Is this normal?
 

So, a week ago Sunday, graceful creature that I am, I twisted the crap out of my ankle (and fell down :o big boom) Right after I twisted it, I iced it for about an hour then wrapped it in an Ace bandage. Swelled up pretty badly (like grapefruit sized) for a day or so and all those broken blood vessels made it look worse than it felt. I'm reasonably sure nothing is broken for several reasons: It's never been excruciatingly painful (I broke a bone in my other foot about a year ago and it hurt so badly it made me dizzy and naseous so I know broken when I feel it :D ) - haven't even had to take an aspirin, I can wiggle all my toes (although when the swelling was at it's worst they were a little stubborn), I can rotate the ankle with only minor owey, and I can put weight on the foot with no pain in the ankle.

The swelling is over half gone now - foot fits comfortably in a tennis shoe as long as I don't pull the laces tight - and the purple is fading (although the blood that's stuck in my foot keeps migrating - today it's pooled across the top of my foot at the base of my toes like an enormous bruise but the toes aren't sore at all :shrug:.) What seems odd is, even though there is minimal achiness, the stupid foot is driving me crazy. If I elevate it for anything over 10 or 15 minutes, when I put it back down again it gets all pins and needley and when I first put weight on it after "resting" it, the top of my foot feels this horribly uncomfortable pressure - which goes away after a few steps. I'm honestly having trouble staying off of it because it feels so much better when I'm moving it around. Then, starting this Sunday, every so often the bottom of my foot starts to feel really hot - like I've been standing on super hot pavement with thin soled shoes but the skin is not hot to the touch. Even though I tried to be very careful, I thought maybe I was wrapping it too tightly so I didn't wrap it yesterday or today (I always took the wrap off as soon as I got home from work and left it off all night anyway so even if it was too tight during the day it did get circulation) but it doesn't seem to be making much difference.

I've sprained my ankle a bazillion times and after the first couple of times quit going to the doctor when it happened because they always just said the same thing: "ice it, wrap it, start using it as soon as you can put weight on it". I don't remember this particular feeling before though. Have any of you guys had odd sensations when a sprain was healing? Is it just another one of the joys of aging?

Not normal. You need to get that sucker x-rayed.

For what it's worth, I had a fractured wrist that barely hurt at first, but gave me the same pins and needles sensation and swelled. I was genuinely surprised to know it was fractured, but that didn't make it any less so!

Get thee to the doctor!

Yes 'm (sheepish)
Well crud. Guess if I didn't think that's what I needed to do I would have just kept my mouth shut :D
But I come here for the honesty so thank you. :hug:

Keep us posted. You don't want me to break out the drill sargeant smilie...

:yikes:

going to quick care tonight, promise. No drill sgt. :D

Oh yeah. Sounds like a fracture to me. Not that *I* have ever fractured anything (where's something wooden to knock on) but I've dealt with brothers and husbands and husband's brothers - all of who have.

Yeah. Xrays. Stat. ;)

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could be just a small hairline fracture.


I :lol: at the "big boom" part. I hear you, girl.

Take care of yourself!

That's kind of what I'm thinking - not sure what they can do for that though. I guess give me a drs. note to stay home from work a few days so I can stay off of it. :shrug: Like I said, there's no pain so I don't need drugs (drat :D ) But, but, my computer at home had a fatal error so if I don't come to work I'll be out of touch with my 3FChickee friends. What would I do, what would I doooooo :(

I have flat out shattered my ankle and I definitely felt that, but my husband tore a bunch of ligaments in his ankle and had many of the symptoms you described.

In other words, I agree with a trip to the doc if only for the peace of mind. I hope it's nothing serious!

once i fell and severely bruised the top of my foot and it was terrible! pins and needles feeling makes me think of broken things too... i hope you can keep us posted on the results of your trip to the doctor!

Update - Dr. Visit Turned NSV (windbag warning)
 

So, since my regular doc doesn't "do" after hours and doesn't even have an x-ray machine in his office, I went to the neighborhood Quick Care - sort of an emergency room triage type place. They don't do major stuff but if you are hemorraging or comatose they can get you stabilized before they ship you off to the hospital emergency room, and they can perscribe stuff for your horrible flu, migraine etc., etc.,

After filling out the encyclopedic intake paperwork and the obligitory 4 hour wait (would have been 3 but I had to wait for the x-ray tech to get back from his dinner break - apparently Tuesday's are slow so they only had one :shrug:); with DH pacing up and down the whole time like I was going to give birth instead of just getting an ankle looked at; I finally got to see the doc - a very nice, youngish lady Dr. who glanced at my chart with something of a quizzical look on her face then looked at me and said "How old ar you?" I didn't think too much of it and told her. We peered at my x-rays for a minute and she said there might be an eensy, weensy, teensy hairline crack in one of the little bones on the side of my foot but it was in an area where there was still some swelling that was making the x-ray sort of fuzzy so she couldn't be positive.

Apparently, I did something of a double whammy on this ankle - I only remember it rolling one way but she said it looks to her like when I tried to catch my balance after the first roll, I rolled it the other way - I like to keep things even I guess. She said the "pins and needles" and "hot-foot" sensations are happening because I traumatized the nerves but now they are waking up; and boy are they pi$$ed - she said not to be surprised if it gets a little worse before it gets better (oh, goody). I've been doing everything right though, as far as using it then resting for short periods, because the ligaments need to get used and exercised so they don't stiffen up and loose their elasticity.

Here comes the good part :D When I asked her if I should be concerned about the possibility of that little crack she said she wasn't too worried about that because "It's not like you are carrying around a bunch of extra weight that's going to stress it and keep it from healing on it's own" :carrot:

Well of course the egotistical, attention craving little vanity beast slipped it's leash (in my defense, it was waaayyy past my bedtime so I was off guard :o ) and couldn't resist the opportunity to pipe in with "Well, I guess it's a good thing I decided to lose almost 50lbs before I went and made a fool of myself, huh?" She gaped at me for a second and said "wow". Then (with only the tiniest hint of suspicion ;) ) she asked me how I was doing it. So I told her "clean eating and exercise".

She actually sat down, said "never stop", and proceeded to explain to me the reason she had asked me my age was because she almost never sees this severe a sprain in over 50, menopausal women - over 50, menopausal women don't usually sprain things, they usually snap things. :fr: So, apparently, I am the poster child (or maybe that's poster old broad :lol:) for why it's sooo important to eat right and exercise at any age.

All in all, not only was it a good visit to allay any fears of terrible damage, but gave me affirmation and a swift kick in the motivation. Thanks for convincing me I needed to go :grouphug:

Wow! Proof of the big benefits of taking care of yourself! Way to go!

What a relief that it wasn't serious. Here's to not snapping things! ;)

And no defense necessary for telling her about all your hard work. You deserve to be praised for making her job easier :)

Indeedy - I really shudder to think where I'd be if I'd taken this spill a year ago :yikes:

Wow. What a great story!

Yay for diet and exercise, huh?

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That's soooo awesome, yoyo! :carrot:

So there are already two good things that came out of you spraining your ankle - the other one being these hilarious reports of yours here. Love your way of putting things :).

Here's to a quick and mostly painless recovery!