Any of you guys want to play RN or MD with husband's symptoms?

[DDD]

I know some of you all are "into" medical stuff so thought I'd share and ask for opinions. My husband (who has been an 80 year old booty butt lately, by the way) was awakened at three this morning with "a sharp pain" on the top of his foot below his middle toe. It did not spread. It was not a foot cramp. There is no sign of swelling and no sign of redness or discoloration. That pain has reappeared on and off until late this afternoon. Changing shoes, and removing shoes, did not change the pattern. The timing was not consistent between the sharp pains but since four this afternoon it has only happened twice and with less severity. My poor PIA is a quiet man who does not often share info and is not a complainer.

I have told him that IF it continues that tomorrow he needs to head N to the medical facility that we use in lieu of local treatment. Local treatment is very "iffy" as most of the MD's have degrees from places that don't even show up on a map. Well, that's a slight exaggeration but almost true.

He has heart problems and takes a ton of medications. Both of us are assuming this is a side effect of his medications. I explored the internet and don't see anything that makes sense using the symptom checker.
Any ideas? DDD

 

[Hound dog]

Is this his only symptom? Or just the only one he's thinking to tell you about? (as in the only one bothering him enough to complain about)

Gout, perhaps? Sorry, that just popped right into my head. I'm under the weather with some weird stomach bug..........so I put it out there cuz I'm guessing it popped into my head for a reason. But then I haven't eaten all day and I'm feverish.........sooo......yeah. lol

With no other symptoms to go on.........it's best he have it checked out. It doesn't sound serious, but I'm guessing it's really bugging him if he's complaining about it.....so getting it checked out is a good idea.

 

[ThreeShadows]

When he goes to bed tonight ask him to describe his pain. If he says that he can't stand to have the sheets touch that toe, it's gout. Usually it starts in the joint between the big toe and the foot. Is he on hydrochlorothiazide?

If it is gout, his foot will swell up and become purple. I hope that's not it, when I had my attack I was visualizing cutting my toe off.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Funny, my first thought too was gout. Either that or.. a broken toe. At his age, if his bones are a bit "brittle", it can happen without any major "trauma". (At my age... they get broken because I run into stuff.)

 

[DDD]

I don't think it's gout. easy child/difficult child has had gout and the symptoms are really different. husband has this one sharp pain just on the top of his foot below his middle toe. I asked "is it pulsating?" "is it like a spasm?" "is it cramplike?" He can't pinpoint the description.......but it is comletely unusual for him to complain. DDD

PS: It's back.

 

[PatriotsGirl]

My husband said it sounds like a little broken bone in there...

 

[nerfherder]

Huh. I associate breaks in bones with bruising. Couldn't tell you how many times I've broken toes - and not from kicking boards, which never a problem, but training on carpetted mats on humid days - sometimes the toes don't want to keep up with the rest of the foot. Pop. Ow. Bruise. Swelling.

I get something like that occasionally, it feels like the bones just shift out of position, catch on a nerve or something, stabby stabby ow ow ow and it could be a few seconds or a couple hours before things shift back. I hope to hear what the doctor says.

 

[susiestar]

How does he describe the pain? Sharp, hot, cold, icy, stabbing, throbbing, ???

I haven't had gout or any experience with it. Does he have any history of nerve pain? That is what it sounds like to me. I get nerves that just sort of freak out or have hissy fits (whatever you want to call it) and send pain messages that have little correlations to anything actually wrong with my body. They are more common in my feet, lower legs, arms and hands, but can happen anywhere. Right now we are out of things to try for this as even pain medications don't really do anything for them. They just are. Some days i cannot walk because of this. Freaks husband and the kids out to see me scooting on my tush to the bathroom, but oh well, It keeps me from getting out the electric knife or the jigsaw and cutting my foot or leg off. Sometimes that seems like a rational thing to do, which is usually when I realize it had gotten really bad again.

For nerve pain, there IS medication. Lyrica or neurontin are now used widely for this and I know many who have had relief.

ANY sharp pain that recurs or lasts for hours is a sign that you NEED medical attention. We went through years of testing before the docs settled on a cause of nerve pain because they wanted to rule everything possible out first.

The only time I broke a bone was a toe and it didn't swell or bruise until about a week later. No clue why, and it was clearly broken but the doctor didn't do anything because of where the bone was. I jammed a toe swimming and somehow broke a little bone in the toe, or so they said. The pain didn't go away though.

 

[StressedM0mma]

Is he diabetic? If so, he could be having neuropathy isIt sounds like a nerve issue to me as well.

 

[Dixies_fire]

Diabetic or smoker creates bad circulation which can cause weird feet pain, going to sleep easily or whatever.

But there are more bones in your feet then your hands and sometimes they can easily move around in ways they shouldn't. Could tell you horror stories about people on their late teens and 20's in the army.

Or a blood clot. I've heard all kinds of weird pain coming from a blood clot.

If it continues I would take him in just to dismiss a blood clot is nothing to mess around with.

If he has a misplaced bone in his foot there probably isn't anything they can do except maybe give him a orthopedic shoe and tell him to stay off of it.

Just my 2 cent from living in a family of poor health and army time and a few hypochondriacs thrown in the mix.

 

[HaoZi]

Feet can also spread with age, so it could be all his shoes are cramping his feet and it's pushing things together in that spot or has moved a bone. If MD can't figure it out try a good podiatrist. I get pains across the tops of my feet with the wrong shoes (and almost all shoes are wrong for my wide feet, hard to be a small size and need wide sizes that stay on without laces but are acceptable for work).

 

[DDD]

Thank you all for brainstorming. No he is not diabetic and yes he smokes cigars...UGH!

He had no problems all night. Actually "slept like a baby" which is great. This morning he has had two of the stabby pains but they passed quickly. Still no sign of any problem when you look at the foot. He is not going out of town today unless it increases again. I'm not encouraging him to go because it is a two hour drive and I honestly don't think that the MD on duty would likely be able to do much except give an Rx which husband would not take. He is under the care of a team at Mayo in Jax for his cardiac problems and I'm sure he would not introduce a new medication into his regiment with-o their approval. So.....hoping it continues to wane. Don't worry, however, I'll keep my eyes open for any signs of change. Thanks again. DDD

 

[DammitJanet]

Im also thinking neuropathy but that can come on with age even without diabetes but you dont even have to be old because I have it. Okay Im semi old...lol. I also feel 80! My dad had neuropathy. Now Tony has pain in the tops of his feet from time to time but its all over the tops of his foot and I think its from when he does a different type of work that day. I doubt your husband is standing up for 12 hours a day or driving 4 hours a day.

 

[HMBgal]

Shot in the dark but Morton's neuroma? Not as horrible as it sounds but it does hurt in that area, although on the bottom of the foot area between the middle toe is more typical. But with nerve pain, it can transfer.

 

[DDD]

Hmmmmm...I just checked with husband and he told me that it has only bothered him four times today. It's "quick in and quick out". Thank you all for brainstorming. DDD

 

[busywend]

I am going to say he is low on some vitamin or something. Like the eye twitch means low on Potassium. Not sure which Vitamin it would be in a toe, but that is my only thought. Hope I am right, because it is simple. But, will at least require a blood draw.

 

[DDD]

Wend he gets blood draws every other week at Mayo. One of the things that they watch closely is is Vitamin K. It's amazing that they can tell if he "forgot" to take one of his medications AND they can tell if he ate spinach etc. which is great for me but on his "no no" list. Weird! DDD