Severe burning in foot 14 days after ankle surgery

Hi, I suffered with pressure, numbness and burning pain on top of my foot after ankle surgery. The doctor told me yesterday that many times during surgery they have to move a nerve out of the way and assured me they did not damage it but that it can still get irritated from being moved and cause the burning pain and numbness. He said it fades with time. I found the less I moved the toes and foot the less pain I had, also lying on my side with leg propped on pillows helped. Just find a comfortable position, sometimes ice helped numb the pain but after I took it off it would return. I noticed that depending on where I sat I would have more or less pain, I'd sit in the recliner for hours with my foot up and by bedtime it would be killing me whereas if I was in bed all day it didn't hurt as much. I think certain ways you sit can hit the irritated nerve and cause more pain. I have read that nerves regenerate at 1mm per day or 1 inch per month so it takes time to heal. I was never given medication for nerve pain but since I had to take aspirin to prevent blood clots I decided to take three 325mg pills every 6 hours with two xtra strength tylenols instead of ibuprofen since I read the ibuprofen can hinder bone growth. That didn't take the pain away but eased it so that I could handle it.  I saved oxycodone for emergency pain at night. I wish I had a magic answer on how to stop the pain but I know in time it will diminish, just hang in there and know most of us have gone through the terrible burning and it got better with time.

I finally managed to sleep last night without a pain pill for the burning.  

Today has been painful but mostly from the swelling.  I think I overdid it today!  

Its hard to explain the type of sensation I have...it's like little electric tingles and shocks, and they come and go. It's worse as the day goes on, the worst mid to late evening.  It is most sensitive at the side of my foot right around my incision.  I hate touching it because it feels so 'weird', sensitive and numb at the same time.  But I'm supposed to rub it often to try to de-sensitize it.

Right now, it is definitely irritating but I don't think it's bad enough for pain meds again.  My physiotherapist says it is common after this type of surgery and should slowly improve with time.  

wow cyd mine feels the same exact way! ive been trying to walk on it with the boot on and its painful but i do the best i can, i do laps around the kitchen table lol anyway im still numb and have weird tingling and nerve pain but its not bad enough to have to take pain pills, just annoying and at night well i just started not sleeping with 2 pillows under my foot, the mattress feels like a bed of concrete to my bad ankle/foot and i just started being able to sleep on my right side now (broke right ankle) and I noticed my back hurt for the first week since i think the muscles arent used to supporting me in that position....anyway yes please do rub it to desensitize it, it has really helped me! it hurts at first but after a few days you will notice improvement...god i wonder if our feet will ever get back to normal but i just pray about it and trust that it will get better, the doctors all say it happens and so i guess we just have to be patient and eventually it'll go away, just hang in there my friend! i know how you feel.

I wish my surgeon had given me this website link as part of my post-op advice in the folder he provided because now I don't feel like I'm losing my mind with all of this pain I'm having at night in my ankle. I had my ankle surgery Dec 8, 2016 so I'm a lithe over 4 weeks out and I have just started putting weight on my foot. During the day I can tolerate the pain with Tylenol or gel packs and elevating . But at night it's terrible.

When I went to my 4 week post op visit I was crying to my doctor which is rare for me because the pain is so bad at night. It feels like 100 wasps stung my foot all at once. The pain is so intense . It makes me mad because I don't like to cry or feel like I'm being a baby about it. I usually handle pain really well. I delivered my first baby natural with no pain blocks ; I've had several kidney stones ; broke elbow from dirt bike ; so I thought I was tough ??

That's why I was so relieved to find this site and read about what I was experiencing from other people too. My surgeon said it's the nerves regenerating . Besides taking a pain pill I use ice machine on my foot at night and sometimes the gel ice packs and they do help . My doctor said physical therapy is going to help me which I start on Wednesday .

I was wondering if anyone has ever tried using a Tens unit ? I have one that I use on my arthritis in my neck and thought maybe it would help with these crazy phantom pains that cause my foot to go on fire ...

Yeah it's comforting to know other people are going through the same thing. I'm sorry you're having so much pain, 4 weeks is really early and I was having my worst pain at that time but don't worry it gets a lot better as time goes by. I thought I was pretty tough too but  having a burning pain you can't really control that's there 24/7 can make anyone cry.

I'm at 8 weeks post op now and it's been SO much better, I can even sleep with no pillow under my foot now but I still have numbness and the pain came back last night cause I wore the boot too long yesterday. Today it feels better so yeah the best advice I can give you is see if someone can massage your foot everyday if you can't do it yourself and try to hang in there because over time the pain starts to get better and go away. My pain didnt start to get any better until week 5 or 6 and even then it still hurt but I was able to stop taking the aspirin and tylenol every 6 hours. 

Also, once the dr. told me I could try walking I did and the nerve pain came back so I decided to wait to try walking until the pain started to diminish. After 2-3 days I gave it another try and it felt a lot better but the boot does aggravate the nerves for sure and so I've decided to only wear the boot when I try to walk and not all day or else I'm in pain all night again. 

