Severe burning in foot 14 days after ankle surgery

Don't despair Mark, mine started around 10 days after ankle surgery.  Although I still have some hyper-sensitivity and numbness four months out, the stinging/burning/prickly feelings went away...for me, they were really severe for about 2 months, during which time I needed Percocet at night in order to sleep.  (Mine was way worse in the evening...I could manage through the day)

i got to the point of thinking they would never go away, but nerves heal very, very slowly.  Be patient and I feel for ya!

Thank you for the inspiration!! I just finished check up #2 and stitches out yesterday. All good till last night : / From reading through this site, I need to be more patient. I felt as though I was home free till this started! I get my boot and go partial weight in a week or so if all goes well...ligament repair on the the leftie. This was an older injury from hiking...I figured get it fixed because it was getting worse and impacting. my daily routine. Also from reading these stories, I could be A lot worse off and should count my blessings😉

It seems after two weeks when most people get the nerve issues starting from reading through.

Mine is definitely improved at week 9 and I have several more weeks in cast before a boot although I am going to ask again at my check up next week if I can have one again. My consultant laughed at me last week at the suggestion 😂

I have no ankle pain just the nerves. I been out for lunch today and find anytime I do activity even non weight bearing as I am I pay the price but I look at it like it's doing it's job.

Toothbrush is a good idea though. Keep brushing the skin to increase sensitivity.

Good luck to you

Hi Julie,

Today was a good day: back to work for a meeting to discuss back to work. It feels great to be out. 😑

Half days to start, with transportation provided until I can drive again. Likely back to full-time within a wk or two. Nerve pain is slowly dissipating, & I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yay!

Hello to all. Two weeks and late evening seems to be the burn trend. Just thinking that both my worst nights were on surgeon check up days...last night was tough with the burning. Until I found this site about 4:00 this morning I was really worried. I'm guessing the body just doesn't know what to do after surgery and inactvity. Short scooter rides between rooms seemed to help. Probably just distracted the ankle a bit. : ) My pain meds seemed weak last night.

Hi Mark

It's not nice and can be completely excruciating, you are certainly not on your own.

An ice pack behind the knee does help reduce severity and I found best pain relief was nepofam, it's not an opiat so doesn't act like morphine. It takes longer to kick in but is long lasting when it does. (Does make you pee pink though 😂

I'm over two months in and it's now subsiding and no pain relief.

Hope things settle for you

Hey Julie, Thanks for the info. I would pee the rainbow not to go through last night again..ha. I need to work on my patience some. This is a new world for me. And I feel for those that have to deal with these things. From my reading my ankle is minor. There are some serious injuries and stuff going on here! Thoughts and prayers to all.

Mark...for me, it actually felt better if I was holding my foot, or lightly rubbing it but of course this was only once I had an aircast on.  I know about the evening...I could not get over how bad it got between about 6-8pm, and stayed that way until fell asleep with meds.  First thing in the morning was usually the least irritating.  I spent many nights reading these posts, praying I would find someone with similar symptoms who could put my mind at ease!  So now, I hope to do the same for others 😄.  Once I started physio, I was really encouraged to rub the foot with different textures of cloth to desensitize the area.  I think I would have screamed bloody murder if I started out with a toothbrush.

I also had to buy a contraption that is designed to keep the bed covers off my foot, that's how bad it got.  I'm happy to say I was able to take it off the bed 11 nights ago and have been able to sleep well with the covers on my foot!  I felt this was such an accomplishment!!!

Mark, rainbow pee is the urologist thread! Lol

Nice to know we are all going thru the same sort of burning issues, at least from a "this is quite normal" point of view.

I can feel my burning pain subsiding, so I know it gets better. Eventually....

Cyd, I've been in the recliner since surgery. My surgeon stressed that to me. Another thing he said was to keep the knee loose. Tightening the knee is natural to relieve the stress on an ankle. He said to practice relaxing everything from the waist down. Scooter rides in the house seem to help....pointing the toes downward changing the blood flow helps a bit. He was adamant about staying out of the bed for at least 21 days post surgery though. I am trying to absorb everyone's advice. I'm thinking all of the answers are on this site in some combination. ! Thank you all

Totally agree with you. I joined about a week in and helped me no end

Julie. and all, Exactly 10:50 last night the burning started and I iced behind the knee..,it did help. Thank you for the tip! Not as bad as previous night...actually slept 5 or 6 hours.

Fab news 👍

I've been doing work around the house, my ankle has been killing me. I'm hopefully going back to work April 5 or 6th. Im a paramedic for chicago fire dept. insurance cut off therapy after 18 visits. Not fun.

Oh no thats awful.

Pressured to go back to work and with a job needing you to be active must be a worry.

I hope things improve for you

Sheri...Good luck...I hope to be starting therapy in a few weeks. I'm thinking your job can be physically demanding and all. Were you hurt while responding?

