more painful in the morning and the pain lessens as the muscles in your foot loosen up. My problem is the opposite--rest makes it feel better but walking makes it worse.

I wouldn't be half so peeved if I knew what had caused this--too vigorous hiking, a bad jump, stepping on a sharp object, anything. But having the pain come out of nowhere seems unfair.

Comments

[shana.livejournal.com]

It sounds like what happened when I broke a bone in my foot.

At least in my case it wasn't a weight bearing bone.

Get thee to a podiatrist, stat!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

In a strange coincidence I already I have an appt next week, but may call to see if I can move it in.

[shana.livejournal.com]

I was in a cast and on crutches for three months.

The forearm-grip crutches are the way to go if you have to do crutches. They're great for building upper body strength and getting rid of the flab under your arms. And the arm grips mean you can do things like unlock your door without dropping the crutches.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Yikes!

I broke a bone in my foot in a Tae Kwan Do sparring match several years back--the damage was compounded by the fact that I didn't stop when I was injured but kept on going, something that my podiatrist later lectured me about :-) ("Patricia, pain is a sign that something is wrong. Intense pain is a sign that you should stop what you're doing. Discovering that your toes were stuck pointing in different directions was a clue that you needed medical attention.")

Luckily for that I simply had my foot strapped up and had to wear the infamous wooden shoe for about two months until it healed.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

Ouch!

I don't wish to alarm you, but when that happened to me, it turned out that I'd had a tiny, sharp bit of glass (from a broken something-or-other in the kitchen, presumably) embedded in my heel for a period of weeks. You should get it looked at.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Uh-oh, that sounds nasty.

I am scheduled to have my foot looked at next week anyway--if it's not feeling better I may call tomorrow to see if they can move the appt up for me.

In the meantime, I limp faster than most people walk. Go me!

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

Definitely have it looked at.

I just went shoe shopping. The mismatched suckers have been ordered. Then have to make sure they fit, then back again for the lift, then might need another visit.

Unless you just wanna be like me, take care of you tootsies.
(Not that I didn't, but it's a great threat, isn't it?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you did take great care.

And yeah, everyone has convinced me that I ought to call the podiatrist tomorrow. Wishing this away isn't helping. Fortunately I've had the same podiatrist for years, so I know I can trust him, even if I do suspect there will be a lecture in my future about not waiting for four days to call his office :-)

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

Well, it wasn't as nasty as it could have been, in that I succeeded in pulling it out myself with tweezers and it (miraculously) hadn't got infected or turned green or anything. But it hurt like a [expletive deleted].

A trick I learned while working in a podiatry clinic when I was 16: if you can isolate the pain to a particular spot, and if you happen to have a set of insoles hanging around, you may be able to relieve the pain a bit by cutting a hole in the relevant spot in the insole for that foot. (That's what they do as a temporary measure for heelspurs; to actually fix heelspurs you need surgery, so here's hoping that's not what you've got...)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Sounds worth a try!

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

It certainly does!
I do hope it's not heel spurs.