Morton's Neuroma

Thanks DLH, I did have insoles and adapted shoes a few years ago,before anyone recognised the neuromas. Unfortunatly neather were helpful,infect caused more pain. I shall go for the injections as I have no alternativebbut don't hold out much hope. It might just start another ball rolling.

Thanks for youe reply.I'm still waiting for a date, I know I've got to tow the line with regard the injections. I'm still hoping that in the end I shall be able to have the op.. I'm glad you managed to get yours and wish you well.  xx

Thanks.  I will let you know how it goes on Thursday when I will actually be able to see my foot minus the great big dressing.  Hope you get a date soon.  When I had the injection I expected it to be painful but I didn't feel it at all.  Good luck and let me know how you get on x

Dear Susan..can you tell me your symptoms?...I think I have Morton's Neuroma too...I have numbness in my left foot toes (2nd and 3rd from the left) and it gets painful when I walk...it feels like my toes are being run over by the wheels of an office chair !!..and I can barely walk...but when I reach down to massage my toes the pain is minimal and I cannot even identify exactly where the pain is !!....this is the strangest malady I've ever had...thx, Jack

Hi Jack717,this is Granny Ang, It sounds to me like morton's. I get these symptoms.Also my toes feel numb,only massage or hot water seem to help.

Hope this of help to you.xx

Thx you..I will go to my doctor and see if I can get some help...I am totally unable to play golf or tennis at this time...it is very a frustrating (and painful) experience

Hi Jack, sounds very much like Mortons although most of my pain was on the ball of my foot it felt like I was walking on a stone and there was a burning sensation and slight numbess in my 3rd and 4th toes.  I had the op  3 months ago and thought all had gone really well until about a week ago when the burning sensation had started in the ball of my foot again and it is once again like walking on a stone.  I assume I have now developed a stump neuroma.  I sympathise with you because it is a painful condition. Hope you manage to get a diagnosis and some form of treatment x

...just read about Stump Neuroma...sad this happened to you...hope you find relief

Hi Susan

I had Mortons neuroma op 4 months ago. Everything was brilliant for 2 months - no pain.  Just started wearing sandals instead of hefty lace-up shoes and the pain has gradually returned if I stand/walk for longer than half an hour.  Spoke to foot surgeon who said it is much too soon for stump neuroma and that I should give it at least 6 months for full healing to take place. I have 3 dogs that need daily walks and it is such a pain!

 

Hi Mary, Sorry to hear that you are in pain. It is now nearly 5 months since my surgery.  The pain in my foot is now worse than before. I too have 3 dogs to walk everyday and within 5 minutes the pain starts.  I have pain on the ball of my foot which radiates to the outside edge.  When standing or walking barefoot I also have pain on the top of my foot which is very uncomfortable.  I have an appointment with my consultant on Thursday but really don't think he will do anything.  I hand also got a clicking near the navicular bone and a burning pain in my ankle. I will let you know how I get on.  I suppose all we can do for the time being is to carry on regardless!

Hi Susan. Let us know how you get on.  My podiatry surgeon doesnt make follow-up appointments until the 6 month mark is reached.  As my surgery was in June I am guessing I will get an appointment sometime in December.  Have considered acupuncture but cant find any positive feed back.  Going on Gabapentin for something else and hoping it may relieve some of the pain.  will let you know.

Hi Mary, I went to see my orthopaedic surgeon this afternoon and he is sending me for an MRI scan to see what is going on with my foot.  I will let you know when I get the results and it is decided the way forward.  Meantime, I hope you are doing okay. Take care, Sue

Hi Susan

Hope the MRI scan can give you some results (hopefully treatable).  My Christmas wish is that all the podiatrists and surgeons who write "patients with Mortons Neuroma may feel some numbness and tingling in the toes and a feeling of a sock rucked up under the ball of the foot" all get M.N!  I would have welcomed numbness and tingling and not the burning stinging unbearable pain that is more of a reality! If you read my reply to Delia71 a few minutes ago you will see I have (maybe temporarily) found a solution.  Fingers crossed,

Best wishes.

