Podiatrist Visit; New Diagnosis!

Much has happened since my last post in April. Time flies even when I am not having fun! I have visited a podiatrist twice now. He told me I have athlete's foot (tinea pedis) in three toenails; the pinky-toes and the next-smallest toe on the right. He started my on a three-month dose of Lamasil oral and said to use both Lamasil (drug name terbinafine)and Nystatin topically. (I later discovered I need a prescription for the Nystatin topical, which he gave me at the second visit). After a month, the skin breakage was healed completely and the skin was tougher. What a relief! However, the redness-burning-swelling in the feet has not gone away. On my second visit to him, he thought the swelling may be caused by lupus and said he wanted to refer me to a neurologist for nerve-muscle tests and that I should start shopping for a rheumatologist. This was not what I wanted to hear. I had gone that route eighteen and twenty-two years ago, having all the tests one with negative results, and did not want to go there again. Somehow I suspected he was mistaken, but I said very little in response. I asked, "You don't think the swelling could be caused by candida?" and he said, "No I don't." I went home very discouraged, but that night I hit the internet again and googled "Burning swelling feet symptoms" and hit the jackpot! I found a patient message board and came across a condition I had never heard of before: erythromelalgia. This is evidently a secondary condition to fibromyalgia and is caused by "transient vasospasm" or occasional constriction of blood vessels, to which the body overcompensates by dilation of blood vessels; hence, the body's flooding the extremities with blood causes the flushing and pain. It makes sense to me that the muscle spasms that are attendant to my daily life would cause this condition. I was relieved to find a possible alternative explanation--a far better one to live with than either lupus or candida. At least I wouldn't be worrying about a life-threatening situation in that case. I saw my nurse practitioner the next day, and she concurred that this diagnosis was more reasonable than lupus. I was so encouraged! So even though I still have nightly burning-feet symptoms, I can manage it fairly well by using ice packs on my feet. I have one now on the floor with my right heel, and I will take the ice pack to bed to get through the night comfortably. Imagine that! I used to sleep with socks and slippers covered by three layers of blankets in order to sleep--now I can't stand even a sheet on them. The rest of my body has to be covered or I'll freeze. It's an annoyance, to be sure. When I take showers, I must try to keep my feet out of the hot water, and blast them with cold after washing the rest of my body. Otherwise they will swell and burn right away. Erythromelalgia usually causes burning hands too, but such is not the case for me. I am wondering if the vasospasm is happening somewhere in my lower trunk, back, and gluteal muscles, since only my feet are involved. I have to sleep on my back, which means my gluteal muscles are always very tight by morning. What to do??? I could try taking muscles relaxants throughout the day in addition to bedtime, but they make me so sleepy in the daytime, and I hate that. 

P.S. The ice packs had disastrous results, sending me to ER twice with extreme pain and swelling. I learned to use refrigerated cool packs instead, and take a pile of them to bed with me to get through the night.

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