Foot/Ankle pain

I also get foot and ankle pain, though I do know I have some conditions. I also get hip, shoulder, entire spine, and sacral pain.

With my foot/ankle, I think I might have something similar to what you describe, though I do have some diagnoses. I have posterior tibial tendon dysfunction, chronically torn tendons, and osteochondral lesions (small areas of bone/cartilage death between the top and bottom bones that join the foot/ankle). It's right in the middle of the bones where one bends the foot upward & downward. I also have severe ankle arthritis.

I do get different kinds of pains in and around my ankle and foot, though. Sometimes it is hard to determine exactly what's causing it or where it's coming from. My ankle over the years has totally collapsed inward, so I have a very flat foot. But b/c of all this I can no longer walk with my foot straight. I have to walk with my right foot turned out to the right and then roll my ankle. If I straighten my foot a little too much while walking, the pain is awful. However, I was fitted with a brace, which helps tremendously with all the pain. I actually cannot believe how much it helps. But anyway, I was told the osteo...lesions can cause pain inside that area where the foot bends. When I had x-rays, it did not show anythign abnormal; but when I had an MRI, it showed all kinds of problems. I had so much damage, it looked like I jumped off a building, although I had never knowingly injured it either. So it probably is best to get an MRI if possible.

With this top of foot pain, I can be walking and just suddenly out of the blue, I get extreme shocking pain in the same area you described. It also causes me to stumble sometimes and I am always afraid of tripping or falling down stairs. Especially since I also have bad spine problems. What I did notice, though, was any time I got steroids (via spine injections/nerve blocks, or orally) the one type of shocking pain in that area disappeared. Then when steroids wore off, the pain would come back. I don't, however, have this pain all the time. It just appears suddenly, whenever it wants, then goes away. But I am now convinced that some of my foot pain must be stemming from my spine.

So, there are many possible causes for your pain and just having an x-ray may not show anything, as it was in my case. If your x-ray shows nothing, then ask for an MRI. It could be tendon or ligament related in the foot or ankle somewhere; or there could be some sort of nerve compression in your foot; or..like me, you might also have nerve compression in your spine that is causing nerve pain to radiate to your foot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantar_fasciitis

Since it involves shrinking of the tendons that's the relationship w/ carpal tunnel.

Hope it helps!!

Hmmm, I really have no idea about that. The only thing I REALLY know about Fibro is that you have to have a specific amount of tender points. As far as my ankle, that actually  has nothing to do with fibro, as I was diagnosed with arthritis, PTTD, and osteochondral lesions. But I have no idea why this happened since I never had an injury. Now, I have had swelling a few times also in my left ankle, but that was it. My right ankle is completely deformed now. All my other docs always ask if I have RA, since that does cause joint damage.

But what I can't understand is...I also have diagnosed spine problems, all of which my Rheum knows about. He also diagnosed me with sacroilitis, plus I have hip and spine arthritis as per MRI's, constant disk herniations, etc. But the last time i was at my rheum's, I said I didn't understand why I get such widespread nerve pains and spasms and why it had been killing me to sit, blah, blah...and all he said was it was probably fibro?????!!!!!!!!!!!!! It didn't make any sense. And you know....I've had ankle pain/problems for 18 years or so. It was acting up again and I wanted him to look at it. There were several times he did not look, just said, nahh, don't need to look at it. So one time I just took my sock and shoe off to show him, but he didn't say much. At the time I was going to PT for my spine, actually it was after my spine surgery, I felt like I could finally use the treadmill again, which I did. Well, that caused my ankle to really act up and my PT was so concerned, he did not want me to do that anymore. And he even did an assessment on my ankle on his own; he just took it upon himself to look at it (my PT's are awesome). He then urged me to see a foot doc again and gave me a recommendation. Well, I took his advice, saw the foot doc, and for the first time in my life had it MRI'd and wallllaaaa............such joint, tendon, and ligament damage to it for who knows what reason. He even asked if I had RA. Well, he was the one that sent me for a big foot/ankle brace and it turned out great because it's the only thing over the years that really does take away a lot of the pain. (Except when I get nerve pain from spine radiating to my foot, then it hurts)

Oh, sorry for the long rant here....please just make sure you get yours checked thoroughly and go to different doctors if need be.