Toe arthritis

F

F4mandolin

Full time employment: Posting here.
Joined
Nov 26, 2008
Messages
921
Location
Harrogate, UK
Anybody out there have their big toe "adjusted"? I'm going in to have my foot checked out on Thursday. I think it is arthritis......it's been slowly coming on for about 4 years and it's starting to get interesting over the last 6 months, locks up at times and hurts like hell for a little bit. The two methods for solving it seem to be going in to scrape the excess bone/crap off so the toe can move freely again......or fusing the joint. Fusing seems to be the better long lasting fix, but you can forget the joint moving again. Also a longer recovery. We have pretty well decided to move back to the UK in a couple of years....so all this kind of stuff I was hoping to get done now.
 
DW has been having pain in her toe for a few years now. The doctor calls it arthritis, but nobody has mentioned any resolution to it. Maybe it's not bad enough yet in their opinion, but it DW doesn't usually complain (that's my job), and she does about the toe sometimes. I'll tell her to ask the doc about it.
 
Gout would be #1 on the differential diagnosis in my book. You might want to read this before your appointment.

Gout - MayoClinic.com
 
Nope.....doesn't sound like gout. This has been slowly coming on for about 4 years....slowly and steadily. I remember my mom had some gout in her knee.....she did not like it. My toe only really hurts bad for just a few minutes (usually) and then usually releases and I can move it around again. Something changed last Monday and I couldn't go for a walk for a couple of days.....and then ached when I walked for a few more days before getting better. Toe has gotten stiffer and can't bend it up very far at all now even when I grab it and stretch it hard up. The address below hits it right on the head.

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00168
 
Meadbh said:
Gout would be #1 on the differential diagnosis in my book. You might want to read this before your appointment.

Gout - MayoClinic.com
Click to expand...

I'll defer to Meadbh on this for the technical/medical part, but know from personal experience that Gout... is incredibly painful and can be debilitatingly serious, if steps are not taken to change diet or to mitigate the risk with medication. IMHO... an attack is the equivalent of a root canal, without anaesthesia.

Mentioning this here, because of the increasing occurence in the US, and to point out that it is preventable. The scariest part is that an attack may come and go, without the victim even knowing about the cause... and that the more often the problem occurs, the greater the likelyhood that it may continue to recur.

Here is a piece about the increasing prevalence of Gout... expected to affect about 4% of Americans... 8 million persons.

2011_01_24 | American College of Rheumatology | ACR
 
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I'm a young gout victim. It gradually got worse over 5-6 year period, each time lasting a little longer and hurting more. They kept suggesting it, but dismissed it because of my age (30-35 at the time).

Eventually went to a specialist in Dallas and he ended up draining both my knees and confirmed gout after looking at the fluid contents. Uric acid was high for years and he explained the process builds over time and will reduce over time.

Currently taking 300mg Allopurinol for it and never looked back. I'm more active now than the past 15 years and loving it. I feel for anyone who gets this horrible condition.
 
Similar symptoms here. My doc tested for gout, but that came back negative. I eventually self-diagnosed 'turf toe' - wearing stiffer soled shoes cleared it up within a couple of months.
 
Having had both gout and big toe arthritis, I can say in my experience, there's no mistaking gout! The pain from the toe arthritis is not in the same class. I'm fighting it now - haven't come up with a solution yet. I'm not looking forward to going back to shoes with the weather change!
 
I first experienced arthritis in my big toe six years ago. It always comes on in fall during the first low pressure system. This year, I only had it in one toe and it lasted around four days. I am expecting the other big toe will hurt during next storm. Saw my rheumatologist for regularly scheduled appointment last week and he said not to worry about it; take some ibuprofen and wait for it to pass.

Marc
 
Well, guess I will find out Thursday. I still think it fits with a slow arthritis diagnosis. Gout.....that I know of (mother included).....this is NOT. Gout....well....you stop and deal with it. This is something I can cope with but is getting worse....and don't want it to be a problem in the future.

Of course.....it COULD be a horrible alien space disease.......orrrrrrr, it's all Japan's fault with the radiation......
 
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F4mandolin said:
Well, guess I will find out Thursday. I still think it fits with a slow arthritis diagnosis. Gout.....that I know of (mother included).....this is NOT. Gout....well....you stop and deal with it. This is something I can cope with but is getting worse....and don't want it to be a problem in the future.
Click to expand...

