Severe Breakout Pain in second toe

Hi Phillip
I went to New Kingdom Holistic Clinic in Burnsville yesterday. I was seen by a nurse practitioner who was incredible! Her name is Jessica Fashant-Peterson. Her phone number is 953-999-0333. Now they are out of network in terms of my insurance so I will have a higher co pay but as sick as I have been I really don’t care! Now they have many clinics but this one was the closest to me. I showed her my thyroid panel, list of diagnosis, talked about my recent Poly myalgia rheumatica diagnosis plus being on prednisone. She was quick in letting me know I need to get off all dairy and gluten. She said that the pain issues can also be from “ leaky gut” caused by gluten/dairy. List of supplements to order. Plan is to see her in six weeks.
Now with your issue, which is different you could call them and ask what provider would be knowledgeable about your issue so you get to the right person first. These New Kingdom clinics are staffed with nurse practitioners plus doctors. They must deal with lots of unusual pain issues as well. Most people that end up there ( I would think) are like us who have not found answers to their issues through ordinary ways. I guess you could say they these people are our last resort, but perhaps should have been our first resort!
She also, after reviewing my thyroid panel say that my body is not converting from T4 to T3. My primary told me the treatment to correct ( adding T3) would cause all kinds of health issues for me plus it is not very successful. She ( the nurse practitioner) called in a prescription for me for Armour Thyroid which I will pick up tomorrow at the pharmacy and begin. I am hopeful it will help as it has a combination of both T4 and T3. Now for several years I have been taking daily 50 mcg of Levothyroxine ( which is T4 only)

and I have not felt one day better, in fact I feel worse. At this point I am going for broke as I really can’t keep going down the rabbit hole of sickness and pain.
Sorry for jumping around here! I did a brief amount of research on your issue and actually found a few things. I will keep going as I only scratched the surface. We know that with your issues and mine, even though they are different there is an answer, The answer is just not easy to get to. What I have realized is that doctors shy away from people who are chronically ill. We are the never ending story of pain and suffering they can’t figure out and it is troubling for them. We are a lot of work. That’s where they drop the ball at times, and then in order to get well we have to do our own research. Unfortunately, we are suffering so much “researching” is too difficult physically and emotionally. I keep plugging along with reading something nearly every say and figure that one of these days I will find the answer. I will start back up tomorrow with your research as I might just find something that might turn the corner for you. I will communicate with you here and let you know what I come up with. Maybe I will be more successful than doing my own research as so far I have not found the “answer”. Oh, one thing this nurse practitioner told me is that most issues are not singular, they are multiple things all tied together so you have to approach the problems like peeling an onion, one layer at a time. That’s what we will do. Break it apart and see what happens. I am a Christian and certainly believe in the power of prayer and modern day miracles. I will pray for you daily and ask God to give you a complete healing. Thanks for responding to my post and let’s keep it going. Hoping a miracle or the “answer” to our issues comes swiftly! God bless you and hoping tonight you sleep well with no pain.

I do hope that the clinic that you went to can finally figure out how to successfully treat you. Pain is a life robbing condition as even on sunny days rather than seeing the sun shine it looks dark and gloomy. Nevertheless to those who are Christians can hold onto God’s promise that He will never leave us or forsake us! During those dark times in our lives we hold onto the promise that we are never alone! It is also very comforting to know that there are other believers out there who are praying for us. It lifts my spirits to hear that you are praying for me and I hope knowing that I am praying
for you will do the same for you. My granddaughter is attending Anderson University in Anderson Indiana and behind the college there is a cemetery and my daughter took a picture of my granddaughter standing next to the headstone of a man named
C.W. Naylor. The reason she did that was because she knew how much the songs that he wrote and books that he had written has been such a blessing to me. He was a man who suffered greatly and became bed ridden after a tent pole fell on him and later was in a accident. In spite of that the lyrics of his Christian songs has blessed me greatly. He authored books such as The Secret of The Singing Heart and The Secret of Being Strong just to name a few. Though he died before I was born his Christian testimony went way beyond his years. His suffering inspires me not to give up either no matter how much I suffer with pain. I will continue to fine answers to whatever is causing my pain, but if the answer never comes I will press on. I truly hope that you fine the answer to your suffering and hopefully the clinic that you went to will be able to help you. I will continue to keep you in my prayers. I am so thankful for this platform for it allows others to connect with people who have similar conditions to their own. While we might not find medical answers here there is great comfort knowing that there are
people who care and that is a form of healing all in its own.
God Bless,
Philip

Hi Phillip
I will write later as my ipad is going dead and it is past midnight.
Just a few questions though as I did some research tonight for a couple of hours trying to get myself familiar with your toe issue. Some questions when you feel up to answering:
1). What have been the diagnosis yiu have been given by podiatrists/doctors/ physical therapists?
2). what medications are you currently on for this toe pain if any?
3). What medications have not helped? What have helped, if any ?
4). Do you have any lower back pain?
5). Is your pain worse in the morning then gets better mid day?
6). Does laying down make the pain better or worse?
7). What MRI have been done on your feet or lower back?
8). Has anyone diagnosed you with an inflammatory disease or arthritis?
Ok will hit send as I am about to loose power here on the ipad

