Severe Breakout Pain in second toe

@luann262 That sounds really painful. I've had sudden cramps in my feet and toes but nothing similar to what you are describing that comes and goes every 7 or 8 days. Is the pain on to top of the foot in the second toe or on the bottom of the foot in the second toe?

It sounds similar to the symptoms of Metatarsalgia - https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/muscle-bone-and-joints/conditions/metatarsalgia

Thank you @johnbishop ! It is on the top of the toe. That link was interesting! Not the bottom of the foot however. Just had an mri by a new podiatrist and he ruled out anything he could see - I do have bursitis and arthritis in my toes but nothing pointing to this severe pain! It started yesterday afternoon and didn’t sleep much - still bad today 😫

Every once in a while, i get a stabbing pain in my big toe towards morning. I've been told it is from my neuropathy. A friend also had it badly and was told that he could have the nerve under his toe cut to stop the pain.

YES, and ice picks is how I describe it, too. I get it all over
both of my feet, so amputation sounds great, but....

Today I felt like I had STRONG, painful electric shocks
to big toe, but more in the little toe, ouch!!

It is the worst part of aging for me.

I feel your pain, huge empathy from me to you.

Yes - several of my toes - the pain breaks through the meds. I asked my neurologist if they could be amputated. She said yes but ... it would start again at the new endings of the nerves, in my foot near my toes.

My doc has given me a new med: extended release gaba from a mail order pharmacy, 600 mg. I'm trying it. I was under-medicated for the first few days of starting out with 300 mg - it was horrible - like I was being electrocuted slowly. My body also felt hot on the inside (different from the 'standing in a bonfire' pain that a lot of us have described) but I had no fever - it was another illusion of being hot without actually being hot.

his condition that we have is what I struggle with daily and nightly. Peggy

Burning help
If anyone has pain on the tops and sides of their feet, I did find a numbing cream that helps me.
This is not for the internal stuff, just for outside. I don't know if it is a neuropathy thing, or not,
but sometimes the sides of my feet or the tops of my toes, burn, just weird, as neuropathy is
altogether.

My uncle was in the battle of the bulge, in WW2, and his feet were frozen, they turned black,
those guys only had shoes, not boots, in deep snow, if you can imagine.

When he passed away, he willed me all of his LMX 5% cream. I get from Amazon. Try a
small tube if this rings any bells for you. Not cheap. They also have some less $$
numbing cream.

Good luck everyone

I am a 70 year old man and I have suffered with intermittent chronic pain of my second toe every other day. While toe pain sounds trivial I can assure you that it is not, for it has robbed me of any quality of life. The pain feels I am being stabbed in the toe with a ice pick or stung by hornets over and over every few seconds and the pain lasts for 24 hours. Since the pain is so severe I can’t sleep therefore I only sleep every other day which makes life unbearable. My pain usually starts between 2:00am to 3:30am and will last until that time the next night and then stops and I am totally pain free until it starts back up again 24 hours latter. I have seen over 20 doctors and specialists and none of them has been able to diagnose the source of the pain and all of them are baffled as why the pain starts or stops like clockwork. The regularity of this pain has gone on for over 5 years! My wife told me today that she was looking over her prayer list of people that she had prayed for over time and her journal was dated 2008 and it listed her praying for my suffering of toe pain clear back then. I always thought my toe pain started over 15 years ago and that proved it and as I remember it flared up only once or twice a week back then. Over time it has only increased in the frequency of pain to where it is now. Things that I have tried, NSAIDS, Vicodin, Norco, morphine, gabapentin, Lyrica and Cymbalta. I have had Cortizone shots in my foot as well as directly in the joint of the toe. Earlier this year a pain specialist did a RFA ( burned the nerves) at the base of my toe and when that did not help he burned the nerves again without any relief. My family physician wondered if possibly my brain was sending pain signals when there wasn’t any physical reason to do so. He assured me that he didn’t think I was crazy, but he told me that he wanted to try a psychotic drug to see if that might help, but all that did was send me to the emergency room. I am at my wits end not only of pain, but sleep deprivation as well and while my condition may not be life threatening it surely is life robbing! I must conclude be saying this, since I mentioned my wife’s prayer journal of nearly 15 years ago I did so as a point of reference of the length of my suffering. Since I am still suffering with pain I in no way trying to doubt the power of prayer. I hope that my post will be seen and hopefully someone might have some insight as to my condition and a form of treatment.
God Bless

This sounds terrible! I am so sorry. The pain is bad enough then coupled with the lack of sleep which is the quickest way to break down a person. ( Sleep deprivation is the first thing they do to torture someone in a POW camp).
Just after reading your post a few times I am wondering if it is like your primary said, like phantom. We hear of people having a limb amputated and they still feel pain in that limb. You have certainly tried everything imaginable to get help. I wonder if you might get some relief by positive mental imagery. Before I sound like a real kook go to Amazon Prime and google the documentary called “Heal”. Watch it a couple or more times. Let’s talk. I have been diagnosed with Poly myalgia rheumatica in June. I still cannot get out of pain so after watching this movie/documentary I started doing the positive mental imagery. Now I just started so I-cannot tell if I have benefited from it yet. I also bought a book on Amazon called “ The Power of Your Subconscious Mind” by Joseph Murphy. It is less than $6.00. It supports

the belief that our minds are powerful and can alter the reality ( like pain).
I am a registered nurse and had to quit working four years ago with shortness of breath and fatigue. I still am unable to work and do about 3-5 hours of research reading scientific articles every day and still cannot get free of pain. I am going a New Kingdom (holistic clinic) Tuesday to see if the can help me. They have many offices but I will be going to the Burnsville clinic. I will let you know how things go. They might be able to help both of us. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? In the meantime, I will be praying for you daily as I believe in miracles. Hang in there. I will do some searching around on your issue and see what I can come up with. God bless!

Hi @pgross530, I thought you'd appreciate this related discussion:
- Severe Breakout Pain in second toe: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/severe-breakout-pain-in-second-toe/

I moved your post here so that you can read the previous posts and connect easily with members like @cookiegirl1944 @luann262 @pfbacon @aquamarine4220 @raebaby @johnbishop and others.

I can understand your being at your wits end. Pain in a toe may seem insignificant, but it's not. Speaking of journals's, while your wife's prayer journal gives you a point of reference for the length of time, have you ever considered keeping a journal to monitor the patterns of your pain, what triggers it and what helps?

Thank you for reaching out to me my name is Philip and I am the man suffering from intermittent every other day 2nd toe pain. Thank you for offering to do research on my condition. After years of searching the internet and questioning doctors I have not found anything about my condition. I truly hope that the holistic clinic that you are going to tomorrow will be of help to you. I also appreciate very much you offering to keep me in your prayers and I will do the same for you. I definitely believe in the power of prayer and while we may not always understand why some prayers seem to go unanswered in due time we will come to understand. Let me know how your appointment goes tomorrow.
May God Bless You
Philip