Bunions! Seriously?

As the picture might suggest, a home made ice pack is required on my foot right now, to take down some swelling and somewhat numb the discomfort or dare I use the work 'pain' of my left foot.

As if gout has not been enough, it would appear that my feet have decided to punish me further now with a bunion. Familiar with having a very tender big toe joint from when gout shows its ugly face, the first signs are similar. Sensitive joint, inflammation, and near or impossible to walk.

It wasn't til yesterday I really took the possibility of a bunion seriously. Of course over recent months I have seen a little deformation of  the joint, but shrugged it off as nothing to worry about (not that I am 'worrying' now) But yesterday I was in extreme pain, same level of pain I had when I came around from elbow surgery, kinda 'please just knock me out' pain. Needless to say walking on it was a stupid idea, but I wanted to at least try and carry on.

The trip to and from the station to get to work took over double the normal time as I hobbled along trying to keep moving. Needless to say, I probably did more harm than good. For starters, the slightest amount of pressure on the knuckle of the big toe causes discomfort. Even my joggers brushing over it as I try to walk, is not very nice at all.

As for the walking part. Anyone who has had any kind of injury or ailment which has required them to adjust how they do something, will know the consequences can really be quite something.

Going back a few years, when I was first diagnosed with Tennis Elbow, I suffered quite badly from over compensation. With my left arm unusable I did everything with my right, which when added with bad work ergonomics, caused massive problems with my back, neck and shoulder on the right side.

This time around, I am more familiar with the side effects of adapting my walk. Having gone through this many times with Gout, my muscles and joints are a little more used to me walking like a youth with an attitude. The difference this time is the duration this is required. With gout, as you get into your stride, you slowly become more able to use the affected part a little more, as if it frees up. The body and mind working together allowing a certain amount of pain to be bearable, in order to let you walk without causing too much damage to other parts.

This however is not the same. Regardless of how far you walk and how long you try for, with any pressure whatsoever on the knuckle, the pain is relentless and unforgiving. For example, the 0.75 mile walk to the station from work with gout would be a little something like this.

After sitting at a desk without shoes for 6 hours, gently slip the shoe on, and hobble to the door. Leave the building slowly trying to ease yourself into a stride. 5 mins later you have found an awkward compromise and can carry on with a fair amount of discomfort, but minimal pain. By the time the walk is over, the sensations being experiences standing and walking on the foot are bearable, yet still far from pleasant.

With this current situation, with what I believe to be a bunion, it's world's apart. The beginning is the same, but from that point til reaching the end of the journey, the pain actually increases as the joint gets stressed and more inflamed. So much so, that while on the platform yesterday I was very tempted to just take my trainer off.

Speaking of footwear, I wear Nike trainers of various varieties, all of which have never caused discomfort. Soft materials applying less pressure, for those gout flare ups. But putting them on or as I discovered yesterday evening, taking them off can be agony. Right now, the way my foot feels I have NO intentions whatsoever of trying to fit a shoe on.

So as I sit here writing, ice pack on, leg elevated, I realise my pain killers are wearing off, and also realise that it is the painkillers which have given the greatest relief so far. With the recent scare of ibuprofen and diclofenac contributing towards heart issues, I have no questions in my mind right now what I am going to do... So I'm off to get some ibuprofen.

Thanks for reading. I am off to the doctors asap next week, to get looked at and have no doubt this will end up with further surgery. Something to look forwards to so I read. Guess it's a good thing I didn't get Breeny's tribute tattoo started on this foot just yet after all.

Regards
Michael

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