Severe burning in foot 14 days after ankle surgery

Sorry that was suppose to say I had surgery on November 22, 2016.

Hi Enema1977 , I also broke my fibula on November 22 , had surgery the 23rd to repair a torn ligament and broken fibula , had a nerv Block! which kept me pain free for 3 days , but after that my nightmare began , I also experiment burning, tingling, pins and needles , pressure like a have a truck sitting on yo of my foot specially at night , the only thing that has kept me confortable is the pain medication , hydrocodone with Tylenol , I call it my happy pill , because it really helps with all those symptoms, also keep it elevated to avoid swelling, ice behind the knee also helped , and lots of prayer to keep my sanity, my husband has been very supportive which also helps a great deal . And this wonderful site in where I find others that have gone through the same that I am going . Hope we start feeling better soon.

Hi. I don't want to concern you but the burning is a trade mark I'd Complex regional pain syndrome. Please look it up. It's serious and can result from surgery and nerve damage. I am currently suffering from it and I'm on nerve medication 24/7. It needs to be treated early. If it's very sensitive to touch, especially from others, and goes red or purple and blotchy compared to your good foot then I'd suggest requesting a referral to a pain team. A standard orthopedic consultant generally won't have enough knowledge to help.

HI Pollyerrington, My name is Karen I'm at 53 year old registered nurse from Ontario, Canada. I just stumbled on this website and read your CRPS comment. I have had CRPS symptoms in my feet for 4 months following some platelet injections in my left foot. and yes it goes red,purple and blotchy. I have burning pain and I can;t wear shoes or socks. The sheets cannot touch my feet nor the fan breeze. I have to wait another 6-9 months before I can be seen in a pain clinic. My doctor has very little understanding of the condition. I;m on Gabepentin but it isn't really working yet. I wondered if you could tell me what treatment you have been given and is it working?

Thank you,

Karen

Hello Karen, I am in Burlington, Ontario...welcome to the site!

Although I don’t have CRPS, I do have permanent damage to my sural nerve due to ankle surgery.  This results in burning, stinging and the same level of hyper-sensitivity you described.  I am trying nerve blocks, but I also have a very effective cream compound only sold at a pharmacy in Hamilton.  It contains gabapentin, baclofen, amitryptaline, lidocaine and ketoprofen.  It does allow me to sleep at night without opioids although I still have discomfort 24/7.

My surgeon wants to operate again to completely sever the nerve (yikes!), but I can’t even consider that yet.

Best of luck to you.

P.S.  Physio as soon as you can is highly recommended for CRPS.

OMG you are just down the hiway I'm in Brantford. Are you on Gabapentin as well? I have the multiprofen cream you are referring to. Does it make the skin on you toes red and burn? Are you being seen at a pain clinic? I have been referred as urgent to the McMaster pain clinic but after waiting 6 weeks to hear from them I was told today that it will be 6-9 months before I can get in for assessment. So frustrating. Do you get the sympathetic swelling ( red, purple with white dots)?

Karen

The only gabapentin I use is the one in the cream.  Are you on the CC Plus version of Multiprofen?  It has the most meds in it.  I actually had my first visit at Burlington Pain Care this afternoon.  I’ve only been waiting about 5 weeks but got in because of a cancellation, otherwise it’s a 4 month wait.  I don’t have any adverse reaction from the cream...it sounds like you may have an allergy to one of the ingredients!

I don’t have symptoms other than the burning, stinging, shocks and terrible sensitivity.  The cream helps everything but the sensitivity which is still bad. I am dreading having to wear socks and shoes in the colder weather!

