Undiagnosed burning & painful feet
 

Hello,

I had neuropathic feelings in my feet for 3 years now. I'm 24 years old (1m80, 76kg) and I am just looking for some advice if there are any doctors I could consult (or users here) that could help me any further.

Quick summary:
feet will feel hot whenevever I wear shoes and it feels very uncomfortable. I feel like keeping my feet dry makes them feel the best, but my socks usually get a bit wet in my feet.

2nd problem: When standing for even short periods of times my soles of my feet will also hurt abnormally fast for extended periods of time, depending on how long I'm standing for. The foot pain when standing was already present when I was 18 years old and gradually got worse over the years, the burning feeling came 3 years later. Also noticing some weakness or soreness in lower legs now more recently.

Up until now I have no diagnosis despite multiple doctor visits & tests or any idea what the hell is wrong with my feet.

Doctors I visited who were not able to diagnose me:
3 Physical therapists (hospital)
Neurology professor
Podiatrist (only cared to make me insoles)

Tests done:
MRI's (Feet, legs, back) nothing came up
multiple EMG's, nothing came up
Blood work, nothing came up

Medication taken:
Was prescribed Lyrica/Cymbalta but haven't taken those, I'm not looking to take pills long term.
NSAIDS & Tramadol but neither seem to help very much for the standing pain

My main thought was is that I have SFN but this neurogolist told me I don't have all the typical symptoms which I don't.


Other treatments attempted:
-Podiatry Insoles, multiple times (no effect)
-Dry needling (not sure why I tried that but seems kinda pointless)
-THC/CBD Oil, not very helpful either.
-Topical treaments: aspercreme, biofreeze, lidocaine patches (it feels nasty to put those gels on your feet with socks on :( I haven't used the aspercreme enough to tell if it's effective but the biofreeze didn't help me for sure with the pain. Lidocaine patches won't stay on the bottom of your feet so not sure either.
-Supplements: PEA (palmitoylethanolamide), several vitamins, magnesium etc... doesn't seem to do much but also never took them very religiously so can't confirm they don't work but I doubt they did much.


My main concern is the pain that comes up when I'm standing/walking. It's this (burning) pain in my soles that eventually gave me 'anxiety' to go to places which require me to stand for longer periods of time due to the pain. I will basically be in pain the days after if I stood 'long' enough.

How do I think I got this?
Very long periods of sitting (with poor posture) while pc gaming is my main guess. I sat home for 3 months basically gaming everyday during summer holiday. The burning issue came in the first weeks when I started college.

I do have 'mild'? (I think) Scoliosis, but not sure if that could be playing a role.

TL DR: My feet quickly hurt when standing & have a burning feeling also when just wearing shoes & sitting down. Can any doctor help me further? Or maybe you :). Which medication or treatment can combat this pain very well? NSAID's/Tramadol isn't very effective. Perhaps Physical therapy is interesting?

I would consider some PT or chiropractic care (expert/skilled of course) some chiro's will use PT type treatments along with adjustments.. and chiropractic often can move things along faster than many sessions of PT..

Acupuncture, body work might be worth a look too..
MDs rarely consider or study these alternative treatments..

Yea I looked it up for a bit, could be worth a shot, I might check in with a chiropractic care :!

Hey YoungNeuro,

I agree with Jomar's advice, but just thinking about self help, I would consider strength and flexibility as the way forward.

You mention scoliosis, but I suspect you mean kyphosis. The former is sideways curvature of the spine the latter forward. Kyphosis is associated with excess computer use.

Consider a foam roller, see a brief example below


Upper back massage with foam roller - YouTube

Go for the softest option to start, In UK, the softest are light blue. There are a ton of exercises you can do to improve your posture. Stretch your calves and thighs too. See YouTube.

I would also consider a specific exercise: a barefoot plank. This will stretch and strengthen the muscles of the sole. Be careful though it could get worse before it gets better.

Also without sounding like I'm from Pulp Fiction, get a foot massage!

OP: Without reading your whole story, it sounds like one from a new member recently where I talked about Topricin and Ultra Tiger Balm which I use for my feet mornings and nights and wear socks 24 hrs....

I also have talked about Inosine and it helps a lot with the burn/tingle and I just took my capsule for today....

Thanks for the suggestions, I haven't tried much of PT, but it can't hurt and the possible effects of it are often underestimated I feel like from what I hear, it's just that none of the docotrs/PT's ever suggested any to me.

However it's really scoliosis what I have, I never heard of kyphosis before, seems to have to do with having a hunchback, don't think I have this.

As for foot massages, do these do anything on the long term? I did try dry needling for a few sessions (which is similar to acupuncture), but I don't think it will fix anything for me.

OP : I know two people in my life who manage scoliosis, my grandson who is 21 soon and a young woman is in late 40's... as I see it, it's a lifelong management job.

5 Scoliosis Treatments You Should Know About

Probably many end up doing surgeries, but I would NOT that's for sure...things could end up even worse.

Personally, I deal with a 60+ yr back issues, but not scoliosis, spondylothesis I've been told and OA. I would not do a back surgery. I've done years of bodywork.