Suffering with severe heel pain. Anyone else in my boat? Bad pain day

[Sissy]

thanks for the info.I just too 2- 650 mg. tylenol
the pain is so bad. and I walk up hill to get to my coops.
about 60-70 ft.from the house.

 

[Spudzville]

I agree with Rustyswoman. Look up Plantar Fascitis that is probably what you have. Get some good shoes with a good arch support and DO NOT walk around without some sort of arch support. Try wrapping an ace bandage around your arches at night, when I did that I had no heel pain in the morning.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Quote:
Glad to help. If you are taking Tylenol be careful of too much caffeine intake. They work together and can damage the liver.

I like Ibruprophen better, but that can damage your kidneys. However that is what the Doctors put me on. 600 milligrams 4 times a day or 800 milligrams 3 times a day with LOTS of water to flush the kidneys.

It has to be that dosage to equal a prescription anti-inflamatory. Anything less only equal a pain killer. And you need to get the inflammation down to help it heal. Always contact your doctor first and ask them if it is ok for you to take it. Sometimes certain medications don't allow or react to other medications

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Quote:

Yup Especially if they were in the military. All that training, all that muscle--that needs to be stretched and sometimes doesn't get it. Poor shoe quality can start it too. That's what triggered mine. I had a pair of OLD favorites that I wore too much.

 

[Southernbelle]

I've had plantar facitis. Stretching your muscles helped A LOT. The doctor explained that the muscle ran from the ball of my foot, over my heel and all the way up the back of my leg and I need to warm up and stretch that whole muscle. He also told me to always wear shoes because my feet needed the support. Anything with a slight rise on the heel takes pressure off the heel and would make me more comfortable.

My mom wore these and loved them: http://www.zcoil.com/index.php

 

[chicken_china_mom]

Thank you everyone for the great advice. I suspect it might be Platars Fascitis too. My aunt has been battling it for several years now, so figures I'd get something like that too, however I've been battling it for much longer than she has. I can't use Ace bandages cause I have a latex allergy. Same reason I can't wear my write braces for my Carpal Tunnel either. I am definitely going to try the stretching exercises though and see if those help some of the pain. I always wear shoes because the bottoms of my feet are so sensitive from when they cut the blisters off in the Army. They cut off all the skin on the ball of my foot, the bottom of my bog toe, and my entire heel, on BOTH feet. Plus more skin was cut off too where there was smaller blisters. It was the worst case of blistering I had had ever seen, and it left me with a lot of sensitivity in my feet. I haven't been able to wear a cheap pair of shoes in ages. I used to be able to go buy a $5 pair of slip ons at the store and use them for years, but after coming back from Basic, I've not been able to spend less than $30 on a pair of shoes ever since. I'll have to look into Crocs, see if those help at all. I'd like to finally be able to find a comfortable pair of shoes. I had to stay off my feet most of today because my right knee and hip were hurting so much, and then my left heel decided to act up too, so I took it easy. It's feeling better though after some ibuprofen and rest. I'm going to try the hand exercises for my Carpal Tunnel too, see if it helps. I have lost a lot of the strength in my hands, especially my right hand. I have limited use of my right thumb and I can't begin to tell you how many gallons of milk and tea I have dropped over the years and busted because I forgot and tried to carry them in my right hand. Good thing I'm left handed! Lol! I took a bad fall in 2003 that just compounded my other problems too. I tried to stop my then 4 yr old daughter from running on the slippery floor at a bowling alley, and I ran forward to grab her,p not realizing that the floors are as slick as ice ( I don't bowl much, and didn't have the shoes on that day, only my daughter did), and I immediately slipped and fell backwards, landing so hard on my back that my head cracked into the floor and actually bounced! Left me with whiplash, but no insurance at the time, so I couldn't go to the doctor, and after that I began to have limbs going numb, fingers, toes, etc., and now I just feel like I'm falling apart. Oh, and as for the Ganglion cysts, there are two kinds, the fluid filled ones, which dropping a heavy book on can help, and then there are ones where the underlying ligaments actually push up through the muscle walls and form hard lumps on joints like fingers, wrists, etc. I have the second kind. This is my 4th one. I had one on my left wrist that lasted about a year and a half, and I had one once before on my left wrist that actually dislocated my thumb, and I had one on the joint of my right forefinger, right where it connects to the hand. That one didn't last long though. This one is on my left wrist and it's been there for about 4 years now, give or take. I tend to lose track of time and just live with it. It's finally beginning to show signs of shrinking. If I could wear a brace on that wrist, it would help it shrink faster, but I can't handle the latex, so I have to wait for it to go away on it's own.
As soon as I can get some GOOD insurance, I plan to visit a podiatrist AND a chiropractor. I need them both! But in the meantime, I'm going to try those exercises. I'm going to go see if I can find some good orthopaedic shoes online. My mom says it's time I visit a place that sells good shoes, like Hush Puppies, or someplace like that. I think she's right. Thanks everyone for the wonderful advice. I'll keep reading this thread, see if maybe someone has more ideas to ease the pain. I'm so glad that there are such wonderful, caring people here on BYC.

