Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

@summertime4 I had the surgery in 2012. My memory is about shot... so much other stuff has happened in between then and now. .. a lot of anesthesia that caused some memory loss. My best guess is 4-6 injections over about 3 month period... I think they were DEPO-MEDROL (methylprednisolone acetate), but not positive. Most of them not painful. It got to where I could barely walk a few feet. If I had known about physical therapy back then I would have tried it before surgery. It took about six months to recover from surgery. After surgery for such and such time you cannot put any weight on your foot and then it is like 10 minutes allowed so many times a day. Sitting with foot elevated is just no fun. I had to use my recliner and a couple of pillows under my leg.. I slept in my recliner for a while. I am a get up every 30 minute and move around person.. hard for me to sit still.

With this last neuroma I had more injections than I can remember over about a 9 month period .. with promises of an mri ordered from my podiatrist... before I gave up and went to a orthopedist that gave me the worst injection ever.. so gave up on him and found a very good podiatrist in another town. (it pays sometimes to ask friends for recommendations... especially a nurse)

No more injections... just getting to the correct physical therapist. In addition to the pins with tens machine attached he also used some torturous looking tools to help stretch out the muscles that had tightened with the pain. I had already had some numbness in my outer side of foot from a herniated disc in my back in 1993. My middle toe has no feeling except for the very tip.. really weird. The rest if my foot I feel. Sometimes I have the pin and needle sensation throughout my foot.. especially if I forget to put the cream on the top of my foot at night. I plan on keeping up the PT as needed and a and surgery as long as possible.

@fourof5zs Thank you for the info. I am not planning on repeated cortisone shots. I know how painful they were in my knew and the foot and hand are bad. I may allow the predisone as I hear it is not bad and does help. He gave me the med pack which is predisone steroid and that helped sooo much but can't do that often. I also have neuropathy and am referred to physical therapy. I haven't started because I wanted to hear what the podiatrist had to say on Wednesday. I love water therapy. I am so tired of pain, swelling, cramps, crying, depression. Al on here know all about it. My sister suggested a cream for neuropathy pain and swelling and I ordered off of Amazon. It is Topricin. She says it works. It just arrived and I am going to try it. Has anyone used this cream? I will let you know how it works for me.

@fourof5zs Thank you for the info. I am not planning on repeated cortisone shots. I know how painful they were in my knew and the foot and hand are bad. I may allow the predisone as I hear it is not bad and does help. He gave me the med pack which is predisone steroid and that helped sooo much but can't do that often. I also have neuropathy and am referred to physical therapy. I haven't started because I wanted to hear what the podiatrist had to say on Wednesday. I love water therapy. I am so tired of pain, swelling, cramps, crying, depression. Al on here know all about it. My sister suggested a cream for neuropathy pain and swelling and I ordered off of Amazon. It is Topricin. She says it works. It just arrived and I am going to try it. Has anyone used this cream? I will let you know how it works for me.

Let me know if the cream works for you. Just the aspercreme type cream helps,, but does not totally get rid of the pain. I guess mine would be considered neuropathy... burning, stinging.. sometimes what I call biting; a very sharp pain. It is weird to have pain and numbness all in the same area. I have to wear shoes or at least socks to help protect my feet. My right foot is the foot with the neuroma. My left foot I broke my little toe right at the joint a couple of years ago.. so arthritis there. I tripped and fell last September and I broke the toe again... now pain down the side of my foot. I have not made it back to the podiatrist to see what other damage I did.

My 91 year old mom lives with us.. It is very hard to take care of her. We tried a nursing home a couple of months ago and that just did not work for any of us. They did not take care of her well at all.. just basically sat her in her wheelchair and ignored her as much as possible... even when we were with her.. my husband and I had to do the taking care of her there. So rather do that at home. She is having a lot of burning pain in both her feet at night. The cream helps some, but she needs something better. Very difficult to get her in and out of our car. .. harder each time. The transport services are very expensive. I think I am going to have to make her a doctor appointment.. her pain in general is getting worse. She cannot take Lyrica nor Neurotin. She is on Butran pain patches. She has Type 2 Mobitz... slow heart rate... and other health conditions. I think some type of cream is going to have to be the answer. .. I just do not know which one.

