I am having a lot of problems with my big toe. The pain is unbearable sometimes. My mom said it sounds like I have arthritis! Is that possible at my age? The pain starts at the base of my toe and goes down into the ball of my foot when I walk. It seems to have gotten a lot worse lately and I know I haven't done anything to "injure" it. I don't want to go to a Doctor and sound stupid....any ideas?
Nikki,
Like my Doctor says "There are no stupid questions with it comes to your health" If somethings hurting you like that...put your pride aside and just go see your Doctor.
Best of luck to you
...it could very well be arthritis, ruling out the possibility of gout. You should have your doctor take a look at it and order x-rays possibly.
I have arthritis in the joints of both big toes; if I wiggle or push my toes back, sometimes I can hear and feel a low crunching noise. Make sure you wear properly fitted shoes too...
I could go on what I do for my toes..... but if your problem continues, see your doc to be on the same side. Soaking feet in water has a soothing effect, too.
I'm afraid arthritis isn't choosey about the age of it's victims. My 5 yo daughter has had Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis(JRA) for a few years now.
You should definitely tell your doctor. Maybe it's not arthritis, but wouldn't it be nice to know? There is so much that can be done to treat it these days. Putting it off will only give the disease more time to spread.
My daughter has made remarkable progress since she started treatments, with very few mild side effects.
Best of luck,
Sheryl
[This message has been edited by sherylbain (edited 10-06-2003).]
I had a lot of pain in my big toe for several months, so i made an appointment with my podiatrist worrying I might need surgery. He has done a lot of corrective surgeries on my daughter with wonderful results and I trust this doc with my life.
I go in, get the x-rays, exam, etc. He prescribes an orthopedic addition to the bottom of my show. Sounded pretty crazy but went ahead to make the doc happy and when I went back, we could get down to business. By the time of my next apppointment, the pain was almost entirely gone. If I tried to wear other shoes the toe would start hurting again. At first I had to almost sleep in those shoes. He even wanted me to wear them on nightly trips to the bathroom. Now I only make sure I wear them if I am going to be on my feet and walking for a while such as shopping. When the foot pain had cleared up, I noticed my foot was very painful along the outside edge an inch or so from the heel. This has also cleared up. A lot of the success has a lot to do with the shoe maker. I had my first pair done by one and my second by another. The first pair worked much better. What it came to, they put a piece of sole material on the bottom of the shoe so there was at least a 1/4 inch or so drop off at the ball of the foot. It started at the heel/arch area and slowly tapered up to the ball of the foot.
22 yrs old....I think I have arthritis 
