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Tarsal tunnel syndrome?
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Hello, I am F27, white if that is of any relevance towards this disease but not otherwise, and I have been suffering from terrible heel pain for 6 months. I used to be very active-bike rides, running, gym, and aerobics only to name a few. And standing a lot in my training to be a pharmacy technican (I am living abroad at the moment.) My pain is neuropathic, it is like a severe burning pain. I also have numbness, pinpricks and tingling and itchiness. The pain is mostly in my heel, but shoots upwards too. I have been to myriads of doctors, they all tell me it is all in my mind, or psychosomatic. My nerves were measured twice in a nerve conduction study-both were normal. General neuropathies have been ruled out as well but without any invasive tests. No painkillers help-I also have severe episodic migraines around 7x a month so I take a lot of paracetamol etc. I am really at the end of my rope here because of all of this I haven't been able to complete my training and to work in my chosen profession. The pain is terrible, especially after walking.
Does anyone here have TTS? What is yours like? I have not yet found a surgeon willing to operate on me, because it is a rare disease and the surgery is risky. I also have very painful neuromas in my foot, thank God I have found a surgeon for those but not for the TTS. It is in both feet. Does anyone have any insights? It would be greatly appreciated. I have not been able to find someone to do an EMG, but will see another neurologist in January. They will also do an MRI of my foot, maybe I can make them do one of my tarsal tunnel.
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Re: Tarsal tunnel syndrome? [creatureoflight] [ In reply to ]
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Bummer... My feet used to get some symptoms you've described-- likely not as severe but what worked for me was standing barefoot with a light pressure (20# +/-?) on a tennis ball and rolling a foot around for a couple of minutes per foot. Twice a day and the symptoms have gone away.

Zero idea if that will help but good luck
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Re: Tarsal tunnel syndrome? [creatureoflight] [ In reply to ]
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My non-athlete wife has it in both feet, right is much worse. She found a doctor that went through a pretty thorough process to rule out other possible causes such as lyme disease and arthritis. They used an EMG and MRI to reach the diagnosis. She had cortisone injections that would help for a couple of weeks, but the pain returned to the same level. She then had surgery on the right foot in mid-October. She was in a soft-cast for three weeks followed by a boot for five weeks, along with crutches. She is now to the point of starting to use her foot without the boot some. She seems ok for light activity but if she is on her feet for very long, she is pretty sore. We're a little over two months in and it looks like this is going to take a while before we know if it was successful. The surgeon did say that when he did his thing, he saw an immediate release of pressure and that he expects she will see significant improvement eventually.

I would like to tell you surgery immediately fixed it, but so far it's been a slow process with results still unknown.

Good luck.
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Re: Tarsal tunnel syndrome? [dreamsquasher] [ In reply to ]
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@dreamsquasher: Thanks for your reply.
So her EMG clearly showed that she had tarsal tunnel syndrome?
It is also possible to have it in both feet with a negative EMG. I never even had an EMG offered to me: they did two nerve conduction studies and then told me the pain was all in my mind when both NCSes came back normal. But it is also possible to have tarsal tunnel syndrome with a normal NCS, too.
Did they also tell your wife that the pain was psychosomatic?
What surgeon operated on her?
In Germany, I simply cannot find anyone who is willing to do this surgery. And how much did it cost, approximately?
Thanks so much.
Does she have severe pain now when resting, or is she pain free when sitting in the foot that she had surgery on? Did they ever find the cause of hers, like a bone cyst, or is hers just idiopathic?
And another thing: will she have her other foot done?
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Re: Tarsal tunnel syndrome? [daleagain] [ In reply to ]
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you are very lucky this worked for you...I wish I was also so lucky as you. My whole life is in shambles because of this, I have lost my job and have been off work for 5 months, the pain gives me extreme anxiety and my whole family now believes the pain is all in my head and I am a psycho and they are all telling me to see a psychiatrist instead of a podiatrist. I'm really miserable.
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Re: Tarsal tunnel syndrome? [creatureoflight] [ In reply to ]
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Did you diagnose yourself with TTS or is that diagnosis given to you by one of the doctors? My apologies if you wrote it in the OP. I can't recall.

My dad had a lot of the same symptoms as you. So bad that he could not sleep at night from the pain, burning, etc... The difference is he has early stages of a disease (cancer) called Multiple Myeloma (he also had extensive exposure to Agent Orange, in Vietnam). Not saying you have MM. You are 27 so that is NOT a typical age for someone with MM. But, you should have blood work to make sure you don't have some of the other weird diseases that can cause a variety of strange problems, such as this. While my dad was being worked up, they checked him for amyloidopathy, MGUS, etc...

As far as what he did to treat it, he had to have a spinal stimulator put in. This does not cure but helps cover up the pain, numbness, tingling, etc...Try to figure out "why" you have this problem before trying to do anything. First, they put a temporary one in for a few weeks to see if it actually works. If it helps, then surgery is done to place the permanent one. He thought the temporary one was disappointing in how little it helped but the permanent one has been a Godsend. It has changed his life, for the good. He has a device he uses to adjust the intensity, based on how bad his feet bother him or not.
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Re: Tarsal tunnel syndrome? [eye3md] [ In reply to ]
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Hello,
No, that is a diagnosis that was given to me by several doctors, but it wasn't a sure one-only an idea of what it might be. But no one has told me for sure.
All the best to your father, I hope he is doing well and that the cancer is not progressing.
I can't imagine it being multiple myeloma because I have never been exposed to toxins of any kind, but it is possible. Thanks for your input. I just don't know where to get checked for all of this-bloodwork I had done in June came back totally normal.
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