"Does this hurt" - ApolloSZ style, now with kicking action!!

[Sparky]

Skeen, and anyone else who wants to listen,

I struggled with plantar fasciiatis for several years. Things I tried:

1. cortisone injections in heels. Worked well, but was only temporary.
2. prescription anti-inflamatory drugs. Unpleasant side effects, and did not seem to help, so I didn't stay on them.
3. VERY expensive custom orthotics (from a podiatrist) for shoes. Wore them religiously for a year or so. Didn't do a thing.
4. accupuncture. Seemed to help, but only to a point. Was not covered by insurance, so $$$$ mounted up.
5. months of physical therapy to stretch my calves, including Graston massage, which is painful. Did my stretching consistently for months. Didn't seem to help.

Finally I got so fed up with the whole business that I stopped doing everything. I think I did use some padded heel inserts from a drugstore. The pain went away within two weeks.

BUT I believe that all that stretching and stuff I did actually DID work. It's just that while I was stretching so hard, my inflamed tendons had no chance to rest. when I quit stretching my muscles were longer and my tendons were able to heal. I think I was actually overstretching in my enthusiasm.

I am not a health professional, but this is my experience. Take my story for what it's worth.

[Syriilord]

I've had issues with painkillers during medical treatments as well. Now, normally I'm very robust health-wise. Other than a condition I was born with (which doesn't have any obvious symptoms), I generally don't have to visit doctors or the like.

However about a year and a half ago, I needed to have an abcessed tooth removed. After getting the numbing injection, I retired to the waiting room to ...well... wait for the prescribed time all patients wait for it to work. When I was recalled, there was no numbness, so I had to get another injection and wait again. Fortunately the dentist had checked with me before starting, so there was no problem.

He did comment though that he had never seen anyone who needed a second dose before. Apparantly I'm more resistant to painkillers than average, as over-the-counter stuff rarely works for me either

[BeeMused]

That reminds me of a few dentist stories of mine.
Story 1:
I was about 10 or so, the dentist poked around in my mouth with those metal thingies, he hit a very painful spot and I bit down, hard. Ooops The blood on his his finger wasn't mine. Each time after that I got told: 'Don't bite me again.' Much later he showed me my patient file, it had 'Caution! Bites!' written on it, in red!


Story 2:
I had to get several crowns, I was already sitting in the chair for hours with all that grinding and impression making and stuff, so the anaesthetic was almost gone. He was preparing the last tooth for the temp crown and used these blow thingies to dry it. *BLAMMMM* I knocked it out of his hand and sent it flying through the room. My eyes were filling with tears, that had hurt like hell. He appologized profusely and was extra careful after that.

Story 3:
A wasp had ventured into the room! I was int the chair and had to laugh, it was so absurd. 2 women, the dentist and her helper, tried to shoo the wasp out through the window. Hearing me laugh they started to laugh too, having even less success to remove the wasp. Another doctor came in, hearing us laugh so hard. I guess its a rare sound in that type of environment. She then managed to make the poor wasp leave.

[vikingchyk]

Skeen, and anyone else who wants to listen,
I struggled with plantar fasciiatis for several years. #snip#

I have also struggled with PF - first time I had it was 1995, and it eventually went away with no treatment, after about 6-8 months. I had it in both feet. It was really bad Once it went away, I was fine, until...

I've had it on and off since Nov 2009, mostly in my right foot. I got an inexpensive brace (Futuro) to wear at night, one that sits on top of the foot, to keep the foot closer to a 90 degree angle (since most of my pain came first time in the morning, because my foot position would shorten the fascia, making it tight when I tried to walk on it first thing out of bed) I wore that nightly for a few weeks. It created different annoyances, due to the closure around the ankle and forefoot, but it seemed to help.

The other thing I did was some massage around the heel and into the two long arches, using hands, or a tennis ball. I learned about it in my yoga class, and it does help. If a tennis ball hurts too much, use a foam tennis practice ball at first (which is more like a firm Nerf ball) You are aiming to loosen the fascia in the heel and foot. The simple rule is, if it hurts, you are pressing too hard. Look on the web for specific instructions how to do it, like http://www.google.com/search?q=tennis+ball+foot+massage or PM me

[bainsidhe]

I'm late jumping into this thread, but I've had terrific luck with custom orthonics. They aren't cheap - they ran me around $400 for a pair, but they've been a lifechanger. It used to drive me to tears getting up in the morning and putting weight on my feet. Same for anytime I tried to stand after giving my feet a rest. After I got my inserts, I'll be honest and say my inserts hurt like hell. It was like having a hard, plastic rock in my shoes. After slowly getting used to them, all of a sudden the inserts were very comfortable. Still took over a year for me to stand in the morning without discomfort. It's basically an injury to the arch muscle and that takes a long time to heal. I work a desk job now, so I only wear the inserts when I'll be on my feet a lot. For normal day-to-day stuff like grocery shopping, I don't worry about it.

[dmf]

Mine was from when I was about 10, I went to a local dentist. He decided I needed a filling so he gave me a shot, about 30 seconds later he was asking if I was numb yet. Nope? OK here is another shot. Another 30 seconds. Nope? OK have some more. Still no? OK one last time. Now go sit in the waiting room, we will call you in a while.
I was numb for the rest of the day.
I never went back to that dentist surprisingly.