thank you for the links, they were very informative. i know this has progressed very rapidly. i have had pain in tops of my feet before in past year. i also had surgery on my left elbow just this past december. don't know if it makes a difference but i had a baby by cessarian two years ago as well. i do get a lot of bad respiratory illnesses that require steroids and antibiotics. i'm on antibitotics for that kind of thing at least twice every winter. i did get alot of blood work drawn this week. most of it was looking for autoimmune problems, some for vitamin deficiencies. i'll have to wait and see. i have diabetes(9 yrs now), asthma, reflux( too many yrs to count). those are my biggest problems. the diabetes is controlled by diet until three months ago when they started to rise and now i need metformin to help. my BP was under control again without medication until about three months ago and now i'm on blood pressure medication as well. i just feel my body has gone haywire and i have no control over it. very frustrating. i am getting emg's on my legs by my neurologist on wed. and i'm going to ask for a referral to a pain specialist.