Hello and Welcome SB,

I am sorry about your foot and ongoing trouble. Hopefully this is just a bump in the road. While what you describe does sound suspicious, even if it is CRPS there is much reason to hope. Dr. Michael Stanton-Hicks, a highly regarded CRPS specialist at Cleveland Clinic, says 80% of people improve over time. Yes, the disease can progress, but don't project the often doomsday information out there (or on here) onto your future.

Consulting pain management is worthwhile. There are non-invasive frontline treatments that may be helpful if you have CRPS and early treatment leads to better outcomes per literature. Your cymbalta is likely helping you and is a med my PM uses for this. However, there are a lot of options and since you are early in this process they may consider giving you something like clonidine or oral steroids . I took three rounds of prednisone early on and it made a difference for my case.

Second opinions can also be worthwhile. Podiatry training was not standardized so well in the past so there can be quite a bit of variation in education and fellowships. A Foot and Ankle orthopedist or podiatrist who is a member of the Association of Extremity Nerve Surgeons may know more about nerves and their issues. Getting someone else to peek at your MRI and your foot may shed new light.

I agree that CRPs is a nervous system disease, but treating a pain contributor can make all the difference in outcome. If something is still wrong with your foot and you can track it down and treat it, that will help you.

On your knobby toe, it sounds like it may have "hammered" which is caused by a muscle imbalance. Of course if you have something up with your nerves, either CRPS or from swelling putting pressure on them, then signals to muscles aren't as strong.

By all means, don't self treat. Take the best care of yourself that you can, stay active without pushing your foot too hard and find a doctor who can help figure out what is going on and get you the treatment you need. Come let us know what happens.

I hope you find relief and healing soon,