In other news...

[reynardo]

My right ear is horridly blocked with wax so when I saw the doc yesterday I asked about it. I'd already tried drops followed by a syringe. She suggests 3 nights of drops and then syringe, and if that doesn't do it, head back into the surgery and they'll give it the hosing it deserves.

But the main reason I went to the doctor was that my right foot has been aching for ages. First thing in the morning it's so stiff and sore that I can barely walk on it, but it improves after a short while. If I sti down for a while it hurts again when I get up. And if I do a medium bit of walking, it's aching again.

It's Plantar fasciitis, also known as Policeman's foot. Cure - stretching, gentle exercise, keep using the orthotics for the time being, weight loss, time. Yeah, I can do that. To tell the truth, having even less mobility than normal has made the weight bounce up a little anyway so I'd already planned to gently start it on the way back down. Cut out extra nommies and concentrate on salads and fruit and healthy stuff. And move gyms to one I'll actually go to.

Sheesh. I must be getting old or something...

Comments

[timestep.livejournal.com]

I've been suffering from planters faciitis for the past year myself. The other thing that helps is rubbing it on a frozen water bottle, golf ball, or tennis ball.

I also don't walk around barefoot, only using shoes with really good supports.

Hope yours gets better soon.

[bast-believer.livejournal.com]

Don't wear heels of any kind while you have it, stick your feet in baths with salt daily, and get a tennis ball or something, and roll it under your foot while you watch tv... :)

Its all good home care exercises. And massage works, clearly.

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

I sadly bade farewell to all my heels a couple of years ago, when two sprained ankles in a row made it impossible to wear them. But the tennis ball sounds good.

[freyaw.livejournal.com]

It's one of the things my podiatrist got me to do, to loosen things up. I wore slip-on shoes to work and had one under my desk.

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

I had plantar fasciitis, also in my right foot. It did eventually go away, but it took a year of carefully not aggravating it. And now, the foot's not the same; if I start to use it too hard I can feel the soreness starting up again and have to stop immediately and be careful for a while. It's why I can't play DDR every day like I used to anymore.

[kerravonsen]

As soon as you described the symptoms, I thought "plantar fasciitis". I know it well, got it badly in 2003. That's why I wear Birkenstocks; it helps prevent it recurring.

Another tip: if you've been sitting for a while, before you stand up, stretch out your (right) leg so that it's straight, and bend your foot so that the toes point towards you. Repeat this a few times. This helps stretch out the tendons in your calf and foot, and it's the tendon at the bottom of the foot that's the troublemaker in plantar fasciitis.

[panacea1.livejournal.com]

Seconded the birkenstocks - I didn't get a formal diagnosis for my "holy fuck what did I do to my foot" problem, but the birks helped tremendously. Of course, now it's winter in Maine and harder to wear sandals all the time... so I hope the problem doesn't come back before summer.

[carlowe.livejournal.com]

Get a pair of Londons! They are closed Birkenstock shoes that still have the strongly orthotic footbed :)

[panacea1.livejournal.com]

I'll have to investigate whether they're available around here! (The current compromise is "snow boots with cheap arch supports outdoors, birks with wooly sox indoors!)

[carlowe.livejournal.com]

Ah, there may have been a climate-induced misunderstanding :) Melbourne gets cold, but not that cold.

Check out the Birkenstock website, I believe there is a catalogue there, and I think I saw a chunky boot on there which might be the outdoor wear you mention. Tobiasmeyer.com do mailorder birks anywhere.

Also, I buy the cork replacement ( Birki) insoles and have a shoe repairer grind down a couple of corners and fit them in my other footwear ( gumboots for farm, steelcaps for shed and occasional job, my Blundstones; I have 2 sets that I move around depending on season and need), or either the smaller blue inserts that are heel cup and arch support only, or the slimmer profile black full foot inserts, go in any dress shoes not Birkenstock. That way, no cheap insoles and consistent support.

Hope that helps :)

[panacea1.livejournal.com]

Maine's had an unusually "warm" winter so far - normally we'd have 6-18" (15-45cm) of accumulated snow on the ground by now, but in between this season's storms we've gotten above freezing often enough that it's nearly all melted off, leaving great weird expanses of greenish-brownish frozen grass where the snow cover is supposed to be.

The only quibble I have with birks at all is that their signature tread isn't any use on ice.

Oh well.

[naturalredhead.livejournal.com]

I would recommend seeing a podiatrist for plantar fasciitis.

I have it and I have an amazing podiatrist. There are other things to look at first before going down the weight loss path. I had a flareup last year caused by my orthotics no longer being right for me, and my shoes not fitting correctly. We fixed those two things and I am back to totally fine.

I especially recommend this as weight loss is not a cure for PF. Indeed, normal weight and underweight people get it as well.

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

Alas, I got it from pushing things one day when I'd decided not to wear the orthotics for once. (Although that included the Harry Potter exhibition, so it wasn't all bad :-)

I don't think weight loss is going to be the cure, but I think losing a bit of this lot will help. And I was intending to anyway. Podiatrist sounds good though. I'll find one in the next couple of weeks.

[mr-figgy.livejournal.com]

It sounds a lot like one of the problems dad has.

[crawfoc99.livejournal.com]

Plantar Fasciitis is a bloody pain in the foot. I know, I have a spur on my left heel that has aggravated the condition for the last two years. Walking is painful, gentle exercise helps,as do orthtics. Also regular cortison injections into the heel itself are a godsend. They're painful, but you end up being pain free for a few months. I've even had two manipulations by day surgery to help. My specialist wouldn't do anything for at least 18 months, but after two years, it's finally settled down reasonably. I love walking but haven't been able to do any for a couple of years due to the pain. Must start again and see how I go.

I hope you find solutions that work for you.

Hooroo,
Carole

[fluffy-cloud.livejournal.com]

I've had the same symptoms that you've described for a year now. It's good to put a name to the pain in my foot.

Ear Wax

[moxie_man]

First, I'm jealous 'cause you still have a subject line in your comments section. I guess LJ missed your account in their last "downgrade".

I've had bad wax build-up before. Usually H2O2 followed by syringe rinse works. Twice that hasn't worked for me and it needed the "professional hosing"--round here, they have a nurse do it in the doctor's office. It cleans it out TOO WELL. For two days after each time I had it done, I was very jumpy 'cause my hearing increased three or four-fold. I hadn't realized how much the wax had been dampening noise around me. Did I mention I have a hard time concentrating on any one voice if there's white noise? Imagine the noise when walking into a crowded, popular night club. That's how I felt just walking about for two days after the cleaning. Good luck!