Med or Nurses Please... Aching left big toe, end of the day.. ouchhh?

Question

I am a registered nurse and training naturpath and herbalist, but I am stumped. My big left toe is killing me, right in the joint area, it aches at the end of the day, dull ache with some sharp stabbing pains in the joint area.It hurts and aches when I point it downwards. There dosnt appear to be any swelling or redness. Started about 7 days ago, come and goes, might be good one day and then bad the next. It started during a 3km walk the other day and I had to limp home. Strong family history of athritis and gout. I am debating if to go to the doc.. i know they are just going to say, " get some panadol". Anyone got any ideas?

My dad gets gout, my toe is not inflammed or swollen? If it gets worse i might see a doc... :(

Just wondering, in relation to reflexology, could this area be aching due to another part of my body? According to my sports massage book, that area of the food relates back to the thryoid and parathyroid glands.

Answer 1

This could be tendinitis, but I would put my money on arthritis, especially if you walk or run a lot. Classic for osteoarthritis is joint pain that worsens through the course of the day.

I can say with a fairly high level of certainty that you don't have gout based on what you're describing. The joint would be red and inflamed and simply putting a shoe on would be excruciating. It wouldn't wax and wane like you describe.

If you are prone to gout, you don't want allopurinol as initial treatment as was mentioned previously. This is a medication that prevents flare ups. The treatment for acute gout is anti-inflammtory medications (ibuprofen, aleve, etc). Fortunately, those are also the treatments for osteoarthritis so that would be my recommendation for you.

As long as you didn't stub your toe and have a traumatic explanation for your pain, then this should do the trick. If it doesn't help, the next step would be to see a podiatrist and have some x-rays taken.

As for the reflexology, it sounds like voodoo. The thyroid gland regulates body metabolism. The parathyroid glands regulate body calcium and potassium levels. The only way either of these could be related to the big toe is demineralization of the bone with hyperparathyroidism, which causes excess reabsorption of mineralized calcium from the bones. This would not be isolated to your toe, though. It would be throughout your entire body.

Answer 2

My first thought was gout, then I saw you even mentioned it yourself! I would definitely check yourself out to see. My hubby recently had the same symptoms, except he did have a bit of swelling. He went to the doctor and they just told him to take some Aleve (2 tabs BID) and he did so for about 10 days and it really helped. He told me that he was feeling a lot better in just a few days! He was doing the same as you with the limp and all. I found it very odd he was limping around when he never even injured himself (I thought he was tryin to be all "gangsta cool".. haha.. but then I realized he wasn't "faking")... that gout can be pretty dreadful! If you don't want your patients thinkin you're tryin to be all "gangsta".... I suggest you get it checked out! *smiles* haha... really, you should ck it out though ;-)

Answer 3

This condition is often the result of pressure on the toe, pushing it back into the joint as in shoes too short. Creates enough stress to cause capsular edema.. makes motion pretty painful. You may find it expedient to wear open toed shoes for a time and see if that does not solve the problem.

Answer 4

It's probably gout-classic site for it (the first MTP joint). I would suggest you get your blood uric acid level checked. If elevated, then you need anti-gout preparations like allopurinol. Don't self-medicate, however, even if you are a nurse. You need to see the MD also.