I'll be curious as to what the Dr. says - and what actions you can take (other than ibuprofen). I'd love to know what the do's and don'ts are for it!
 
F4, you seem to have made your diagnosis. I hope your physician agrees with you. If not, will you follow his/her recommendations?
 
Hmmmm.....I have been labeled. I can live with that.

Ibuprofen.......and all the anti-inflammatory drugs....don't seem to work on me (kind of a family thing). No noticeable effect at all.

Mead-absolutely....as long as it makes sense. I do not trust anybody but me to make the final decisions on my welfare. I do not think that if I don't go to church I will burn in hell....... I do not think that because Obama said that health care is no solved, it will do just that.... but the online diagnosis for gout....compared to arthritis.....no comparison in my book. Gout is nasty...hits hard and stops you doing anything at all. Arthritis, pain in the ass....but you can deal with it.....that's what I have. I will let you know the verdict. Even if I am wrong.....I am a big boy and can deal with being wrong. My wife may disagree however....:LOL:
 
As my Brit wife would say....Bugger, damn, piss.....sorry, I do remember the Mead (bh) post. I have had beer.....and I am getting old (56).....and I have terrible eating habits....and even retired I tend to get up between 5-6am (it sucks, even after 2+ years). What does that have to do with anything .....dunno. Right now....just trying to get to 500 posts.....I know......pretty pathetic. But expect several more totally worthless posts in the next day or so.....
 
F4mandolin said:
As my Brit wife would say....Bugger, damn, piss.....sorry, I do remember the Mead (bh) post. I have had beer.....and I am getting old (56).....and I have terrible eating habits....and even retired I tend to get up between 5-6am (it sucks, even after 2+ years). What does that have to do with anything .....dunno. Right now....just trying to get to 500 posts.....I know......pretty pathetic. But expect several more totally worthless posts in the next day or so.....
Click to expand...

Other than the Brit wife, the number of posts, the beer and the sore toe, we have a lot in common! :D
 
Of course....it could be kicking the cement wall while I was in high school....that really hurt. I mean.....really really hurt. Why you ask? I was playing tennis.....a bit competitive.....and blew an easy shot. I still remember that one.....not the shot....but kicking the wall. I really haven't grown up very much.....:facepalm:
 
Surgery scheduled for 14 Nov. Everything was exactly as was shown on the site I posted earlier. http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00168
Bone spurs built up around joint. Told me it would likely come back eventually as well. I do a lot of up hill walking on the treadmill at home.....he said that is now a no-no.....forever. So it is either the recumbent bicycle on my indoor bike from now on, or some other device that doesn't tilt my toe up too much. Walking on a treadmill on level ground is almost no exercise for me.....heart rate won't get high enough to do anything. I walk at 4.4mph uphill as it is.....so likely would have to go to race walking mode which I have tried.....and don't care for.
 
I've had arthritis in both big toes for several years, and X Rays show that it's getting progressively worse. But it doesn't hurt much, often not at all, which surprises my podiatrist. I've developed a decent-sized bone spur on top of one of the joints, but there's no pain, so maybe I got lucky and the spur grew in such a way that it doesn't interfere with the joint. One concession I've made it to wear wider shoes with a bigger toe box, which seems to help. So I've been lucky thus far, but won't be surprised if someday it starts causing major problems.
 
I could also have put this off for a few years....but if I move back to the UK....it's a bit harder to fix there. I think it very much is a case by case basis. I like the fact that I need to start planning now on getting rid of the treadmill and getting something else when we move back to the UK. There is a pretty big bicycle culture(racing which would fit my nature) there.....maybe I need to join in with that.
 
Good luck with your surgery.
 
Meadbh said:
Good luck with your surgery.
Click to expand...

+1

Have you tried an elliptical trainer? I find no pressure on my toes and back like a steep incline on the treadmill, but it is a great workout.
 
I REALLY don't mean to sound condescending.....but elliptical trainers are near worthless for people trying to get a decent workout. Yep....I have used them....many times. If I have to replace the "in house" treadmill with another machine....don't know what I am going to do. Especially when we head back to UK land...... I had some machines in the gym at my last school/base that really kicked my butt. I called them the death machine....they weren't, but my heart rate got up near DEATH range when I used them. Elliptical worked ok for some people.....I just couldn't get a decent workout on them. Getting old sucks.....I mean....it really really sucks.
 
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