#What is a podiatrist

[comas-are-for-sleeping]

WHAT THE FUCK IM SEEING MCR FOR THE SECOND TIME I NEVER EVEN THOUGHT IT WOULD HAPPEN A SINGLE TIME

[sporesgalaxy]

wait i lied . i need to tell you that the funniest symptom of ehlers danlos syndrome is "velvety skin." my joints are weird as hell but my skin is so soft. but in a weird way so watch out!

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

being chronically ill is fun because sometimes you see a doctor whos like yeah no idea whats wrong with you so ill refer you to this department where a doctor is like yeah no idea whats wrong with you so ill refer you to this department where a doctor is like yeah no idea whats wrong with you so ill refer you to this department where a doctor is like yeah no idea whats wrong with you and you just end up

[haberdashing]

you know it's been a fun day when you're adding medical items to your amazon wishlist

[chronicillnesscaneffoffplease]

I graduated from my bachelor degrees yesterday. It still feels like a bit of a dream.

I’ve got two fancy pieces of paper now, and a fancy hat, and a feeling of pride that I made it through uni, let alone while my health crashed and burned around me, through multiple investigative surgeries and procedures, and so many diagnoses, in the midst of a global pandemic. I, and many of my friends, and my peers, we made it.

But the day took a huge toll on me. Wake up early to get ready. Ready includes the waist-high compression stockings I sometimes don’t have the strength to put on. Struggle with them for a solid while. A beautiful dress, with pockets!! Wear sensible shoes, with a low heel and additional arch support. Worry about tripping or fainting while walking the stage for a good long while. Instead, trip and fall on the way to registration, banging my knee onto carpet covered concrete. Ouch. Sit in the shade, with sunnies on, hoping I don’t develop a migraine while waiting for doors to open for us to be seated in the hall. Walk the stage without any issues, but lean heavily on the bannister as I cautiously take the steps off the stage. Let loose and allow myself a glass of champagne to celebrate after. Roll my ankle again, walking to a photo location after the ceremony. Start to feel exhausted, but know we still have dinner plans. Majorly enjoy dinner, almost forgetting that my stomach will hate me for it later. Still had to take my meds, still had to pay attention to most of my pain and migraine mitigation strategies on this day that’s so special, but cannot be just about me, because it is also about my managing my illnesses and how they are never going away.

So here I am at home, resting, nursing a twice sprained ankle, a sore knee, a gastro intestinal tract that can’t deal with the excitement and nerves and lovely celebration dinner, a flu-like feeling and thermoregulation issues and malaise (so a fatigue flare up basically). But it was worth it.

I did it. And I’m going to keep doing it at my own pace as long as I can. I’ve been accepted for an honours year (or 2- part time) and I hope to do more after that. Disabled and chronically ill people belong in academia. Our voices are important.

[stupid-lemon-eater]

i think one of the most frustrating things about having chronic illnesses is how many comorbidities come up that also have to be dealt with at some point or other. most of my life now is going to appointments, recovering from appointments, preparing for appointments, doing assigned exercises from appointments (with fatigue as a symptom for most of my symptoms disorders, mind you), so when something new pops up which i'll have to see another medical specialist for, i end up debating with myself whether it's worth it to try and make the appointment now when it's theoretically easier to deal with (though will probably add on yet more exercises), or to wait for a bit longer for when i'll actually have some damn capacity to deal with Yet More Bullshit™

[llycaons]

its really good that I took today off because not only did I start getting treatment for the tooth pain and have the time to prep the new storage unit, I also made a bunch of health care related calls and avoided a potentially disastrous appointment time. but goddamn managing your health appointments even with relatively mild chronic issues is such a hassle if you have multiple providers

[trans-yllz]

GUESS who broke part of his heel 🥰🥰🥰

[whatafirefeelslike]

running update, i am 1 week out from the half marathon i signed up for a year ago and today was my last long run. i was worried about running 10 miles, as a week ago i couldn’t do 5 miles without pain. but today was lovely, really easy except for this tickle in my throat—might have caught a little something. i’m gonna see how i feel tomorrow and Tuesday morning as i have my second to last speed workout that day. if i still don’t feel well im just going to do the bike. but my foot felt totally fine. my right hamstring was bugging me a bit but not too bad. tuesday will be the real test of my injuries (if i’m not too sick) bc i’m gonna go fast and wear the shoes i plan on wearing for race day

i’m wondering if the foot issue was just my shoes being too tight. i remember having issues in just my new pair of brooks glycerin 20s. my old pair of the same model felt fine today and my race shoes felt fine. i’m so excited that my race shoes match my outfit too 😍 i need the weather forecast to change so it feels more like today tho

[madlori]

My ankle journey

I am sharing this with all you good people on the dash because I am so fucking mad it took so long for me to learn it and if I can spare one (1) person the agony it will be worth it.

