Has anyone else experienced this? I was walking on beach in Maui and struck pinkie toe on very hard coral caked with mud. Toe hurt 4-5 day but then 5th foot bone aches, then joint where to and foot meet hurt and now 3rd and 4th metatarsal or foot bones hurt. My dr put me in a boot and made me non weight bearing which has helped but if I cheat my foot hurts again. He felt heat and swelling on the bottom of foot as well. Also, prednisone didn’t help as much as I thought it would. Thanks for any experiences, advice or suggestions
Doesn’t surprise me…so many small things trigger big things when you have PsA. And, the big things are hard to fix. I’m thinking the bump to your little toe started some OA. My foot doctor says most of my foot damage is OA resulting from the underlying PsA. I’d follow his instructions and baby it for awhile—icing, heat and elevating your foot are usually helpful. Unfortunately, once the damage sets in, you’re stuck with it.
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Doesn’t surprise me either, michelle. I haven’t had the exact same, but I did stub my big toe on a rock. What I got was toenail “fungus”. (Dr.'s diagnosis). Years later, and with a PsA diagnosis, I realized that was nail dystrophy from the disease. Another time I fell really hard on my tail bone. What followed were sore shins and feet as well as a painful tailbone. That didn’t make any sense at all until years later, when I was diagnosed.
I believe the technical term for that kind of reaction is “Koebner effect”: an injury sets of a chain reaction of PsA miseries. It could be inflammation, or it could be skin issues. So fascinating, this disease of ours! (Said with tongue partly in cheek.)
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A few years back I fell over and hurt my knee. As I could not for the life of me raise the knee up, I spent several days in hospital while doctors got quite excited about the somewhat complex tendon repair they were planning. Imaging had been inconclusive, but a knee that would not obey my brain was taken to indicate a torn tendon, end of.
I told them I had PsA till I was blue in the face. I referred to myself as a ‘bed-blocker’. I begged to be freed but a tiny glimmer of doubt stopped me from wheeling myself out of there. On the day of the planned surgery, I tried to raise my leg for the umpteenth time, and up it went. I was out of the hospital and on my way to the holiday I’d missed a few days of in record time. Conclusion: PsA makes injuries worse.
Just remembered - also hurt my achilles tendon the last time I played squash. Again, the impact was such that it was assumed to have popped, but in fact it had not. The PsA dx arrived not long after. Came to the same conclusion as above.
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Sybil, this response is helpful. I saw podiatrist this morning and the dr thinks I’m making progress but states there’s inflammation in the bones, as in INSIDE the bones. Swelling’s gone way down but he thinks my rheumy will need to be involved in the inflammation component. I’m glad my gut was right in the PsA being a factor. I keep learning about this condition the longer I have it. I hope you’re well.
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Seenie, I know of your training and I take what you say as fact. Before the foot thing, I was in a car accident injuring neck, back, hip and shoulder. This may have really set the cascade in motion as it happened a month prior. I’m still in pain from it. I’m off mobic, mtx, cimzia and prednisone all of which gave me my life back. I’m happy you could validate and explain what’s happening. Thank you.
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I know what it’s like to be suffering in the dark! I was in the dark for at least fifteen years, and by the time I was properly diagnosed, I was convinced that the problem was between my ears.
The person who should really put his stamp of verification on what several of us have been saying is our own @tntlamb.
I’m glad that the treatment you were able to get has done you so much good!
I feel your pain, all my PsA sites are from minor injuries from the past. Shoulder from walking into a door frame, toes from previous knocks, coccyx from a fall when pregnant. I’ve never found heat/cold working so have gone back to the old remedy of Epsom Salts. If its foot soak in a salt bath at least once a day, if its a knee or shoulder, a pillow case or cloth bag with salts in rested on for an hour or two. I’ve managed to reduce swelling massively and astounded my rheumy nurse as I took pictures of my knee when it ballooned and the next day when it was almost back to normal.
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Yep, I can bang my elbow in a door frame, which happens a lot since I have very bad balance, and BOOM i’ll flare up in the area for a few days.
Good to hear I’m on the right track with this. Foot injured in NOVEMBER and I’m still unable to do work out. It feels like joint and bone pain. I see rheumy on 20th. I feel like I need to add a medication back but which? The wart problem is manageable with regular laser visits but they haven’t been eradicated. For anyone reading who doesn’t know, biologics suppress T cells and that part of the immune system fights virus and for me, viral skin warts on fingers and hands. Mtx killed my gut and may cause an outbreak like the biologic did. I don’t know what to do.