Wow Shari, I have had around 25 visits to my physiotherapist since my November surgery, and I'm anticipating at least another couple months of twice per week.

Your job must be pretty physically demanding... Can you go back on a Gradual Return, or will you be right back to a full schedule?

Our insurance is awful. I have had now 3 weeks without therapy total. I was non weight bearing for 8 weeks. I've been out of the boot for 2.5 weeks.

Mark I've had reinjured myself numerous times. Last injury was because of my dogs. We have horses chickens and dogs due to I juries here. My ankle is hurting and it ducks. I have my therapy at home to do. I honestly think something is not right.

We are only allowed 365 days off in a years time. I had 3 surgeries in 2016. So I have to get back to work. I have to wait 2 more years to accumulate any more sick time. I'm

Julie...just a hello to all. I was thinking I had the burning beat but last night it paid me a visit...this is a slow path that we are on here. A total roller coaster of pains, highs, and lows. If nothing else I will learn patience this go around. 😉 and can't forget the ice too that is fast becoming my. best friend...continued good luck to all.

I'm so confused... does no one realise you're all talking about complex regional pain syndrome?! And it's actually quite serious? The nerve damage you're all feeling is also affecting the blood flow which comes from your sympathetic system. In time your bones will diminish in your foot/leg and you may get muscle wastage.

My pain team have diagnosed me straight away with this and I'm getting treatment with includes some major surgery.

Makes me worry that some of you might actually have CRPS and have been missed by your docs. It's commonly missed and later diagnosed as arthritis.

Please have a chat with your docs and discuss...

Hello Polly - Sounds like we are the ones who should be confused.  I've seen four separate physicians, three of them surgeons, and those here on Patient.Info represent another dozen, I would think, and not one of us has gotten this diagnosis.  I've never heard of CRPS, but more importantly, I have to wonder about my four physicians.  You can be sure I will bring this to the attention of my wouond doctor this coming Monday, and I will be sure the share her remarks.  I will also text my PCP and tell him, as well.  Again, thanks for sharing.  

I did considerable reading on CRPS early on in my journey and was convinced at my lowest point that I had it, just due to the severity of the pain and burning.  However, there are a number of other symptoms that accompany it, that I did not have.  Once the burning and stinging went away, I knew it was not CRPS, but just my nerves getting over the trauma of being moved/pulled etc. during surgery.  Although it is worth reading about and asking the surgeon their opinion, I would not want to panic everyone on this stream to think they have CRPS, since it is an uncommon side affect.

Ah ok, I'm glad it was just your nerves settling down. It's 8 months later and I still have pain. It's not as severe but it's still there. I can't shower and putting socks on is very uncomfortable. Walking is a struggle. So I'm glad I'm getting help. But I'm really glad you don't have CRPS. Good luck with the rest of your recovery.

That's ok. I've had a scary journey. There are some misinformed docs and surgeons. It's not something covered in med school sadly. I needed a second op due to the wrong screw being used and a surgeon operated on me after a CRPS diagnosis. He basically put it into a irreversible state and caused it to spread.

Only people that can really help and diagnose are the pain team so if anyone here is worried please ask for a referral to a pain team.

A big sign is if the surgery was in a place separate to where the burning pain in. My surgery was on my lower leg and ankle and my CRPS covers my toes too and side of my foot (which all use totally different nerves to those my ankle surgery site) which also helped with diagnosis.

Please don't ignore any burning or electric shooting pains if they are not at the site of surgery. It's better to be safe than sorry.

I'm really sorry you have this...from what I've read it is a horrible condition 😥

Cyd, I did a bunch of research on the CPRS lately too. I think I don't fit the model for it. Its been several days since I had any burning or additional symptoms. Reading here and the severity of pain experienced did prompt concern. (!) This is an emotional roller coaster, but I am growing stronger with not dealing with the harsh pain. Continued fast healing and good health to you and everyone. This site has been enlightening...

I know Mark!  It's pretty easy when you're in so much pain, to just google everything and then jump to the worst conclusion LOL!  I am finally able to understand that this will be a long journey and although I won't see day-to-day improvement, I can see progress month-to-month.  This site has been fantastic.  Thanks to all the contributors!

I might not have CPRS either, but something is causing the severe burning pain in my left foot post injury.  However, everything fits so I've asked my PCP to see the pain doc who used to inject my spine.  My problem goes back to 4 years ago when a surgeon tricked me into coming back to his office, after I had told him I did not want chemical ablation.  He argued with me until I gave in.  4 years later, having been locked into compression stockings because of what he did,.....and an ultrasound and full body vascular scope showed that his expensive and dibilitative procedure did not close off even one vein.  Now I have serious venous insufficiency and need REAL ablation to cure that problem.  I'm hoping the next visit with the cardiologist who ordered those studies will have an answer to the burning foot.  Blessings to you all. 

Im dealing with this now. lots of burning, tingling and numbness. I am 7 weeks post op and miserable. I Had a flat foot reconstruction surgery.