Total Pageviews

Translate

Followers

Monday, May 9, 2011

Plantar Fasciitis?: Email Correspondence

I live in San Francisco and am a 59 year old woman in great shape. I retired a few years go because my mother's Alzheimer's

had gotten bad enough that she had to go into assisted living. She is pretty happy now. Before I had her hospitalized, she had been bipolar all my life, and it had caused a lot of problems for me.
Once hospitalized, her bipolar disease was diagnosed, and she was put on meds that instantly controlled it. In the past three years,

she has never been mean or angry once. I visit her daily, have her living near me, and we have become close and she is always kind and affectionate, even though her memory is shot and she often forgets I am her kid.

I have always been otherwise healthy. I am pretty athletic and go to the gym three to five times a week, or more, until this foot problem began. After a month in France the last few years, I came back with my feet suddenly hurting. The first time, the pain went
away after a few weeks. I had worn Crocs the whole month in France. This past year I also wore Crocs the whole month, and the pain started when I returned.


My doctor said it was plantar fasciitis and I saw a podiatrist who sent me to a guy who made me orthotics. They only seemed to make the pain worse, and I found it really hard to ice them often, especially after first getting up. I did a minimum of the exercises they told me about, but didn't go to the gym because it made it worse, especially the elliptical machines.

I got the special shoes they told me to get and so far have had the orthotics adjusted twice, but now the pain is terrible in my ankles and above. When I go down stairs, I suddenly scream sometimes because the pain is so bad.

I saw my internist while my podiatrist was away and he told me to stop using the orthotics which I have, but the pain is still there.

My internist looked at my feet and said the plantar fasciitis problem is caused because I have hallux rigidus. He made me an appointment with my podiatrist to discuss surgery on each foot.

I've been reading about the surgery and it sounds awful and not with very great odds of it curing the problem.

Please tell me what to do???? I have pretty high anxiety because I am my mother's trustee and have a lot of responsibilities andit is very difficult to watch her getting much worse, and I am close to many people at her home because no one visits them, so I have taken them on as friends. I'm living on a teacher's pension which is pretty amazingly low.





So I especially need to exercise to fight my insomnia and stress. These two foot problems are making working out hard, and I am due for my yearly vacation in July, because I need a break from Alzheimer's once a year or I start getting too depressed.

I was planning to do the hallux rigidus surgeries in the fall if I have to do them, but I just read your article about not doing the surgery. How do I know what to do????

Should I come in to see you?Janis
 
 
Janis, Hopefully we can initially start communicating my email until I get a handle on this. Do not even consider Hallux Limitus surgery if you have no pain in your big toe joints!! Please read the post on medical history taking and answer, then email, all the questions back to me. That will give us a better beginning focus. Go to REI and purchase a pair of the soft athletic red Sole inserts, heat them up if they bother you. If I do see you, they are extremely easy to adjust. I am putting this on my blog tonight. And we update with each email I receive from you. Let's get your feet back, or at least working in the right way again. Rich

http://www.drblakeshealingsole.com/2010/06/giving-good-medical-history-for-pain.html

PS Is there anything that does not make sense when you are contemplating Hallux Limitus surgery, on the most important joint in your foot, when you have had no conservative treatment on it?

1 comment:

  1. I have read your article, it is very informative and helpful for me.I admire the valuable information you offer in your articles. Thanks for posting it..
    Plantar Fasciitis Support

    ReplyDelete

Thank you very much for leaving a comment. Due to my time restraints, some comments may not be answered.I will answer questions that I feel will help the community as a whole.. I can only answer medical questions in a general form. No specific answers can be given. Please consult a podiatrist, therapist, orthopedist, or sports medicine physician in your area for specific questions.