@fourof5zs Good morning. You are inspiring in your efforts to give your Mom the very best care that you can. I just have a couple of suggestions. First, have you asked your mom's medical provider for recommendations. Is it possible for her to go to a pain clinic? And if I may, would you please tell me where you live. There may be other choices depending on your location. I am here for you. Find joy today. Chris

Let me know if the cream works for you. Just the aspercreme type cream helps,, but does not totally get rid of the pain. I guess mine would be considered neuropathy... burning, stinging.. sometimes what I call biting; a very sharp pain. It is weird to have pain and numbness all in the same area. I have to wear shoes or at least socks to help protect my feet. My right foot is the foot with the neuroma. My left foot I broke my little toe right at the joint a couple of years ago.. so arthritis there. I tripped and fell last September and I broke the toe again... now pain down the side of my foot. I have not made it back to the podiatrist to see what other damage I did.

My 91 year old mom lives with us.. It is very hard to take care of her. We tried a nursing home a couple of months ago and that just did not work for any of us. They did not take care of her well at all.. just basically sat her in her wheelchair and ignored her as much as possible... even when we were with her.. my husband and I had to do the taking care of her there. So rather do that at home. She is having a lot of burning pain in both her feet at night. The cream helps some, but she needs something better. Very difficult to get her in and out of our car. .. harder each time. The transport services are very expensive. I think I am going to have to make her a doctor appointment.. her pain in general is getting worse. She cannot take Lyrica nor Neurotin. She is on Butran pain patches. She has Type 2 Mobitz... slow heart rate... and other health conditions. I think some type of cream is going to have to be the answer. .. I just do not know which one.

Let me know if the cream works for you. Just the aspercreme type cream helps,, but does not totally get rid of the pain. I guess mine would be considered neuropathy... burning, stinging.. sometimes what I call biting; a very sharp pain. It is weird to have pain and numbness all in the same area. I have to wear shoes or at least socks to help protect my feet. My right foot is the foot with the neuroma. My left foot I broke my little toe right at the joint a couple of years ago.. so arthritis there. I tripped and fell last September and I broke the toe again... now pain down the side of my foot. I have not made it back to the podiatrist to see what other damage I did.

My 91 year old mom lives with us.. It is very hard to take care of her. We tried a nursing home a couple of months ago and that just did not work for any of us. They did not take care of her well at all.. just basically sat her in her wheelchair and ignored her as much as possible... even when we were with her.. my husband and I had to do the taking care of her there. So rather do that at home. She is having a lot of burning pain in both her feet at night. The cream helps some, but she needs something better. Very difficult to get her in and out of our car. .. harder each time. The transport services are very expensive. I think I am going to have to make her a doctor appointment.. her pain in general is getting worse. She cannot take Lyrica nor Neurotin. She is on Butran pain patches. She has Type 2 Mobitz... slow heart rate... and other health conditions. I think some type of cream is going to have to be the answer. .. I just do not know which one.

@fourof5zs I am so sorry to hear about your Mom. I could cry. I do not like to hear she is suffering so. I USED the TOPTICIN cream last night and this morning. To me it has helped immensely. Truly took the pail away. I just wok from a 2 hour, yes 2 hour pain free nap. Now I am not going to say "miracle" but it has helped so much. Of course I take a percocet but that is what I have been taking without this relief. It is sure worth a try. I ordered my from Amazon. I did not know they sold it in stores. My sister buys hers from their site and says she can good deals. I do feel relief. I think part is I am messaging it into my keg and foot and under my toes and foot and the message helps too. Prayers for you and your Mom.

@summertime4 ... thank you. Some days are very bad with her. This morning she was in tears she hurt so bad all over. I did heat on her knees and that helped. I gave her some tylenol. That helped too. She has an appointment with her doctor Thursday afternoon. Her oldest sister lived a couple of months shy of 99. She had 4 sisters and all died from strokes. Her 6 brothers died of either heart problems or cancer. My dad died of cancer in 2000 and my sister last year from cancer... she was the baby of us 5. I am next to youngest. My two oldest brothers live nearby, but are useless.. that is the saddest part... and the other lives in Washington state... far away but calls weekly. My husband is her son that does everything he can to get her the help she needs. I am 68 and have had many stomach and esophagus problems.. and of course the osteoarthritis in many joints. I have faith that all will be as is God's plan.