I really appreciate your concern and willingness to look into my condition further. I will try answering your questions in the same order in which you asked.
1. I have seen My family doctor, three orthopedic foot and ankle specialists, two podiatrists, four pain specialists, three orthopedic spine surgeons,a Neurologist and several doctors at the Mayo Clinic. Not one them have ever seen or heard of every other day intermittent pain that flares up like clockwork. Therefore I have not received a single diagnosis from anyone.
2. Gabapentin
3. Vicodin, Norco, morphine, Gabapentin, Lyrica, Cymbalta. None of them helped. Cortizone shots.
4. I’ve had a bad back for several years. I had a back surgery in 2003 for a herniated disc. In 2012 the orthopedic spine surgeon inserted a X-Stop into my spine, but that did not help much so I had a laminectomy without fusion in the same year. Two spine surgeons at the Mayo Clinic ruled out that the pain as being caused from my back as the pain is too Isolated to one single toe. They said if it was coming from my back there would be a broader pain pattern.
5. & 6. - 90% of the time my toe pain starts up between 2 AM and 3:30 AM. Standing up or laying down the severity of the pain is the same. Nothing helps and I suffer for 24 hours and then it stops for 24 hours only to start up again the next night. The intermittent pain is the most baffling part to every doctors for no one has a clue what makes it start or what makes it stop. The severity of the pain is so bad I simply cannot sleep during those episodes of pain therefore I am only able to sleep every other day.
7. The doctors have ordered MRIs of both my spine as well as my right foot.
8. I do have arthritis.
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One thing new that I am trying is seeing a physical therapist. Years ago I had a different Physical therapist name Kate and she told me of a lady who is also a physical therapist and in Kate’s opinion this lady can work miracles. I have been going to her for a few weeks now and I call her my Chinese torturer for she is relentless. This lady‘s name is Ethel and she told me that I have tried Western medicine and nothing has work so it’s time to try eastern medicine for that is 5000 years old. The things that she says and does doesn’t made any sense to me, but it this point I’m willing to try anything. I told you that my pain starts up like clockwork between 2 AM and 3:30 AM, but after seeing this lady on two occasions my pain started up at 6:30 AM and a different day it started up at 6:20 PM. That is clearly a change in the pattern of my pain, but that only occurred twice. I should also mention that a while back after seeing her I had a four day reprieve from pain which had not occurred in the past five or six years. Unfortunately it went right back to my every other day pain.
Once again I truly appreciate your concern and willingness to do research on my behalf.
Have a nice day!
Philip

You are a great historian! I think it is interesting that the pain took on s different time frame at least a couple of times.
Now I just read a scientific journal article about a young man suffering from lower back pain plus one singular toe pain ( second toe) like yours. Like you the doctors tried everything and nothing worked until he saw a physical therapist who figured it out. They were the entire time trying to put a "mechanical" reason to the pain. The patient like you had been seen by many doctors but unlike your situation was given many diagnoses...,all wrong. At first he was diagnosed through physical therapy and his primary as having a mechanical connection of pain and was given lots of exercises to do which did not help. Then amazingly they found/determined on a follow up that it was not originating from a mechanical source but an inflammatory issue! Now I have no idea if this is your issue, but it is good for thought as when I read through your message not one time did I see a medication for inflammation. He was first put on Indomethacin ( anti inflammatory) but it didnt work. Then he was put on Humira. It worked. Now i have this scientific article not sure how to put it on this message but if you like I can send it to
messenger or email.
I cant explain the rhythm of pain so if we can locate the "source" then we have made headway. My
messenger name is: Peggy Flagg. You can communicate with
me in these formats as well. Like I said, we will
just pull the situation apart like peeling an onion! I think after all the back intervention we can say the doctors cannot say it is caused from a mechanical issue,

Have you had an EMG to rule out damage to the nerves in your calves and feet? My initial neurological symptom of my Covid vaccine injury was pain in my big toe at night and tight calf muscles. This progressed to sensory and motor polyneuropathy detected by EMG (my first EMG was essentially normal). At 19 months, my nerve pain is now much improved.

Thanks for reaching out to me. I did have a EMG, but unfortunately being a diabetic the test was inconclusive. I find it interesting that you mentioned that you had a tight calf muscle because I have the same condition. My physical therapist has been working hard on stretching my muscles and tendons. Maybe there is a link to what is going on with me and my intermittent pain. Thanks again!

Do you know what triggered your neuropathy did you have trauma to your feet to your body infections or did you take an antibiotic like Cipro or levafloxin?
Those drugs cause severe side effects

Yes, I have had just 2 episodes of the toe pain you described. The first time, I went straight to the hospital, I was in so much pain , I was crying out every time it struck- it was periodic- maybe every 2 or 3 minutes and only seconds in duration. I was ignored by the staff and left in the waiting room for over an hour. I assumed there were others more needy than me. When I was eventually seen, the doctor told me to take Panadol and Neurophen every 4 hours. I took one dose, went to bed, slept and woke up fine. Next time, months later, I just took 2 Panadol. Then started on Mg supplements - haven't had it again!
Who knows? However, in seems that a fairly high dose of Mg significantly diminishes the leg , feet cramping at night for me. Hope this helps

I have burning and puffy feet and painful legs . My sensory issues started 1 month after autonomic issues. Also developed ice pick like pain in my rt shoulder and now it's starting in my left shoulder 8 months later. Rheumatoid factor over 100. I'm blaming an autoimmune issue from the metal in my hip it all started 1 year after I had it put in.