My husband has had a ganglion cyst on the top of his foot for a couple years. It has never really given him any problems except that it isn't nice to look at. Anyhow, for the past few weeks, he has been having pain in the bottom of his foot near his toes. I think it is all caused by the ganglion cyst pressing on nerves or whatever. He doesn't think it is related at all. The ganglion cyst is just in front of his ankle by the way. I'm just wondering if anyone else has had this kind of experience and what would usually cause foot pain in that part of the foot? He is very stubborn about seeing doctors so the pain will have to be unbearable before he goes. Any thoughts or ideas on this?

It sounds like it could be a Morton's neuroma. Does it hurt when he stands or walks for a long time? Does it feel better when he rubs the ball of his foot where the pain is? Neuromas can be near any toes but are most common on the 3rd and 4th toes. I've had 3 removed but suffered with them for many years before doing so.

Two years ago, I noticed a lump on the top of my ankle right where you would tie your shoes. I didn’t think too much of it until it got bigger and my foot started too hurt. It got so bad that I couldn’t sleep at night.

Most of my pain was in my big toe. My toe felt like it was on fire at times…that’s why we thought it was gout. All of my symptoms were pointing towards gout except it wasn’t red or warm to the touch.

It got so bad one evening that I went to the emergency room. They didn’t think it was gout but told me I could come back the next day and have tests done to rule it out. They told me to take some Aleve and sent me home. The Aleve helped a little bit however, it started to hurt horrible again. It hurt worse at night than any other time of the day. It didn’t make since that when I would lie down and put my foot up that it hurt worse.

I went to an orthopedic surgeon, had him look at it, and told him I thought I might have gout. He examined it and told me that I had a ganglion cyst. I said you’re kidding. I have had four surgeries to remove ganglions from my right wrist and they are still lurking.

He removed it a few days later. The pain in my toe eventually went away. He told me that because of the size of the cyst that I could have nerve damage. It was as big as a orange. To look at it from the outside it looked a lot smaller. It was pressed flat and went from one side of my ankle to the other. The nerve damaged happened because the cyst was pressing so hard against the nerve underneath it.

I have a lot of nerve damage from the surgery but it took care of it for a while. There is always the possibility that they will grow back. I just didn't think it would be this soon. My ankle has been hurting me for sometime now but I figured that was part of the nerve damage. Tonight we were relaxing while watching the Elvis flick and I crossed my feet on top of the coffee table and was stretching and twisting my ankle because it was really hurting. I looked at it and saw a lump, almost exactly where the other one was. I about flipped. I don’t want another surgery...that was too painful. I have heard that another treatment besides surgery is to stick a needle into it and draw the fluid out. I would rather do that every year or so than go under the knife again...

I hope your DH can find a solution to his problem. I will be going to the doctor this week to see what I need to do. I waited too long last time and was in so much pain. I know the sooner I get something done the less damage there will be to the nerves.

Thanks so much for your reply Tammy. I'm quite sure that my husband has the same problem you had/have. He had been limping around for a couple of weeks. He doesn't like to tell me much about it so I'm not sure if it hurts all the time or just when he puts weight on it. I know the limping is the worst after he gets home from work. He wears work boots so they come a few inches above the ankle so I would guess they really put pressure on it. I have read a lot about ganglion cysts and I know that the chances of it growing back after removal are quite high. I've also read about draining them which seems simpler to me too. We were told you don't need to do anything with a ganglion until it starts bothering you so we'll see how long he lets this go on! Let me know what your doctor says at your next appointment!