General Chat

Hi,
I have Plantar Fasciitis. I have been on painkillers for the past month. The pain is still there when I walk or stand for any length of time. When I first get out of bed the shooting pain is awful.
I have the docs. tomorrow.
I wondered if anybody else has had this and what courses of trea\tment they went through. Did it work and how long will the pain be there.

Suex

In the Take a Break magazine, issue 1 of this year, is a letter from someone saying her sister can walk fast for hours but when she walks slowly her feet start to burn and she has to stop. Her doctor has told her it is P.F.. She asks would it cause this pain and why does it happen only when she walks slowly.

The answer says: P.F. is due to inflammation of the ligaments that run beneath the foot. When you walk slowly, the muscles are more relaxed but this puts more pressure on the ligaments. Treatment options include stretching exercises, physiotherapy and cortisone injections.


I would imagine when you get out of bed the muscles are relaxed and so you put pressure on the ligaments, hence the shooting pain.

Sounds as tho you might need to learn some stretching exercises and do them before getting out of bed, and then walk fast everywhere to stop the muscles relaxing. Seriously, I hope the info above helps explain it a bit to you and hope the doctor will offer good treatment of some or all of the above suggestions.

I have some foot pain and arthritis in one toe and my ankles and sometimes it hurts to walk, and I hobble about like an old 'un!

Good luck at the docs,

Lizx

I have had this too.
A couple of times over the years.
It is very very painful, and often the worst pain comes on rising after resting.
Good luck Susan, just go with it... it will get better, but I found that there was nothing I could do to help myself.
Someone else may have some advice though.
Hope it goes soon.
Deanna X

My OH has it although his is getting better. I asked my chiropodist for advice and he gave him an exercise. Sit in a dining chair and put your leg with the bad foot across your lap, now pull the toes towards your knee, do this several times. He also said the best cure is rest which OH proved as it got better when he didn't walk on it, play golf etc. One thing he did as well was to full a bottle with water and put it in the fridge, then roll your foot across it. he also wore the gell insoles in his shoes and supports (cost £22) in Boots in his slippers.

I have had this very painful complaint. We had medication for ages which did not work. The my G.P. gave me a steroid injection. The actual injection hurts like heck, but once done and a couple of days rest - hey presto!! no more pain for over 8 years.

Good luck

Hazel
LW

Thank you everybody for your advice. I am wearing heelsoles already, what a neighbour had. They were brand new.
Mine came about walking. I was trying to get exercise and lose weight as well. That looks like the end of that method.
I will try the cold hot water bottle and the stairs.
I have just been told Jimmy White (snooker) suffered for years from this)
Sue

Hi If you can get to a Dr. who will do Botox injections. It reduces the pain

by about 70% and with advil, no pain at all. 4 injections in each heel

was all that was needed. That was 2 yrs. ago and no return since then.

Good luck. Edith

I am actually on Steroids, and if they helped, then I did not notice.
It will go though.
But I agree with all who have it.... it is so painful.
Deanna X

Doc gave me some stronger painkillers than Ibrup. but they don't always help. Also I have to be careful they don't give me ulcers or acid reflux. I was suffering from mouth ulcers though.
Thank you once again for all the advice. Its been good reading of others experiences.
My family don't seem to realise that it is as serious or painful as it is. They just think that it is a sore heel. Husband is now realising.
Sue

I do feel for you Susan, I had this a few years ago, got it when I was looking after my mum and having to run up and down stairs in bare feet since I didn't have slippers at her house.

If you have a metal or plastic hose attachment on your vacuum you can use it in place of the bottle of water. We have an extra attachment that we leave in the bedroom, I use it as soon as I get out of bed, just move your foot back and forth over it for a couple of minutes.

I also wear slippers that are not flat at all, in fact they are birkenstock type with a base that forms to your foot, they are great.

Liz is right about the walking fast bit. I used to work in a garden center and walked fast all the time. When I take mum out I shuffle along with her and almost always come home with sore feet.

