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Overwhelmed by ankle, 4 weeks post op. Please help!

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khooper
khooper

Hello,

My name is Kristin and I suffered a bimalleolar ankle fracture with syndemosis injury and dislocation on February 25th.

Yesterday was 4 weeks since this all happened and I am really struggling. I had my staples removed and an air cast put on 2 weeks ago this coming Monday.

I started taking my cast off when I'm resting and this has been so uncomfortable. It's almost like everything makes me panic and I have a knee-jerk fear that my ankle is always about to dislocate. The same thing happens when I have my 500 lb air cast on. It feels like I'm losing my mind and I'm really scared something is going to go wrong all of the time. I know my fear is irrational and completely out of character for me but I cant seem to get a handle on it.

Is there such thing as PTSD associated with traumatic injuries? Not trying to throw a pity party, just trying to make sense of it all. It would be so great if I could hear back from someone who understands because It feels like I'm a little bit off the charts lately. Thank you!

Kristin

0 likes, 2 replies

2 Replies

  • carla48603
    carla48603 khooper

    Edited

    Heya I'm 6 1/2 weeks post ORIF surgery for a trimalleolar ankle fracture.

    I'm 5 days out of my cast and into a moonboot. I take the moonboot off when I'm sitting around and when I go to sleep.

    I think what you're feeling is totally normal well when comparing to myself. The first night I was so scared to sleep without a boot that I surrounded my foot with towels so it wouldn't move. Every day I'm making tiny progress with what I can manage without freaking out. For the first few days I wouldn't go near my crutches or attempt to move without my moonboot on because I was so scared of falling on my unprotected leg. Even now my ankle still feels so bruised and fragile.

    I broke my ankle falling down the stairs outside our house. I now have an irrational fear of those stairs and will go up and down them sitting down even though I was taught how to manage stairs with crutches. I keep replaying the fall in my mind and makes me feel sick to the stomach.

    I was talking to my boyfriend about how we don't recognise the mental struggle of these kind of injuries, he even suggested that I should go see a therapist to deal with the trauma of the fall and the post effects. I'm sure I will have problems afterwards trusting my foot when I go back to sport.

    I don't have any advice for you because I'm still trying to figure it out myself but just to let you know that you're not the only one feeling this way.

  • Sazza47
    Sazza47 khooper

    Posted

    hi kristen i also had bimalloer orif on 17/2/21 so im 6wks post orif iv had my cast removed but im now in a shoe but im really struggling to put pressure on my heel/ankle .. my foot is so stiff and swollen, my heel gets shocks in it when i put very little pressure on it hopefully this will pass and let ne get walking, its so stressful because i keep thinking there is going to be no light at the end of the tunnel... i think it makes it worse because we are all terrified to walk on it always thinking it might snap again .. how you feeling now any progress with the foot movement? sarah x

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