Podiatrist procedure made it worse?

Posted by Steve @stevebern, Feb 12, 2023

Hey guys, I’ve got neuropathy in my feet, completely numb but very painful.

I noticed a couple of wounds on my feet, went to podiatrist, and he cut off the tops of the blisters/contusions because he said they were soon to be infected.

He also cut/pulled off a toenail that was black. All the wounds have healed nicely and are now gone.

None of this hurt as he was doing it, but the next day, and for the last three weeks, the pain has stepped up in both feet, all over, two or three points (out of ten).

Has anyone else had a trauma like this that made the overall pain worse?

I don’t blame the doc, the wounds were pretty nasty, but I’m now wishing for the pain level I had before this… and wondering if it will it go away. Neither my neurologist nor my podiatrist have said they’ve heard of/experienced this.

Thanks,

Steve

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@stevebern

Mine started almost 7 years ago as pins & needles, and a sensitivity to first socks, then shoes and has progressed to enough pain that I had to stop working last year.

They don't know what caused it, and there's nothing I can do... but one thing I would do, knowing now what I do:

I would travel to every item on my bucket list, walk the english fields and see the sights of the world... because I sure can't do that now.

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@stevebern—I hope you can revise your bucket list, and look at several of the travel sites for those of us with disabilities. Travel is still possible, even with pain, and a diminished mobility. If a wheelchair will make it possible, roll on! Just a thought that I am working on for me and my husband for the future.

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@mannyk

Hi Steve.
I had both large toenails removed and lived happily ever after with no issues . It looks clean and good but the neuropathy symptoms like the stabbing now and then and the intense numbness are still there.
. I massage my feet with CeraVe cream at night and in the morning also I soak my feet nightly in hot water with a couple of ounces of Epsom salt.
Also, use it before bedtime 20 minutes of infrared light shoes and the same in the morning.
I do workout at the gym every day for one hour.
I am 84, walking with a cane for balance and life is as good as I allowed it to be.
Pace.

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Hi MannyK
Looks like you do many things. Are they actually helpful? What is you didn't do one or none of them? Would you see a difference? It's great your able to work out an hour a day. There is so much suffering with u senior citizens. We have to have hope.

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I had one toenail edge removed because of pain. It took time but did heal.

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@efgh1020

@stevebern—I hope you can revise your bucket list, and look at several of the travel sites for those of us with disabilities. Travel is still possible, even with pain, and a diminished mobility. If a wheelchair will make it possible, roll on! Just a thought that I am working on for me and my husband for the future.

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Hi @efgh1020, I’m sorry I never saw your response from last year… have you done any traveling since?

My wife retired in October of 2023, and we have made it a point to travel someplace once a month, even if it’s a short 2 hour drive.

I’ve used wheelchair service at two airports, and there’s no way I could have done all that walking. The drives are painful beyond belief, but I have medical marijuana when we arrive at a hotel or destination to give me relief enough to lay down and sleep.

But I don’t see how I can ever go on a hike in the English countryside, unfortunately.

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@stevebern

Hi @efgh1020, I’m sorry I never saw your response from last year… have you done any traveling since?

My wife retired in October of 2023, and we have made it a point to travel someplace once a month, even if it’s a short 2 hour drive.

I’ve used wheelchair service at two airports, and there’s no way I could have done all that walking. The drives are painful beyond belief, but I have medical marijuana when we arrive at a hotel or destination to give me relief enough to lay down and sleep.

But I don’t see how I can ever go on a hike in the English countryside, unfortunately.

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Hi, Steve,
Yes, in October, 2023 we traveled first class to Minneapolis/St.Paul directly with Delta from Bradley Airport in Hartford. (We live in RI, but looked for a direct flight.) I called ahead of time to request my manual wheelchair be put in the cabin. That was done and the wheelchair assistants at both ends of the flight were great. (There was a transfer from my wheelchair to an aisle wheelchair before getting on the plane, and from the narrower aisle chair to my wheelchair after the flight.)
In late February 2024, we again traveled using American Airline points to Sarasota Airport with my manual wheelchair and that meant a layover and delay in Charlotte, NC. A friend met us in Sarasota and drove us to our rental condo in Venice, FL.
My brother drove our accessible van and power wheelchair down to us in Venice, and he and his wife visited with us for a few days. They flew back and under duress accepted our payment for their flight. On the return from Florida, my son and his daughter flew down on our dime to Sarasota, stayed a few days with us, and drove us to our flight in Sarasota to Providence, RI. They then drove the van with the power chair back to Rhode Island.
We had great weather in Florida, an aquacize class I was able to get in and out of the pool for, and meals with friends we had not seen since March of 2020 —the start of the pandemic.
There were a lot of moving parts and helpful friends and family to make the trip as enjoyable and accessible as it was. My husband also talked a few times with the condo owner before we traveled to insure the accessibility of the place. We moved a rug when we got there, and improvised a little, but it worked.
In September, we will travel again by plane, this time to Pensacola, Florida. We will be at a conference in a hotel there, and will book an accessible room. Again, we will take the manual wheelchair on the flight and ask for it to be put in the cabin. (Mobility devices are supposed to get dibs for cabin closets.) This required me to give the serial number of the wheelchair and its weight and dimensions. The serial # was on the chair and the weight and dimensions can be found for my and your specific chair online.
That’s my travel story so far. I like the idea of your taking regular road trips. (If the pain is too much, would an hour work better than two hours?)
Getting there by plane was not half the fun before my neuropathy hit, and it is more complicated now, but in our opinion, it’s worth the extra effort.
Let me know whatever works for you, Steve,
Eileen

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