Edith, I take advil too, usually the generic brand.

Teresa

I to have had this complaint and it is very painful. I had the injections and they did get better in the end. But even now I can get some pain and it also wakes me in the night somewhere on here I have got a thread about it I will see if I can find it.

Margaret

Its surprise me how many of you have suffered from this problem.
I will see what Doc suggests tomorrow and post back.
You have all been so helpful.
Sue x

UPDATE,
I went to the docs. She said to try the painkillers for another month. Carry on wearing the gel heel pads.
If no better in a month then go back. Suggested a steroid injection then but said that it is very painful to have it. I mentioned about a local anasthetic and she said that it would be painful.
She said that she has known "tough, strong men" reduced to tears having the steroid injection!!
Sue

Thank you for the tips Housework Fairy.
I have been doing the balancing on the bottom stair.
I think that it was the walking faster that did my foot in.
Whenever I walked to the bus stop or the shops I would walk along at a fairly fast pace.my husband would be (panting after a short while) trying to keep up with me. I still try and walk fast to the bus stop but once I get off the bus it starts hurting and that is it for the rest of the day.
Never mind semi old age is kicking in.
Sue x

You have my sympathies....I suffered from this 11years ago......spent weeks in agony, and in the end got OH to take me to A and E as I was convinced that i had a 6inch nail in the bottom of my foot or similar...it was at A and E I was told it was PF........

Waited months to see a specialist who gave me a Cortisone injection...right in the arch of my foot...when i asked him would it hurt, he simply said "youv`e had children havn`t you" yes 3 I replied..you`ll be fine he said.

I must admit the needle was huge, and the injection WAS given very slowly...but it was like a miracle cure...within a few hours no more pain and got what i considered to be "my life" back...the PF was so painful it seemed to dominate everything I did....

A few years later I got it back, not as painful as before but i went to the Dr`s to get a referal to the hospital, and luckily got an elderly Locum, who gave me the injection there and then { unheard of normally in this day and age} Though i believe years ago GP`s would give the injections. Occasionally It plays me up, but never as painful as the original episode, usually in the summer when I walk round a lot barefoot indoors.

Yes the Cortison Injection is painful, but it far better than the pain from PF, if you can get someone to give it to you, personally i`d go for it..


Nicky

So Houseworkfairy, they never did give you the cortisone injection then?

I really can`t understand that.....years ago they were given by GP`s for many things, frozen shoulder, housemaids Knee, etc and i think many things that were muscular related............. surely 1 shot of Cortisone is far better for anybody than a lengthy term on various prescription tablets that can often give side effects?

The original Specialist I saw offered it straight away, no alternative therapy, I only saw him the once......

I think mine was triggered off by chasing after my very quick then 4 year old across the sand down on our local beach...the tide was right out and we were out on the firmer sand with all the ridges on it, and as usual i was barefoot, it started hurting from that day.......... like i said earlier the pain was so intense I was convinced I`d trod on a 6" nail and that it was embedded up in my foot, its the only way I could describe the pain.......

If you are still having trouble with your PF, in fact anyone who is, rather than just accept this painful way of life I would pursue the possibility of a Cortisone Injection, yes it MAY NOT cure it, but what have you got to
lose??


Nicky

The doctor did say that she could give me the cortisone injection at the surgery. I suppose the pain of the injection would be better than day in day out walking around with a serious limp.
Sue

Sue .....Yes the pain of the injection will only last about 10 seconds....and afterwards your foot sort of contracts, but that bits uncomfortable not painful, ........think of it like childbirth.........very painful at the time, but the end result is worth it........

Houseworkfairy...... sorry you have an another underlying condition that prevents you having the injection without Anasthesia.............. fingers crossed for your lottery numbers to come up then!!!

Nicky

When I had a frozen shoulder I had a cortisone injection but was told they have to be given at just the right stage of things or they are useless.

Hope you can learn to cope with the situation while you do exercise and see if that helps

Lizx