So for like...oh, 8 or 9 months, I've been struggling with pain/inflammation/tendinitis in my left Achilles tendon. I don't know what caused it. It just started up (welcome to middle age, this shit happens). It wasn't severe enough to be debilitating, but it was annoying and limiting. It was also intermittent, in that some days it would be very painful and other days hardly at all. The kind of shoe I was wearing affected it a lot.

Now, I have bone spurs on both heels (it's just a thing that happens as you get older sometimes). I'm also aware that heel pain is usually the result of tight calf muscles that pull and irritate the tendon. I tried stretching that calf muscle. You know the stretch, this bitch right here:

I did it all the time. I also iced the ankle after walking for awhile, hoping to avoid inflammation. Results were...unsatisfying.

I went to:

A chiropractor

A podiatrist

A physical therapist

A bodywork coach

They all gave me some variation on the "strengthen your calf muscle, stretch your calf muscle" advice. I continued doing this without results.

I was getting frustrated, and a little afraid that this was just my life now. Finally, I thought...maybe some targeted massage might help. I asked for rec on a local FB site and was pointed to a woman who specializes in therapeutic massage including cupping, etc.

I went to her a week ago.

She spent over half our first session working on my left lower leg. Within about 10 minutes of making my eyes water, she uttered the sentence I did not know I had been waiting to hear:

"Oh, it's your soleus."

Excuse me, what?

"It's your soleus that's the culprit. It's all tied up and stiff." She started digging into it and I felt literal sparks run up my leg as she released adhesions and got the muscle moving a little. When she finally put the leg down, it felt like it was on fire with all the blood rushing into it.

She said, "You'll need to stretch your soleus. It'll clear up, but it'll take a bit of time - tendons take ages to heal."

But I HAVE been stretching.

"No, you haven't. The usual straight-leg calf stretch only stretches the gastrocnemius, that's the big belly muscle in your calf. That's not your problem. That stretch doesn't stretch the soleus. Don't worry, I'll show you how to stretch it."

My mind is spinning.

So here are the muscles in question:

The gastroc (as the pros call it) just attaches down the back but the soleus runs underneath it from the knee around the side to the heel. The lower part above the ankle is where it typically gets tight and forms adhesions.

To stretch it, you do the same calf thing where you put your foot back and press your heel to the ground, but you have to do it with your KNEE BENT:

The bent knee keeps the gastroc from engaging. It's one of those selfish muscles (like traps) - if you give it an inch, it'll just take over and prevent other muscles from working or stretching. There are other ways to stretch the soleus but this is the easiest and you can literally do it anywhere. I've been doing it while standing and waiting for things (the elevator to come, the toast to toast). You just put the heel back and bend the knee. It's kind of like curtseying.

The minute I did this stretch, I could FEEL where it was pulling on my tendon. I knew that THIS had been the problem.

The massage therapist also told me to stop icing my heel. She said icing is for an acute injury, but a more chronic aggravation needs heat, to increase blood flow for healing. She recommended elevation with heat every day (I've been doing it in bed during "phone before bed" time).

I have been doing the soleus stretch at least half a dozen times a day for almost a week, and the ankle is at least 70% better. It is still a little tight and tender, but the improvement is significant. I think a few more weeks will have it feeling normal.

I am...blown away by this. This massage therapist was able to pinpoint an issue in only a few minutes that eluded all the other professionals I saw. I can't wait to go back to her and have her solve all my other problems, tbh.

[tchicovsky]

I do not want to know what color my foot currently is

[joysmercer]

got new orthotics and it was fine until my ankles started feeling pinched today and now i have a huge bump on both of them