Foot Pain

[baderab]

I have this horrific pain in my great toe. I have had the toe nail cut out 3x, with the last one being "permanent". It's not a complete removal just the left side. The pain has never completely gone away. I recently hit it and the pain that occured was INSANE. Excruiciating! It seems that it is getting worse and now there is some heat radiating on the toe. It's constantly aching and now the pain is radiating underneath my big toe. There is no infection and I don't believe this is really related to an ingrown toenail. I am tired of going to the foot doctor and them looking at me like I am looney. I have had an MRI but apparently that showed nothing. Can anyone shed some light??

[kemplr]

When they permanently removed the nail did you have invasive surgery? i.e. with stitches? Its possible that there has been nerve damage during the surgery. Otherwise the only other thing I can think of is complex regional pain syndrome / reflex sympathetic dystrophy - but that usually affects the whole foot/limb. HTH

[baderab]

The pain actually started before I had the toenail cut out. I was getting this zapping pain which is what brought me to the dr to begin with. The first podiatrist told me I had a malunion fracture in my toe and it needed time to heal. After several months and no relief I went to my GP and asked that he cut our toenail because when I pressed on the side of the nail I could duplicate the pain. He did. The post procedure pain I can't even describe. Several days later I felt a bit of relief. A couple months went by pain started again. Went back to GP described symptoms. He gave me a cortisone shot in my toe. YOWZERS! No relief from that, returned again and had more of the nail removed. Again some relief. Pain returned, went to a different podiatrist that was recommended by MIL. He said he believed that there was a nuroma beneath the nail and as the nail grew back it was pressing on the nuroma causing the pain. He "permanently" removed the left part of the nail, not a large amount. So now I have a partially removed nail and the pain has returned. I just don't know where to go now. The pain wakes me up a night, it inteferes with activities. Not to mention my family is tired of hearing me complain. :-(

[kemplr]

Is the nail very curved or thick? Have you had an x-ray? Sometimes you can get a bony exostosis under the nail which is very painful. I have never heard of a neuroma underneath a nail. The bony exostosis can be removed via surgery and usually provides instant relief.

[baderab]

[quote="kemplr"]Is the nail very curved or thick? Have you had an x-ray? Sometimes you can get a bony exostosis under the nail which is very painful. I have never heard of a neuroma underneath a nail. The bony exostosis can be removed via surgery and usually provides instant relief.[/quote]


Would a bony exotosis show in a xray or MRI?? I have had both and nothing was said in regards to this. I am really at a loss.

[footdr4u]

Yes, the bony exostosis is called a subungual exostosis and can be seen on Xray. Sometimes there can be an exostosis that does not show up on Xray because it may be fibrocartilage. It may not show up on MRI because the exostosis may be too small to show up on the sections of MRI. Any exostosis can be removed easily thru a tiny incision. But have you ever had any low back trauma because if this is sharp shooting pain it could be radiculopathy coming from the back. Just a suggestion to look into. I hope this helps!!

[chelseair]

I have a huge cyst on the bottom of my big toe. Not sure if it is from perhaps some type of toe cancer, or if it is just fluid build up around a rheumatoid nodule(s). I don't have insurance for RA as a pre-existing condition for another year and so don't want to go to a podiatrist if it's going to be determined as being related to RA and then insurance won't pay for the visits or tests. My rheumatologist said she's not sure what it is, but thought increasing my medication would help - but it has not. I have pictures if someone is willing to look at them and let me know if they think it could be just a nodule with fluid build up around it or not. I've had it for a couple years now I believe. Just slowly keeps getting bigger. Uncomfortable when going barefoot but otherwise o.k. pain wise. I did get every so many months, very brief sharp stabbing type pains in the toe for a few years or so before this developed, but they only lasted for a few seconds and only a few times a year did that pain occur. I may be developing the same thing on the other big toe, so maybe it's not cancer... I can email the pix or post them somewhere if a podiatrist is interested in looking at them. Let me know.

[baderab]

Just wanted to post THE TOE PAIN IS GONE!!!

I finally found an ortho surgeon who took the time to do an extensive history and I had surgery on my toe on 03/24/09. When the doc went in he discovered that my nail matrix was deformed and was growing at an angle hitting my nerves, which was causing the pain! He removed the left part of my matrix, the chemically burned the nail bed and nail. I knew immediately that he had cured the problem he still wants to see me a couple more times just to make sure. I am so pleased, and impressed with this doc. Wish the other 3 I had seen had not blown me off. Pretty sad I lived with this for over 3 years.