Excruciating sharp pain to my foot when I defecate. any help?

Question

Every time I defecate, as soon as feces exit through my anus I feel an excruciating sharp pain to the side of my right foot (anterior lateral to my ankle).

The first time I visited my doctor he laughed me off. but it has continued for almost a year now and i really want to take care of this.

It is conditioning me to avoid going to the bathroom too often, something that i do not want to get accustomed to.

Any help is appreciated: is there a name for this? what type of doctor should i go see? what does this come from? etc...

Answer 1

Sounds like a form of sciatica. If i were in your situation, i would first go to a reputable chiropractor to see if the problem can be fixed by correcting something that is pressing on your nerves. If that didn't pan out, I would next go to a neurologist - they should be able to identify the nerve that is causing the problem.

I would guess that this condition is caused by a nerve pinched in the sacral region. The sacrum is the triangular bone at the bottom of the spine, and just above the tailbone. One particular nerve (S1) passes through the sacrum and ends in the foot. Pressure on the S1 nerve root could cause pain in the lateral part of the foot. Pressure in the sacral region during a bowel movement may be putting pressure on the nerve to your foot and causing the pain. An MRI of the sacrum might show the problem.

Answer 2

Assuming you're not just messing with us, and that you really have this condition, my best bet is that there's some odd type of nerve involvement. Perhaps sciatica?

I have meralgia paresthetica, which you've probably never heard of. Basically, it's an irritated entrapment (some folks might compare it to being "pinched") of the lateral femoral cutaneus nerve. This nerve is not as long as the sciatica, but it does go from the lower back vertebrae, thru the side groin/pelvis area, and into the top outer portion of the thigh. Sometimes, when I defecate, I get a twinge of nerve pain on my left outer thigh. Somehow the extra strain (not as in constipated, just as in "effort") on the muscles and nerves during defecation jostles the nerve a bit, so I feel a twinge.

I don't know if any portion of the sciatica nerve is in or near the groin/pelvis area, but if it is, then it would make sense that perhaps when you defecate, the contractions of the muscles cause a temporary irritation to the sciatica, and you feel the result in your ankle. The lateral femoral nerve stops in the thigh, but I believe the sciatica does down to the lower legs, so my guess is sciatica involvement.

But please, don't take my (or anyone else's) word for it on Yahoo. The BEST thing you can do is get a second opinion, since your first doctor keeps laughing at you (which I find fairly rude.) Good luck! :)