Please help! Ankle pain

In January this year, I woke up in the middle of the night with an intense ankle pain. I am a M 27 years old. Earlier that day I went to the gym but performed my regular exercises (eliptical trainer) and noticed no pain for the rest of that day.

I went to A&E, and they took X-Rays and said there were no broken bones so it's likely it is a sprained ligament or tendon.

It took about a month to recover to walk unaided, and perhaps another 2 weeks to get back to 95%.

Since then I get occasional pains, especially after a day where I've done a lot in the gym, but I normally sleep it off.

Now 2 weeks ago, I woke up with a slight pain and swelling in the ankle. Completely out of the blue. I hadn't been to the gym for a few days nor done any strenuous exercises. The pain and swelling was only slight so I took no notice of it and went on with my day. As the day progresses, the swelling and pain steadily increased, and at night time was UNBEARABLE. Over the last two weeks I've seen to real recovery, and cannot walk unassisted. It is causing me a lot of problems with work etc and I've had many sleepness nights. I cannot take ibuprofen as I have UC which I was diagnosed with recently and may be in some way related to my initial bout of pain killers. I had another x-ray no broken bones. I went to my GP and he said I will have to have an MRI scan but the waiting list it quite long.

Some details about the pain. I have some motion up and down (it is my left ankle) but side to side is very painful. Likewise if I;m walking and theres a stone on the floor and inbalance causes a lot of pain. There is swelling to the left and right of the foot at ankle height. The whole foot it a lot more red compared with my right foot (blood?). I do some basic exercises and use the RICE technique but really need to get back on my feet....

Any insights?

Sorry to read about what is going on with you. Very strange how this just appears. The first thing that crops up in my mind is I wonder if you have some sort of a ligament instability. I am not a dr, I am guessing here. If this were me I would find an orthopedic that deals in foot and ankles only. Those guys see and find things a regular ortho may overlook.

Good luck.....Susie

Coming up to three weeks and still no improvement. GP said it could be arthritis due to UC.... Have an MRI scan next week so looking forward to seeing whats up.

hi thanks for the reply.
I have never had any steroids, just asacol. However the initial ankle pain was present before I had UC.
There is considerable swelling and the foot is a lot redder than the other one.

Have you had a blood panel? There aren't that many foot problems that would just randomly hit and most of them can be traced on a blood panel, one of them that I know of is chronic gout, which generally only effects one area, its a form of arthritis, very painful, comes and goes as your uric acid levels built and taper. Just one thought, but until you geylt an accurate diagnosis, I would keep that thing elevated and on ice, if there is soft tissue damage, its not gonna feel any better by trying to bounce around the house like the rest of us in our 20s.

if by blood panel you mean blood test, I've had multiple this year and nothing stood out.

I'm waiting for MRI then will be referred to the right team, this is how things are done apparently. Coming up to three weeks with the reoccurence of this problem and still as immobile as day one...

I will try to find my TENS machine.

Hey snow bunny, is there a way to report his whole profile, or will they just delete it? I saw he told someone taking topemax that his "wonderdrug" would work better. I take it there's this kind of spam fairly often? What an un-compassionate, greedy toad.

yep I figured they were spamming.

Off to hobble to get some ice... It does seem to help.

You can irritate an ankle easily and repeatedly if you have flat feet or very flexible arches that let your ankles tip toward each other. I used to have ankle pain after running or cycling. After being misdiagnosed by 3 orthopods I saw a podiatrist who made me arch supports with a wedge on the inner edge of the heel to throw my pronating feet outwards. Very fast relief.

Just plain arch supports won't work if you "ankle-over" (pronate). The soft ones are no good either. They have to be hard plastic, shaped to your feet from a mold, and have wedges on the heel and inner edge of the ball of the foot.

Glad to hear that you are scheduled for the ankle MRI. Many things could be going on, no way to really tell. Sometimes a tiny break takes time to show up, ligaments and tendons can take forever to feel better too, the list could go on forever,lol.

The good news is that diagnosis is moving forward. NHS system sounds a bit frustrating when it come to just wanting to feel better. But I can see the benefits. USA healthcare costs are a killer, so many people utilizing services they really dont absolutely need driving costs up, anyway not trying to start a debate, just venting.

Keep us posted on that MRI!!!! Best of luck!

Found out what the likely cause is:
Navicular bone in ankle has moved position, the orthopaedic then applied some pressure and massage to get it back. It does feel a lot better, and I'm going back on Thursday for another session.

2t4t...real quick to not hijack MSX's post...but every state has free clinics that accept children...especially for immunizations. So call around and it should be easy to find one that can take your son.

MSX...glad to hear that you were able to be seen and that the pressure/massage helped...I would think they could show you how this can be done at home to help as well...

Keep us posted..

a quick update. After the therapy, the pain on the inside of the ankle is almost gone! However the pain seems to have shifted to the outer ankle area. Hopefully will clear up after another visit on Thursday.