Hi Mary hope things are okay with you.

I got the results of my MRI scan last week and thankfully it isn't a stump neuroma but bursitis.  I have also been diagnosed with arthritis of the talonavicular joint which I have also got in my left foot in the same place.  Can have steroid injections to help with these problems.  In April I am  due to have surgery to rectify previous bunion surgery and hammertoe surgery that has failed.  Hopefully come summer my feet will be pain free. 

Best wishes

hello susan  I have just read your reply to Jack. my story is that after years of pain I was persuaded to go for the op to remove a neuroma.  I ws prepared for it to not be all perfect but after 18 months, i now have more pain than before and the surgeon just says 'I did my job. I removed the neuroma' I have tried going back to the GP but he does not offer much hope. Stump neuroma.....I have never heard of it. I've tried podiatry but that did not help. How to get help?it seems impossible. I certainly wish that I had never had the operation. I am in pain in the day and my foot pain keeps me awake at night. sympathies to everyone out there with similar problems.

Hi Penelope, Sorry to hear all about your ongoing problems with your foot 18   months after surgery.  I am surprised that your consultant hasn't arranged an MRI scan for you to see what exactly is going on.  My MRI scan showed up that I had bursitis so at least I can have a cortisone injection which may help!!! It would appear to me that once there is a problem with your feet there is no end to it.  Will your GP not refer you for a second opinion?  Take care. Sue

Hello Sue thanks for that. the MRI did not show anything in particular. the GP would refer me but somehow I have to find the right person.  Clearly no point in seeing the same surgeon with the shockingly bad attitude!  I think you are right.....once you have a foot problem you are probably never going to be 100% again...rather depressing!  good luck

"Morton's neuroma" is frequently over diagnosed. For sound anatomical reasons (which I will not labour here) it can only occur in the 4/5 interspace. [Conventionally the little toe is the 5th].

Pain at any other site in the foot is a mis-diagnosis.

There is more to Morton's "neuroma" for which there is not space here. Specific queries will be answered on this web-site

Hello jp66967 - a very interesting post and makes complete sense in my situation.  I would be interested to know if you have any comments on my story.  After 2 years of awful ball of foot pain, and a couple of x-rays, I finally had an ultrasound scan which showed, what I was told, to be a Morton's neuroma in the 2nd and 3rd web space.  I went in for surgery on New Years Eve, and was told at my follow up appointment in February, that it wasn't a MN after all, but just a fatty fibrous tissue, but my surgeon decided to remove it anyway as he was already at the site after cutting my foot.  I was told that all the pain is due to metatarsalgia and that rigid soled shoes with rocker bottoms are the answer, otherwise surgery is another option.  I don't want that as apparently its not always successful.  I now have more pain than before, because not only the ball of foot hurts,but the site of the surgery is extremely painful and there is also some very annoying nerve damage in the 2nd and 3rd toes.  I don't really think the new footwear I've bought is making any difference.  All I can do is take pain killers and massage with foot creams.  I wish I'd known before that it wasn't Morton's as  I wouldn't have gone ahead with the op.  It does seem that what others have written on here, once foot pain like this is here, its here to stay.  I can only appreciate the better days with it, and just get fed up other days when its so  painful and can't walk very far.  Any suggestions would be helpful.  Many thanks.

I am sorry that you have had this unpleasant time. I am very familiar with the super-specialist foot-and-ankle surgeons worldwide (and I assume their techniques filter down to the "regular" orthopaedic surgeons).

I believe that there are foundational flaws in their concepts of managing the "age related deformities" of the feet. However, apart from writing a book - which I have done - and making short comments on sites like this, I feel impotent. Even those short comments have received unpleasant responses, as you will have noticed.

Dear Margaret, I have just read you comments, I'm sorry you have suffered so much. It made me wonder if my own foot pain could be Metatarsalgia and not Morton's. I did have steroid injections in both feet,3/4 joints, but my pain was between 2/3. I presume the steroid has lessened the pain but not solved the problem for me. 