I think we just need to listen to our bodies and take it slowly, a long time ago I hurt my back and the doctor used a tens unit on me and it did help so might help your foot, I haven't started PT yet so can't comment on it helping the foot. 

Terri1125... I'm sorry to hear you are experiencing the same problems I am, because I know how awful they are!  Right now, my foot is so prickly and tingly that it's driving me crazy.  And if the side or top of my foot comes in contact with anything...sheets, socks, shoes...the discomfort is just multiplied.  I am going into my seventh week after surgery and keep praying for this to improve.  I don't like taking painkillers, but decided to bite the bullet since I wasn't getting a full night's sleep, and I take one or two Percocets a night.  My next checkup with the surgeon is Feb. 21st and if nothing has improved, we will have to start talking about nerve blocks or something.  I would rather have good old pain from my original injury, than this horrible burning, stinging, hypersensitive pain!!

i hope yours is starting to improve?

Hi ladies I had surgery Dec 12, 2016. The past few nights have been miserable as I can not take anything touching my ankle. I have an ice machine i use 24/7 which was a god send. Right now I can't stand it. I have my 4 week chech up tomorrow. Which I'm gonna need more pain meds and I may ask for the lyrica which seems to be a favorite. I found this site right before I had surgery. Haven't been able to sleep the past few nights. I had ligament repair cartilage repair micro fracture and perineal tendon repair. Hope everyone gets some sleep tonight!

Hope your checkup goes well.  Give us an update afterwards 😊 

Hello i have been experiencing this pain the last 7 months and I am dealing with the exact pain. When my feet hit the sheets or anything it hurts. I have been using biotin.I also been too a neurologist who diagnosis it as central pain region syndrome. I also went too pain management who put me on lyrica. This has helped and now I amust doing physical thespy so I do notice the pain going away slowly. So just hold on and it should get better.

My therapist said it's the nerves trying to repair itself. She had me ice mine really good before bed but it only helped me sleep couple hours. Massaging helped it some.

Keep massaging with different textures mine is taking awhile.

Thank God for this thread.  This is my first thread conversation in my entire life! But no one else can possibly understand.  I had surgery Dec 21, took pain pills the firt week, then got off of them immediately.  Then the 3rd week the pain set in.  Crazy, burning, constand pain, like everyone else.  Pain that exists during the day but gets intollerable at night.  I describe it like some little kid is holding a lighter under my foot at all times and giggling.  Had to go back on pain pills.  They also tried an anti-inflammatory and gabapentin which is meant to deal with nerve pain but I havent felt a difference.

Getting cast off on Tuesday.  It's wildly difficult to deal with.  Thank you for all whom have contributed to this thread, you gave me hope and made me feel less crazy.  I guess we all just need to take our of ourselves and trust that this will pass. 

It will pass...right?

Gilliansylvia, don't lose hope!  I had ankle surgery Nov. 18th and less than two weeks later, the nerve pain started setting in.  I described it like getting stung by bees AND being electrocuted, on a spot that was already burned by an iron!  I had to go back on Percocets every night just to get some sleep.  I could usually tolerate it during the day but at night it was off the charts...

Well here we are close to three months later and I have finally had an entire week with NO Percocets.  The hypersensitivity and prickliness is still there, but this is nothing compared to the nerve pain I had.  This is the first time I feel like this is actually going to go away over time.

i was able to order a "blanket cradle" that holds the bedding up off of your foot so nothing rubs against it at night.  This was a Godsend!  But during the day, do your best to keep rubbing it (yes, it will be very irritating!)...but this helps wake up the nerves to get them functioning properly again.  Use different textures of material to rub on your foot.  I really feel the massaging they did during physiotherapy helped even though it was quite painful at times.  I tried to do this a lot.

Good luck, don't lose hope and there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Let us know how you progress.  😊

This is exactly what I had and still have since my Trimalleolar Fx in September 2016 and my ORIF surgery. I was Dx with CRPS in November 2016. What you are describing sounds exactly like CRPS. Please ask your doctor about it and see if this may be the problem?

Hi Cher11,  yes I was worried that I had CRPS, but since it was improving, I thought it may have just been that the nerves were very irritated since the surgery.  Would CRPS actually be improving?  The "pain" aspect is very mild now.  Physio is definitely helping.

Yes it will pass. I had surgery dec 12. The nerves are repairing themselves just try to keep elevated and ice when you get cast off. Keep the faith!

Well mine is good some days and worse on others. I take high doses of Gabapentin and am now 5 months out from injury. I also do physio. I'm hoping to get better. I'm hoping for remission from it.

I've read if you start treatment (pain management, physio) within 6 months of onset of CRPS, you have a very good chance of remission.  You are doing all the right things!  Good luck and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you! 

Cher11 would you mind giving me a update on your condition? I possibly have crsp and I was wondering if you got yours into remission? Thanks