After some increasing long runs about a week ago I developed a blister on the underside of my right big toe, near the joint of the toe meeting the foot.
The blister was a bit sore, so I soaked in Epsom salt/hot water, cleaned the area with alcohol, drained it. It was a small blister and deep. I trimmed the skin area around it, then put some neosporin on it, bandaged it up.
Fast forward a couple of days, more mileage, more biking, it started to really ache. I was massaging the area pretty hard thinking it was maybe the bone underneath. Then it started to REALLY hurt. It actually kept me up for two nights, throbbing with a dull ache that really felt like it must be serious. I took advil and used ice packs and got very little sleep.
Fearing a stress fracture, I did some Googling, “determined” I’m grinding the joint & have Hallux Limitus and basically freaked out (my mom is about to undergo serious foot surgery on some mangled old lady toes and I was thinking, shit, must be hereditary).
Long story short, I visited my podiatrist last night. She took x-rays and found no breaks and also said the toe joints all looked great. She said she thought it really was just the blister. Ruled out anything like Hallux limitis or those kinds of osteoarthritis ailments. While I’d need an MRI to see a stress fracture, her pressing and probing lead her to believe it was not likely anything serious. Luckily.
She trimmed the area around the blister (which did not seem like a blister to me any more, it looked mostly healed) and said some clear fluid (not an infection) came out, she cauterized it with silver nitrate (which btw, hurt a lot more than it looked like it would. Felt like I stepped deep onto a nail). She said to monitor it and come back next week if it is not healed/still hurt. She seemed to think it would be good soon and she *seemed *to do a thorough job examining it. I did not feel I was rushed though the office so I don’t doubt her (and she’s the professional, I just google a lot and worry).
So, now I’m taking naproxin for the ache. It’s not actually that great and around 2 am this morning I woke up and took Tylenol, and wrapped an ice pack and was able to sleep after the meds kicked in. The naproxin worked today from breakfast to about now (close to 7 hours) minimalizing it to a dull/mild ache. It’s starting to hurt again. It’s an awful lot of pain for a wee blister. I feel like I should HTFU and just get on with my training but it actually is affecting my walk and it hurts even when the’s no pressure on it.
**If there is any point to all of this rambling/whining, I guess I just want to find out if anyone has experience something like this before. What did you do? **Maybe rroof can weigh in?
I plan to soak it more tonight, the blister is now black from the silver nitrate and the POD said that should fall off with time. Sucky thing is I have a race this Sunday. It’s a short (indoor sprint) tri but would still be fun to do. I’ll play it by ear and see how the foot feels Sunday, since I hate to miss a race, but I might have to. All for a fucking blister.
Seriously, I’ve had many blisters that were WAY bigger and I just taped them and ran. I finished 2nd in a trail marathon last month on a much bigger blister on my other foot, a skinned knee and bloody elbow from a fall on rocks, and I was fine. I’m not usually a cry baby.
