A handful of years ago on the advice of my Gastroenterologist, I went to see not a Rheumatologist, but another GI who specialized in Rheumatology (if that makes sense).
The reason was because I seemed to regularly have issues with inflammation - especially on the right side of my body. My right foot skin, toes, and toe nails have been discolored and appeared to contain a lot of dead cells. I would also get occasional intense shoulder pain feeling like my deltoid muscle was 'blown out', or extremely sore and had no strength. Finally, the top of my right foot, where all the little metatarsal bones are located, occasionally gets extremely sore to the point that the achiness radiates through my body. Any form of walking, wiggling my toes touching that area, or even doing nothing at all becomes extremely painful and uncomfortable. After 2-5 days, that pain usually disappears... I am dealing with this foot pain right now as it started acting up two days ago.
That GI doctor, whose 'side specialty' is rheumatology, was trying to explain to me that my Intestinal history / issues were likely the result of an infammatory disease or some form of inflammation in my body rather than a specific inflammatory bowel disease. He believed that my bowel issues were caused by this general inflammation in my body that affected some organs. It makes sense, but unfortunately, he didn't seem to have any solution to these issues.
Two days ago the top of my right foot started acting up once again. Today there is total pain and discomfort in that area of my foot. An aching pain that radiates even when I am sitting still. Any slight movement of my ankle, toes, touching the area, or walking makes the pain and discomfort increase a lot more.
Do any of you deal with issues like the ones I am describing? When it "flares up," the pain on the top of my foot is acute. It differs slightly from the achy lower back pain which is more of a chronic thing. That said, on occasion my back pain increases where the discomfort reaches a whole new level. The same type of achy stiff pain, however, it becomes more uncomfortable and interferes with day-to-day life a lot more.
I usually go running once or twice a week. With the flareup of my foot and the current pain I am suffering, I couldn't imagine running for 30-60 seconds, yet alone 2-3 miles.... I did, however, manage to officiate some beer league hockey games yesterday - during this current flareup - without too much trouble. That said, today the foot pain seems to have reached its high point. While I maybe could still get my skate on and hit the ice for 3 hours, I have a feeling that I would have suffered a lot more.
It's a strange thing. Unlike most 'injuries' that are painful then slowly heal and get better, this issue I have seems to progressively get worse over 2-5 days, reaches its peak of pain and aggravation, and then suddenly goes away without a trace. I have never found ice or heat to help in treating it.