I have been going to a specially trained Chiropractor/Physiotherapist/Massage therapist in Brantford. He is the doctor who diagnosed me my orthopedic surgeon in Hamilton completely misdiagnosed me. I have been getting ART ( Active release therapy on my lower body) twice a week since diagnosis and after the 3rd treatment alot of my symptoms were gone. Something has triggered it recently though I think it was because I tried to wear shoes 2 days ago. Now the hypersensitivity is back on my toes and they are red shiny and tight. I do have the cc and it does help me get through the night. I'm surprised you are not on Gabapentin yet. You are at risk for CRPS if I could give you some advice I would suggest you start taking 500 mg of Vitamin C a day if you are not already it has been proven to prevent CRPS in many research studies. My I ask who you saw at the Pain Clinic was it an anesthesiologist? I am going to try to get in somewhere else. I'm told to make every effort to be seen in the first 6 months and I'm at 4.5.I'm a labour and delivery nurse and I love my job but I have not been able to wear shoes for 5 months so I cannot work I am running out of sick time now. I am terrified of the snow coming too!

I really hate the idea of taking a pill for the rest of my life since my nerve damage is permanent.  That’s why I decided on the cream.  Make sure they’ve given you “CC Plus”...my surgeon didn’t even know about the ‘plus’ type;  I found out about it by talking to the pharmacy directly.

My pain is typical neuropathic pain for this type of injury, I think I’m out of the woods for CRPS.  And I don’t have any of the visual signs of it.  Here is the link for my pain clinic. https://www.burlingtonpaincare.com/our-team

My doctor is Dr. Sharma.

Thank you I will check on the cc Plus. The reason I said you are at risk is because I have had severe damage to my sciatic nerve for 1 year when you have had nerve pain for a long time your central nervous system can become sensitive and if you were to damage the nerve anywhere else along the pathway you would be at rish for CRPS. Also when you have chronic nerve pain you develope "guarding" or Myofascial syndrome. This is where the active release massage therapy has really helped. I was hoping I only had damage to my sciatic and deep peroneal nerve but I started with this neuropathic edema and red shiny toes. Do you have any tightness of your extensor tendons on the back of your toes? " Tightness extending you toes or it feels like swelling behind you toes when you curl them"? I hope you don't mind the emails it helps to talk to someone who is going through something simular. Also have you found OOFOS recovery flip flops for runners they have saved my life google them. 

Hi Tiffany...don't panic yet.  Surgery often aggravates the nerves causing this type of pain.  I am almost six weeks in from ankle surgery (peroneal tendon) and some nights I can hardly bear the burning and stinging pain on the top and side of my foot.  I have a check up with the surgeon today and will let you know what he says about it.  At this point, I also have noticed a couple of internal stitches pushing out through the incision!  Seems my body is trying to reject them.  Oh brother.  Well we'll see what the doc says today.  Hang in there.

Tiffany I have to agree with Cyd, it's most likely normal. I know it's very painful and I went through the same thing, my pain hit me 9 days after my surgery and the worst of it didn't start to get better till week 5. My foot felt like it was on fire, it was red on top, I felt electrical sensations and a weird type of bubbling sensation under the skin, I also felt a ton of pressure like my foot was going to explode. I'm now at week 7 and still have some nerve pain but it's nothing like it was, I don't even need pain meds. for it anymore. The doctor told me that they have to move your nerve out of the way when they do the surgery, moving that nerve can irritate it and that can cause the burning and numbness. You may have to suffer with it for a while and mine was always worse at night but it does eventually start to fade away, so just hang in there! Once you get the splint off and get a boot I would recommend massaging your foot gently as that desensitizes the nerves. It may hurt bad to touch it at first so go slowly, using lotion helps.. then as the days go by you can massage it more aggressively. The more you rub the painful area the better it gets down the road, doing that has definately helped me.

I have that too at two weeks post op. It's horrible and keeps waking me up in the middle of the night. I only have pain meds to last 3 weeks post op. I'm praying that is all I'll need. I had 3 procedures done this time in my foot and ankle. It hurts so much. It feels like someone is shoving a nail into my foot in various places. Foot pain is so bad.

I here you. I had ligament and tendon repair, he did micro fracture for the cartilage. He also removed an extra bone too.