hey everyone, it's been a while since I've been here, been having computer issues. Anyway, my foot is finally healed, and I am getting used to walking on it again. I've been out of the boot for about 2 weeks now! However, I'm having a very strange problem now. I am developing little lumps deep under the skin in my baby toes on the injured foot. They are tender and very frightening. I went to the doctor today, and he said it could be bergers disease. So I come home and hop on the internet, only to find out bergers disease is a kidney disease, having nothing to do with the feet. Anybody have any idea what I should think about my doctor or my toes? Thanks again everyone, and I hope you all are doing well.
Jennifer

Try Buerger's disease. Do you smoke?

thanks, I'm looking it up

sigh... yes. but I'm trying to decide if quitting smoking is worth it. I get too stressed out without it. anyway, it looks like that's what the problem is... I wonder how common amputation is with this disease.

Apparently you can avoid the possibility totally by quitting smoking. People who refuse to quit are the ones who end up with amputated limbs. Is it really worth losing your toes for? I just quit about five weeks ago (with nicotine patches), it's not nearly as bad as you think (don't get me wrong, the first couple of weeks were bad!). The smoking cessation board here is really helpful. If that's what's wrong, please quit smoking. Once you lose a limb, your not going to get a second chance. I quit just because I had minor problems. Smoking contributed to the ruptured disks in my neck (proven, not just a doctor's generic statement) and I wanted to breath better and be able to exercise without gasping. I didn't want to smell of cigarettes anymore. But faced with smoking and amputation, I can guarantee the smoking would have to go! Get to a doctor for verification of that diagnoses too. You need to get all the facts on that one, it sounds bad if you don't treat it.

dollface,

Amputation is a pretty steep price to pay. You said you get too stressed if you don't smoke. I'm not sure whether you know, but it's a common fallacy that smoking calms you down. In fact, many of the (sometimes 4000!) ingredients in cigarettes, which can include nicotine, cocoa and--believe it or not--chocolate actually heighten the "anxious feeling" that many smokers are trying to eliminate. If you don't believe it, try an Internet search on "ingredients of cigarettes" and you'll see what I mean.

Different companies include different ingredients but all include nicotine, which has been proven to cause, not cure, anxiety. So if you smoke to control anxiety, it's actually a vicious circle: you feel anxious so you smoke, your anxious feelings are heightened and you smoke more. Any relief you feel actually comes not from the cigarette itself but from the soothing effects of the ritual of smoking and the oral gratification (similar to folks who eat to try to control anxiety.) And safe substitutions can be made for those. I did some research in undergraduate school about a hundred years ago that basically validated this "vicious circle", before the American Cancer Society widely publicized their research.

If dealing with stress is the reason you smoke, I wonder whether it wouldn't be safer, and more effective, to get a prescription for a minor tranquilizer to deal with the root cause rather than use something that actually makes it worse? To deal with the addictive nature of cigarettes, you might also try hypnosis. It sounds out there, but I once helped a colleague stop smoking within a couple of months by referring her to a certified hypnotist. It worked like a charm. She wanted to stop because she wanted go become pregnant and her doctor wouldn't agree to monitor her medically unless she stopped smoking. I checked back with her later and she was smoke-free and happily expecting her first child. I figure your motivation to avoid possible amputation (if that's the case) would be at least as strong as hers.

One last thought: those who fail with hypnosis usually do so because of a lack of reguar reinforcement. It's important to have the reinforcement of weekly sessions (even if you tape it and play the tapes back yourself) until you're completely free of it. Anyway, I hope you don't mind this unsolicited advice from a concerned observer; it seems the stakes may be very high for you. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

twobadfeet