Stepped on a nail, now foot always hurts, what is wrong?

Question

Hello, My mom has stepped on a rusty nail half a year ago, she does not know how deep it went. The wound was washed and treated with some anti-bacteria medicine by my dad. Now about a year later she has pain in the foot and says it feels like the pain in the bone. She also does not remember if that was the foot that she steped on or not, so my question is what could be causing the pain if it is the foot that got punctured or not. And if the nail has nothing to do with this what other things might have caused it, is it common, is it treatable? There was no pain for a half a year, but for the past month it has not left. She is afraid to go see the doctor, so any input on the situation will be appriciated. Thank you.

Any more answers? She is not worried about seeing the doctor but she is worried about the insurance cost, getting ripped off, she does not trust the doctors, etc.. so I am trying to find out what it could be. Tks

If we rule out Tetnus disease, I read about the bone spur on webmd, and it says that it is from extensive stress, she does not have that, she stays at home, she just cleans the house, goes to the store, does gardening, she doesnt stand in one place, could it be something else?

Answer 1

Probably nothing to do with the nail. Washing 3mm of a puncture wound that covers so much area does nothing. IOW, the dirt and rust slid all the way down the nail into her foot. The body eventually takes care of that.

It could be scar tissue. Although you may not see a scar on the small surface where it entered there is a scar all the way down to the tip of where the nail penetrated. It also probably went through muscle.

I think it is just as likely a different foot than what the nail penetrated. More than likely, if it is a pain that is going to stay around for a long time, she has a "bone spur." That's not uncommon and not a result of the nail.

Tetanus is not a concern now. You get tetanus 8 days later and no one in history ever got tetanus longer than 4 months after stepping on a nail. Regardless tetanus doesn’t affect the site where the nail went it. It shows up in the neck, face, jaw, and vocal cords.

Answer 2

At first I thought about tetanus because of the rusty nail, but since it's been so long (a year you said) and your mom's health has been okay (except for the foot), it's probably not tetanus, because its incubation period is around 8 days on average. I don't understand why you don't know which foot she stepped on the nail with; can't you see the evidence of the puncture wound? It's important to know if the foot that hurts is the one that had the nail in it. I'm wondering if it's a bone infection of some sort. You'll need to see a doctor to get an X-ray and some antibiotics, I'm afraid, there's no choice in the matter if she wants to get better. You could combine it with a physical checkup, blood work, etc. since people should have physicals once every couple of years anyway. Good luck.

Answer 3

It is possible that the wound was not irrigated thoroughly.
There could be dirt or debris causing the pain.
The human body has it's own way of trying to get rid of infections/dirt/debris in skin, by covering it in a blister or zit, over time it slowly tries to migrate the dirt out of the skin. And it either ends up under-neath the skin or outside the skin on the surface.
If it ends up underneath the skin, it needs to be cleaned out. It's better if it ends up outside the skin, where it can be properly cleaned and disinfected without surgery.
My suggestion is for your mom to see her doctor ASAP.
A small infection under the skin can cause lockjaw or irreparible damage later.
She also may need to get a tetanus shot.

I had an infection on the back of my neck last year, which grew to the size of a golf ball, very painful.
I decided to go to the E.R. to have it looked at. The doctor said that he has to put me to sleep because he has to cut through all layers of my skin and the pain would be too overwhelming to have me awake. And that I made the right decision before I lost sensation on the back of my neck.
I ended up losing 3 days of work.

Point is, tell your mom to see her doctor before it snowballs into a more serious problem for her.

Answer 4

Its a possibility she scraped or broke the bone and it didn't heal well. Its not tetanus, so you don't have to worry about that. Tetanus would have already presented itself by this point. Broken bones are also spots where arthritis likes to set in early.

Answer 5

She needs to overcome her fears of going to the doctor! By waiting the problem may get worse and harder to treat. Some people need another person to ask them to go, if not for themself, then for the other person (you) since you're so worried. It's just easier for them to tell themselves they're going for you. Cry if you have to. It's maniuplative, but it will work. In this case, the ends justify the means in my opinion.

Answer 6

she should have went to the doctor and got a tentanous shot....it could still have been infected if that nail was rusty and she was not up to date and current on her shots(u have to get that shot every 7 yrs) so i would say she needs to go to the doctor and get it checked out.

Answer 7

go to the doctor

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Answer 8

TETNUS dumb *** go to doctor !