I’ve been suffering from plantar fasciitis for the last several months. I finally broke down and went to the podiatrist today, and the indicated treatment was a cortisone injection into the affected area.
It hurt. Bigtime. However, now my foot is numb and the inflamed area doesn’t hurt for the first time in several months, so there is a silver lining after all.
But, oh I do NOT want to do that again!!! :eek:
I have no idea what that is (planter, whatsis?), but you definitely made me cringe. A shot in your foot? Yowww. :eek:
Hope you’re feeling better.
Guh. Stories like this just make me less inclined to go and seek medical assistance for my own foot pain… <cringe>
Same here. I’ve been suffering from plantar fasciitis for about 2 months. I’ve recently figured out that’s what it is. I have resigned myself to wearing supportive shoes or sandals all the time. No going barefoot. This has really helped.
Also flexing exercises for several minutes before getting out of bed in the morning really helps.
I am not going to the doctor to have them stick a needle in my foot. Well, at least, the pain will have to get a hell of a lot worse for me to consider it.
Sorry…meant to add that I’m glad you’re getting some relief from your ordeal.
If memory serves, the common term is plantar warts.
Not fun. I hope you don’t have to go through it again Clothahump.
when I was recovering from a shattered heel, I got cortisone injections several times.
Hurt like a MF the day I got the injection. However the next day it felt like I could have run a marathon. This after barely being able to walk across the room the day before the injection.
Used in moderation cortisone is a wonder drug.
No, plantar fasciitis is the inflamation of the plantar fascia that runs from the heel to the ball of the foot.
Boy, you sure have my sympathy - I’ve had to have that shot many times.
Does your doctor use an air injector gun? (sorry, I’m sure there’s a more technical term for this). The cortisone is injected very quickly, so it isn’t quite as excruciating.
My dr knows I’m a big coward, so he uses the kiddy injector for me - I have a choice of a blue or pink elephant, and the needle is his trunk! 
:smack: My thanks to Rhiannon8404 for the correction and my apologies for the misinformation. This is one of the (sadly common) instances when my memory doesn’t serve.
Hee hee, no problem. I reread my post and though, I hope that doesn’t sound snippy. People do mix those two up a lot.
I had plantar fasciitis and it was excruciating. Someone here on the SDMB recommended Z-Coil shoes, so I shelled out $200 and bought a pair. The pain slowly went away and was completely gone in about 4 weeks. The only problem is occasional comments or questions from strangers asking about the funny looking shoes. I just tell them it’s what the brothers wear in the ‘hood and that’s usually good enough for them.
I had plantar fasciitis when I got into marathon running, and I found that taping my feet actually worked very well:
http://www.nismat.org/traincor/pl_fasciitis.html
Of course, if it’s advanced enough, I don’t know how much tape will help.
Still, my thoughts are with you. Good luck!
I had plantar fascitis for much of last year and as I was trying to take up running it was annoying. Let us know how well this worked when you decide whether it was worth it.
Nothing to do with warts, that’s a completely different disease. Plantar refers to the bottom of the foot. In medicine, it’s called the plantar surface.
Fasciitis (note the spelling, with double i) is an inflamation of the fascia, the covering of the muscle, and an extention of the tendon. Think of a net bag tied at both ends.
The fascia and tendon are not intended to stretch.
The plantar fascia is the extention of the achilles tendon. As time goes on, for many reasons, the achilles tendon shortens. Just being on one’s feet for long periods can cause it, high heel shoes are a culprit too, but, there are other causes too.
Anyway, as the tendon shortens, the facia stretches, causing pain and inflamation.
Cortisone injections are very effective to relieve pain, but they are not a cure, in fact, they will weaken the tendon ovr time. Most doctors will not inject the same area more than three times in the patient’s life time.
Taping can help with the acute pain, but it too, is only palliative. There are exercises that can stretch and strengthen the tendon. Some doctors will perscribe a night boot to prevent foot drop while sleeping.
I wore these for two years. I still wear a night boot occasionally, when my feet start getting numb when I’m lying down.
It can a long time to heal, since staying off ones feet is difficult.
Me too (having had that shot many times that is, no heffalump injector though :mad:). It can help if they spray the foot with numbing spray first - I think it’s some sort of liquid or gas that evaporates very fast and therefore chills the area - but that only takes care of the skin part of things. I usually grip the arms of the chair Very Hard and chant Shitshitshitshitshitshit until it’s over. It does work nicely though, but of course you have to take steps to minimize reinjury (taping, orthotics etc.).
This reminds me of a shot in the foot story of my own.
A couple months ago, I was moving my living room around and I pulled the couch back onto my left big toe. Hurt like hell, but I toughed it out and finished moving stuff around. When I was done, I plopped down and it was then that I noticed that I had ripped off half of my big toenail. It was still connected and bleeding a little, but it really didn’t hurt that much (I have a very high tolerance for pain). I called the doctor and they said I should come in and have it looked at.
So I drive down to the after hours Kaiser clinic, they x-ray it to make sure it wasn’t broken (it wasn’t), and send me up to get it fixed. The doctor said she would have to cut away a lot of the toenail, which could hurt considerably, so would I like a pain killer? I said, why not?
She then proceeded to pull out a needle and shoot it UNDER MY TOENAIL. High pain tolerance aside, that hurt like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. She gave me a few minutes to let it make my toe was comfortably numb, then she cut off most of my toenail, wrapped it up, told me it would be several months before it grew back, and sent me on my merry way.
No, it’s not warts. Click here for a good description of it.
I must admit that while getting the shot was most assuredly not pleasant, it was well worth it. My heel does not hurt today for the first time in quite a while. I’m going to take it easy for the next couple of weeks, continue doing the stretching and deep massage and arch supports and hope that this one time will do the trick.
LOL! 
I can just see that in my mind’s eye. No, he used a traditional hypo. He deadened the surface with a cold spray first.
I feel short-changed now. I want an elephant shot if I have to have another one!
I am pretty sure that this is what’s wrong with my foot, too. Thing is I just started a new job and have to wait for my insurance to kick in before I can know for sure.
What sort of non-doctor remedies work well?
This thing hurts like hell! I have no choice but to be on my feet for a good part of the day as I am a teacher.