Foot pain

I had a neuroma which was an inflamed nerve when something dropped out of my refrigerator on my foot. Another time I had a neuroma which was a swollen, inflamed nerve in my foot from-- shoes? The successful treatment was injection of a  local anesthetic and steroid-- way before I had PMR.

My husband had a similar problem. He finally found relief using a device that stimulates the blood flow. I don’t think I can mention the name on here but if you private message me I’d be happy to tell you. They cost is about $300.00 and you can buy it on line. If it doesn’t work for you you can return it after quite a bit of time. 

Hope this helps.

Hi Molly

One of my symptoms of PMR was that lone of my toes was in excruciating pain and i couldn't walk. I saw a podiatrist and thanks to her report it steered my GP in the right direction. Don't rule out per.

mariane

Hi Molly, I have a similar problem. PMR diagnosed 2 1/2 years ago, currently shifting slowly from 4 1/2mg Pred to 4mg. Before my diagnoses (a year before diagnoses?)  I had a pain in left foot about the spot you mention. I eventually had an X-ray that showed a long healed fracture/break (10 years old). That's as far as I went with investigating that and it faded eventually ( I seem to remember it coinciding with wearing thin sock in wellies on a very frosty day and my feet got very cold -coincidence?).

Now I have the same but on my right foot and it's been of varying intensity over the least 6 months. I have a suspicion that if I upped my pred., a fair bit it would abate, but I am not going there at all! So my thinking is it is a PMR sypmptom or a closely related, but don't quote me on this....

I also have plantar fasciitis in left heel, so not much fun, bit there is a definite difference between the two sypmtoms.. Not much of helpful post I know, more a commiseration really

I had something very very similar at the start of my pmr.  Went to the foot doc because I thought my foot was broken.  Nope.  It was costocondritis which nearly killed me for a couple of months, and coincided with the onset of pmr.  He had me ice it every hour, keep it elevated, etc. for a month.  he would have given me a cortisone injection but I am allergic to the stuff.  He made a special pad to wear under it, as I couldn't walk otherwise.  Took me over a month to be able to wear a shoe.  Hope you see a podiatrist...let us know what he/she says.  Best wishes to you.

See a foot doctor, chiropodist or podiatrist, whatever they're called.  I'd had an extremely painful foot, such that I couldn't wear my winter boots, as you can imagine not a good thing in Nova Scotia.  Finally saw a helpful podiatrist (first one unhelpful maybe because I'd taken in x-ray results so she assumed, as I had, that it was arthritis) and he said the pain was caused by a corn between my toes pressing on a nerve.  I thought this must be impossible, but nevertheless over a couple of visits, the second one drawing impressive blood, he stopped the pressure, plus he modified a toe spacer made by the first podiatrist who otherwise had only made things worse.  Couple of months have gone by.  No pain!  Can't believe it was such a stupid little thing.  .

Have you just seen GPs? You need to see either a podiatrist or an orthopaedic specialist who does feet. If you are in the UK that is going to be easier said than done at present of course!

Have you tried using crutches to take the weight off the foot for a while to see if that helps?

But - does this ring any bells:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/mortons-neuroma/

There is a search function to find a podiatrist near you.

I suspect it's your metatarsal bone that you have arthritis in. That's what they found on me. But they didn't see it in an x-ray they did of my foot when I was just laying on the table. I went to see a podiatrist and she had me do an x-ray while I was standing on the foot. What that did is cause the joints to spread like they normally would if you were standing barefoot. Once she looked at that x-ray the arthritis was very obvious. To be honest though there really isn't much to be done about it unless it's severe enough for surgery. The best thing you can do for it is to get good solid shoes (I like New Balace tennis shoes myself) and a very good insert for the shoes. And you want to wear the shoes all the time and not just kick them off when you get home. Walking barefoot will make the pain worse and that's because your arch sinks a little as you walk and that causes those phones to separate slightly causing the pain.

I have recently been diagnosed with PMR and have had two occasions of foot pain - I am a nurse as well and I have been searching for reasons why in whatever research I can find.  There's not as much information about PMR as there are other diseases, so sometimes I hit a dead end.  I do have an idea of what may be happening with the foot pain by looking to overall reasons why the pads thin. 

The pain that I feel is metatarsal pain, the area below the toes - mine is the next toe over.  I had it in the left foot, soaked with epson salts, iced, rested.  It went away in a few weeks.  Now in right foot. 

As we age the padding over the metatarsals thin, but also several diseases and conditions can contribute to the thinning of the pads.  Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, Scleraderma, Diabetes are listed as contributing diseases.  My suspicion is that PMR also contributes to the thinning of the pads. PMR is not studied much, so we don't get all the information that some of the other diseases that impact more people do.  

Will the pads thicken back up when PMR goes into remission?  I hope so.  Meanwhile I have purchased some metatarsal pads to wear in my shoes and I am switching my exercise from walking to biking and swimming.  Look up thinning of metatarsal pads on the internet and you read a bit about other options.  Good luck!