I ended up very painfully twisting my ankle last monday during my lunch.
I almost passed out from the pain (and almost tripped three guys in the process). The men helped me up and offered me a hand to my office. I swore to them I was fine (could you imagine how embarassing that would be??)
Well My walk (50 feet to the elevator, 20 feet to my desk) was slow and excrutiatingly painful. I got the "cotton in the ears" stars dancing around my head and extreme dizziness every few feet and would have to stop (between hobbling and hopping). - no I did not hit my head, that was the first question the doctor asked me when I told her about it.
When I got to the office, I ended up having to put my head between my knees so I wouldn't pass out! I put my foot up for the remainder of the afternoon with a cold pack.
DH picked me up from work and brought me to docs. I got an xray recommendation sheet - she told me to keep the foot up and iced - and if it wasn't starting to get better by the next day - to go in.
Well the next day it did get a little better. I kept my foot wrapped for two days, by friday I was walking normally again. A little bit of buising, which is now gone.
Well last night, I walked up the stairs to use the washroom, and the damned ankle went out on me again!! I didn't twist it, I wasn't running up the stairs - just regular old walking.
Now the pain comes and goes as I walk. I can walk 20 minutes and it's fine, but other times, I walk a few feet and it goes (pain, not physically collapsing)
I ended up having to buy a brace today, but it does NOTHING but keep my foot more stable (as it wobbles when I get a painful spell).
My work is telling me I should get it x-rayed as it could be broken or fractured - but I just can't see it as I can still physically walk (okay limp). But if it was fractured, I wouldn't have non painful steps would I?
And it's no longer bruised, but it gets swollen on the bottom of my foot. The pain is just under the inner ankle that shoots up my leg...
What do you think? Do you or have you had annoying ankles like me??
Last edited by tamaralynn; 04-15-2008 at 09:52 PM.
Ankle instability can be caused by any number of things, but major injury is among them. As soon as it gives out after an injury, you know you have something serious going on.
most definately get to a doc ASAP. You can have a torn ligament or a small fracture and still be able to walk on the foot. With the amount of pain you described at first that is very unusually for just a sprain. Go to a dr NOW! Or you will start to develop other problems. I sprained my ankle this past summer and never got it evaluated, and developed a bad plantar fascititis in the other foot. For you health, don't be stubborn like me...and go to the dr.
I agree with everyone else. Go get the ankle looked at again. Make sure they x-ray it, because stress fractures are sometimes oriented so that they aren't visible right after it happens, but will hurt like the dickens! X-rays a few days later usually show the fracture. But, sprains can be just as painful and take a long time to heal (I've had both ankle sprains and a stress fracture in my foot at different times-the sprain took longer to heal-sorry!). Get it looked at again.
The only reason why I'm stubborn is because I HAVE torn ligaments when I was 12 (same ankle.. hmm). I went to hospital, they xrayed and wrapped my foot in tape. My foot swelled up to the size of a cantelope, bruised almost up to my knees. I was on crutches for almost a month.
This time (the pain was there) but the swelling was minimal and barely any bruising. I could walk fine on it (limp). Now when I say the ankle "goes" I don't mean physically collapsing, but that the pain comes.
I'll see if I can go over to the clinic during my lunch break - hopefully it's not too packed.
Can this cause fatigue? I've been EXHAUSTED the last two days - work sent me home an hour earlier yesterday because they (and I ) thought I was coming down with something.
BTW - I've always had problems with this ankle since I torn the ligaments 15 years ago. But I haven't hurt it this painfully since.
Go see an ankle specialist. I finally went to one after dealing with an ankle injury for 3 months with my regular doctor. It's now been 7 months and my ankle is still in the process of healing. I re-injured mine after doing only 7 minutes on the elliptical! Now I'm back to wearing an aircast, heat/icing and physical therapy. It's very frustrating, but you have to take care of it and do everything possible to strengthen the ligaments and tendons so you don't end up with the same injury again and again.
Height: Tall enough for my feet to reach the ground
I would head to the Orthopedist...I have a bad ankle for 23 years and it is definitely not something to put off. I walk/jog (lightly) and I have a broken leg (medically broken). I have had it for 13 years. I am actually going to a specialist next month again to see about ankle replacement (I am excited!).
Stupid Ankle