Granny Ang - I think that you need an ultrasound examination of the second metatarso-phalangeal plantar plate.

Thanks JP, I'll look into it.x

Hi JP -

As the current orthodoxy never mentions Morton's neuroma in the 4/5 intermetatarsal space, I'd be very interested in your sound anatomical reasons. I've never heard of Morton's described as an age-related foot deformity either, as people well below retirement age can develop it. I did have a guided injection, in the 3/4 space, which had no effect, and I certainly exhibited Mulder's sign. I'd be interested to know what you recommend other than surgery, as living with the condition became impossible for me. At the moment I'm feeling very positive about the outcome of the neurectomy, but I have an open mind and am aware that less pleasant developments may occur.

If I said 4/5 I was wrong, and intended 3/4.

Whether Morton’s “neuroma” exists at all (apart from the post surgical neuromas) is debatable.

The histopathology is a post traumatic irritative neuritis in every one which I have seen.

It is a good example of a successful treatment (anaesthetization)  applied to the wrong pathology.

Hey Susan I know this is a rather old post , but I was wondering if you ended up getting the injection for bursitis and how it worked? My pain sounds similar to what yours was ( pain on top of the foot as well as pebble feeling on bottom ) and my MRI showed bursitis with no Neuroma. I'm also curious how your injection was done… Was it directly into the bursa or just general around that area? Also was the injection guided with ultrasound? Because I'm not really responding to conservative treatment it looks as though I'm heading towards an injection and just curious what your results were. Thanks and hope your feet are pain-free at this point !!

Hi after over 10 years of going to see various dr's I hve now been given the diagnosis ot Mortons neuroma, it is not really painful but feels like waking with socks that are rumpled under the ball of the foot and numbness aound the second/third toe on both feet, it sometimes feels like the toes are being "strangled" I have been booked in for an ultrasound.I am 67 and  I suffer from gout and am in recovery from a ruptured Achilles tendon (12 weeks post op) my feet are in fairly good condition, I learned to care for my feet in the RAF, I was with the RAF regiment as an engineer for 12 years wearing Para-boots for most of the time, I am interested in the fact that you appear to not agree with most diagnoses of Mortons especially as I have it in both feet which I am given to believe is rare and have never worn ill fitting or narrow shoes and only wear high heels in the privacy of my own home (just a little joke)

Dr.thought I had a neurons. But it sounds like you may a have a capsulitis 2nd toe. Commonly mistaken for a neurons.having a people in your shoe. Look it up.

Sounds similar to me Margaret, months of useless podiatry for excruciating pain in the ball of my foot, 2nd & 3rd toes, strange red flushes and swelling. Eventually, after numerous GP visits, catscan, and many shoe purchases I was convinced by a surgeon it was a Mortons neuroma. 18 months later it is still very painfull most (but not all) of the time. The strange zinging in my toes has gone with the nerve (and who knows, maybe even a neuroma) gone.

I can only wear Birkenstocks.

I had acupuncture for a while then my acupunturist saw my foot red, sore 

& swollen after work one day 

(I usually saw him on my day off - not as sore I work on my feet) & said the acupuncture wasnt helping. He took a proper educated look at my foot & pointed out my first toe is shorter than the rest.... Mortons Toe. 

I now don't know where to go - so much money on failed treatments, months off work in my own small business, frequent high levels of pain... I'm starting to wonder if cortisone might help.

Have you had any breakthroughs?

 

It sounds as though you have never had an appropriate diagnosis. Cutting out purported "Morton's Neuroma" only works because the nerve supply to the (damaged) area is removed. The damage continues although the feeling has been abolished.

"Morton's Toe" is a fallacy and fantacy, and do not be duped into anyone suggesting that you have the adjacent toe shortened.

I hope that I get an angry response from some orthopaedic surgeon, somewhere !

