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To the group, I’m new here. I have suffered chronic feet pain for almost 11 years and have been to every single specialist, PT, functional doctor you can think of. I finally broke down and am going to Mayo at end of this month. No doctor here can figure this out nor do I think they’re inclined to. All the gabapentin, Lyrica, Cymbalta and even Vicodin when the pain is off the charts....nothing resolves this pain. I want a real diagnosis and not to be tossed prescription after prescription, some of which makes the pain actually worse and just isn’t worth it. I keep fighting the good fight but at this stage, I am incredibly weary of doctors. The thing that chaps my hide is that I have to pay an exorbitant amount of money out of pocket to go to Mayo. If my doctors here would just bother to all get on a conference call together and brainstorm, I’m sure they’d be able to find root cause. Our system just isn’t set up that way so I have to deal with realty.
Thanks for listening and am delighted to be here!
Replies to "To the group, I’m new here. I have suffered chronic feet pain for almost 11 years..."
@mrea Welcome to Mayo Connect. We are all patients, family members, caregivers here, and share our journeys with others.
Eleven years is a long time to have to deal with chronic pain! If you haven't already, writing down your pain history and what has been tried, along with success or failure, and when/how the symptoms affect you, will go a long way towards your new team helping you. It also helps you feel part of all the decision-making. It may point out patterns to them.
Which Mayo campus will you be going to? How can we help you today?
Ginger
@mrea what is the nature of the pain? Is is in one spot, like the bottoms of the feet, or all over? Is it bilateral (both feet) or just one foot? Your doctors should be asking you these questions. If it is bilateral it is, most likely, generated by the spinal nerves and a possible nerve pinch. It could be a sciatica (which is actually a symptom, but involves pinching the nerve either where it comes out of the spine or at the piriformis muscle (I have some sciatica)). Google the “dermatomes” and pain and you’ll see the pain might come from far away. Is it burning/tingling or electric pain (nerve pain) or a duller ache (more often muscles, etc.; different cause entirely - often myofascial pain). These are questions to ask / things to research. Stretching and exercise can help some of these conditions as can diet and adding supplements. I was able to get off nortriptyline with the right program (see my comments to others in this thread for specifics). Also, you most likely have pain sensitization going at this time which amplified the pain. Dr. Jonathan Kuttner has a book called “life after pain”. It is very readable. He also has various courses he offers affordably about how to retrain your pain system on his website “life after pain”. His techniques might help you dial down (and possibly eliminate) the pain. Good luck.
Connect
@mrea Hello and welcome to Connect! We are delighted to have you. Im sorry for your long journey of foot pain and sincerely hope Mayo brings you a clear diagnosis and path forward. Im sure you will find many relatedable stories through the various threads in this forum. Others life experiences and trials and tribulations are a nice compliment to medical care. I myself have Small Fiber Peripheral Polyneuropathy and will be attending Mayo's Pain Rehabilitation program in October. I'm on medicare and needed to choose an expensive supplement plan which allowed me out of network care at Mayo. Paying out of pocket .....OUCH! I wish you all the best as you prepare for hope and clarity for your future.
Be well
Rachel