 

[EweSheep]

Can you be on Medicaid for the time being?

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I have been diagnosed with plantar fasciitis (heel-spur syndrome) and I am a nurse. I recently had to go part-time as a nurse and take a full-time bridge tending job, relating to the pain in my feet. It helps to not be standing on them for almost 8 hours a shift.
If it is too bad your doctor can inject some lidocane and dexamethazone in your affected foot. That has helped me. It cost me about 180.00 for it though, but it got me to be able to work, and it gave me about 3 weeks of feeling almost normal. For some people it takes care of it period.
Also I would recommend you go to a shoe store that sells SAS shoes and get fitted by one of their people. My shoes costed me 147.00, but it was worth it. I now have a new pair just in case I need to work as a nurse, and I use my old pair to check my eggs. I don't even do my house work barefoot. I always have my shoes on, unless I am bathing or sleeping.
Sometimes I take tramadol for pain, but sometimes I apply Lidoderm patches when they really hurt. Of course, since I started with my bridge job, I usually don't hurt.
There are some recommended exercises. You can place your feet about 2 feet from a wall and stretch the Achilles tendon, by going forward, toward the wall, with your body. Also there is an exercise that is a lot harder to do than it seems. It is called towel curls.....you place a large bathtowel on the floor and put your heel against one edge and using your toes, you curl up the towel under your foot. I had to force myself to do that, because I found it so difficult.
And then you can soak your feet. It would seem like you would want to use hot water, but actually cold water is better.

 

[chickaddict]

I suffered from plantar fascitis, I thought it was from spending 8-12 hours a day on my feet. Come to find out it was from SLEEPING INCORRECTLY. I sleep on my stomach which means my feet are extended all night. Every morning when I got out of bed I would tear my achilles tendon simply by standing up. After about 2 weeks of sleeping with my feet hanging over the bottom of the bed I was fine.

That was 2 years ago - no problems since.

Just so you know - the doctors were talking surgery. My 20 year-old niece was home for the holidays. She is in college for sports medicine. On christmas eve she said to me, "ya know it just might be the way you sleep" and lo and behold she was right.

saved me from surgery - LOVE THAT GIRL

 

[chicken_china_mom]

More exercises to try, I like that. I'm going to see if maybe doing a combination of them will help ease some of the pain. I hate the thought of wearing full shoes with Spring and Summer coming. I like my feet to be as free as possible. For the last few years I have found the Earth Shoes sold at WalMart to be pretty comfortable, but not for long, and not every style. I felt better this afternoon so I took a walk to the other end of town to go throw out the garbage (our car died so now we have to walk it. Other end of town is only 4 blocks away, and the dumpster is actually 3 blocks away, give or take), so I walked it twice cause the garbage piles up fast, and I needed it out of the house. I felt ok the first trip, but by the second trip, I knew I was going to be sorry when I got back to the house. I still had to stand and get dinner in the oven and do the dishes, but the pain was getting so bad that I had my younger daughter watch the food and take it out when it was done so I could get off my feet. She gave me another of her magic massages ( I tell you, the kid has a future in massage therapy! And she's only 10!!!), and it feels better. Still hurts like heck, but I can limp around to where I need to get to. I definitely need new shoes, ones with good support. My hip feels somewhat better too, but I'm going to take some more ibuprofen before I go to bed so that the aching doesn't keep me up half the night like it did last night. Sometimes I swear I am falling apart! I'm going to try and find a store selling SAS shoes around here. One of my main reasons for returning to college was so that I could get out of retail, where I do spend most of my time on my feet, and into something where I can use my brain more, and my feet less. Something where I can SIT! I'm tired now, so I'm going to practice some of the exercises first thing in the morning, see if I can't gently begin to stretch the ligaments. Should I take ibuprofen before I try them? Or just practice them regularly? I cringe at the thought of the burning and stabbing pains I will feel, but if it helps any, I'll try it! Thanks everyone! And again, any more therapeutic exercises, let me know. I will try them all until I find something that works!