Indeed jp66967, that's exactly right. After my surgery I saw another surgeon who was critical of my operation & directed me immediately to an orthotist in the room next to his who fitted me with $750 of custom insoles & $250 shoes. The insoles are useless to me. I feel ripped off by the several doctors, podiatrist & 2 surgeons who have theorised and experimented with no certainty & no results. At least the acupunturist after 8 treatments was honest. Now I have no idea where to go. I'm  thinking maybe back to podiatry but need a smart one!

Thanks for your response.

Oh also, last night Idiscovered either a bone spur or bunion growing off my big toe on the trauma foot! It just gets better

Still having the same problems and am now waiting the results of an MRI scan I had recently.  Will keep you posted.

Hi Cinda - It saddens me greatly to hear your and other tales of surgical failure, and the subsequent incapacities. My profession has failed you and so many others.

If you write a private message I will send you my web address, which might help...

Hi, I have just been to have an ultrasound scan for MN, the radiologist couldnt find any sign of a neuroma, fortunately I haven't had any injections or surgery. this has been an ongoing problem for many years, discomfort along the ball of the foot, feeling like walking on pebbles numbness in the middle toes, I suffer from gout and first it was diagnosed as scarring, the peripheral nerve damage then Plantar fasciitis now MN all of which have proven to be wrong, The ultrasound found no orthopaedic problems or muscle damage, in fact he said both my feet looked remarkably good, it appear that it is back to the drawing board, as I said I dont have real pain just constant discomfort even when I have my feet up and get constant cramping in my toes with a "dead" feelin in my middle toes on both feet just getting a little fed up with all the red herrings

Hi Jack717 I had surgery March of 2010 to trmove my Mortons Nueroma and what thru said was a bad bunion (yeah ok). Wurst think I ever did! They did the left first foot, now almost 6 years I am battling constant pain, epidural blocks on my foot and the rest of my life on Methadone! Yes methadone is an amazing pain reliever but once you are on it you are on it for life! I won't let s time touch the other foot! So my life years later is living in pain and on pain Meds and used as a Guinea pig! It must run in the family because my sister and niece have the same thing!

Hi Brian. I was wondering if you ever figured anything out? My husband describes the same symptoms. Not pain, but this feeling of socks rolled up and numbness in the ball of the feet, both feet, all the time. No diabetes or other problems. Not just one foot and never goes away. Just wondering. Thank you from California

Jp66967-

Thank you for the comments! - I belive after hours of researching and finally finding your comments that I was misdiagnosed with a morton's neuroma when actually I am suffering from post traumatic irritative neuritis.

I broke my 3rd metatarsal in May 2016. - though the break was misaligned, my orthopedic surgeon did not opt for surgery. Since then my foot has healed, but I have a tingling, burning, stabbing and throbbing sensation I get when I stand or walk. In December my Orthopedic doc diagnosed me with mortons neuroma and gave me a shot of cortisone. It helped for 3 months (that's great, right?) but now the pain is back.

I would love advice on my next step. Go back for another shot? (And a shot every quarter becomes my new norm?) Go to a new doctor? Bring to my current doctor the possibility that I have post traumatic irritative neuritis, but then what? Is it treated any differently?

Dang foot break was a game changer for sure. ????😔

I am 81 and love to take my dog for 3 walks a day but am finding it difficult with Morton's neuroma which I cannot find any help for.  I have lousy medical insurance and would have to pay out of pocket for anything.  Is there ANY kind of doctor who would do cortisone injections that would help the condition?  Sandals DO help a little but not enough!

Susan, I rely on my feet for 3 walks a day with my little dog, who has long legs and LOVES her walks.  I'm 81 and this Morton's Neuroma thing has stymied me!  I need to continue walking without pain and have just purchased Hexane-Free Cold Pressed Castor Oil, recommended on this site, but haven't a clue as to how to apply it.  Can it be warmed and applied like a plaster?  Anyway, I can identify with your need to walk the dogs!  Thanks!