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My Aching Foot

You know I have two speeds:  Full speed and a dead stop! I’m at a dead stop and I’m the worst patient in the world. I keep telling myself that there are people who have felt worse and had small, demanding children at home, or they had to go to work with a smile on their face, or .. many go through much worse knowing the outcome may not be good so I’m trying to be thankful that my sickness is temporary.

Part of being a bad patient means that I wait and wait and and wait before going to the doctor.  For months my right foot has been hurting, sometimes worse than other times but almost always hurting. I must be walking weird because my hip had recently started hurting too . . to the point that I really was having a hard time walking.

A few months ago I went to a podiatrist out of town, who x-rayed my foot and explained that I have a lot of arthritis, and the cartilage was gone between the bones and I’d eventually need surgery but hopefully, an insert in my shoe would help. No flip flops ever again. For these few months, I’ve been wearing tennis shoes with the insert and my foot has continued to get worse. I realized there’s a podiatrist here in town so I saw him yesterday. He also x-rayed my foot and took pictures of my ankle because it’s been hurting lately too. He told he didn’t see much sign of arthritis but he felt from the symptoms, tapping and poking, that it’s an inflammation problem and he gave me prednisone.

Therein lies the problem. Even taking it with food like the pharmacist recommended . . I am so sick.  I’ve had three pills . . and am hoping the worst is the first day (when I have to take 6). There has to be something I can eat that will stay down but so far . . it hasn’t been anything I’ve tried. I stay up 10 minutes and sleep for 3 hours; up for 10 minutes and sleep for 3 hours. 

OK . . now you know I’m really a big whiner!

The good news is:  My foot feels so much better. I’m not sure if it’s the 3 prednisone pills I’ve taken or it’s the fact that I’ve been in bed most of the day. More good news is Vince will be home soon and I think I’ll feel better just having him here by my side.

I’ll be better soon . . I just hope I can go to my spinning class on Saturday.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Judy try putting them in applesauce. I take 20 mg of predisone every day for arthritis. How much are you taking?

  2. I am so sorry you are having so much trouble with the medication that is supposed to make you feel better. But meanwhile, enjoy those 3 hours of sleep, it could be that you need the rest.

  3. Judy, I feel your pain. Several years ago I had to take prednisone and it did not agree with me. I was a “space cadet” – my head was spinning, I felt “antsy”, and couldn’t get comfortable. Thank goodness I only had to take it for 10 days and after the 1st 2 days, the dosage became smaller and smaller. It did help my problem, but I said I would never take it again and luckily I have not had to take it again! Feel better soon.

  4. I’m really uncomfortable with the large difference between the opinions of your podiatrists. Even if you improve with the Prednisone, I’d want an MRI and a more accurate diagnosis. Prednisone is really hard on your system, and you only want to take it if there are no other options.

  5. I was having a the same problem and I found the shoe called vionic….they even have flip flops….you can buy inserts for 34.00….I received the inserts and put them in my tennis shoes and it was a miracle. Check them out and read about what other people say…..

    • That’s what the doc in Abilene recommended and I bought several pair, as well as the inserts but so far, I’ve had no improvement with them.

  8. It’s never fun feeling sick…. Hope you’re feeling tip-top and back on your feet soon!!

  9. Prednisone works fast! I used to have to take it for dental issues when they flared up, and within hours, I would feel better. Since it’s only for a short term, I never worried about taking it. In fact, I usually only took about half and then quit, but that fast relief is worth anything to me.

    • Prednisone is definitely a med I won’t stop til taking the full doze. Speck has been on and off it for the last few years and I always tell Vince .. it’s rough on him so be patient with him. I don’t even stop his til he’s finished the full dose.

      It definitely works fast. I’m not pushing my luck and over using my foot but it seems perfect today.

  10. Maybe see if can get something to coat your stomach first. I take cycote to coat mine due to problems too. Also maybe get injections in the foot where the inflamed part is. I’ve got bone spurs and they inject the spots around them. Certain shoes seems to cause problems when they do they go to OFF TO GOODWILL.

    Like others I would get MRI to see exactly what the problem is since you’ve gotten 2 different opinions.

    Now get better I can’t wait to hear abut spinning class.

    • The meds I’m taking now have made a huge difference. My foot really isn’t hurting at all this morning and I have full range of motion back in my ankle. I don’t really see the need to have an MRI if the meds solve the problem. In my opinion, a lot of diagnostic tests are over used and that’s one of the reasons our medical costs/insurance is so expensive so I’m going to give the meds time to work.

  11. Hope your feeling better today. I think though i’d skip spin class….give that poor limb a rest. Rest my friend…and KNIT that always keeps my mind off my pain or discomfort. That is if you can stay awake. Sending my prayers and best wishes.

    • I’d really like to try the spinning when my foot is at different stages of “hurt” so I can see if the spinning makes it worse or has no affect on it. I asked the doctor and showed him the motion I’d be making and he suggested I not try it 10 hours per day but said he didn’t think a few hours a day would cause a problem. I’d rather know before buying a wheel if it’s going to be a problem. In fact, I wish I’d been able to try the spinning before taking the meds just to see if it exacerbated the problems.

      Thanks for the prayers.

  12. Sorry to hear about your painful foot. I remember you wrote about being bitten by a spider – I wonder if that affected you more than you thought? Could it be a delayed or related reaction? I can’t remember which foot it was but it might be worth mentioning to the doctor if it was the same one.

  13. For got to add, but when you said spinning, I immediately thought of those cycling classes, not spinning fibers. Ha, ha, ha, ha.

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