Heel Pain

[Hal]

Meredith,

I too experience heel and foot pain. I have nerve damage, which means a lot of the surface area on the pads of my feet and around the ankles have no sensation, but my heels and bottoms of my feet are extremely sensitive with pain. Two extremes happening simultaneously. I also can only do not-my-normal-speed walking as an exercise ... no treadmill or cycling or hiking ... sigh. Without the Lyrica pain killers I take, I simply would not even be able to walk. Hopefully the pain will subside over time, but the main thing is to keep mobile and moving as best one can!

Hal.

[Rose]

I have been having a lot of heel pain over the past few months or so. It first appeared last October when i had a sinus flare and then I was sure it was related to WG. It has come and gone since and although I seem to have recovered from the sinus flare I am just not as well as I was before. For the past 6 weeks the heel pain has become more pronounced and is particulalry painful when putting weight on the foot after getting out of bed in the morning and also after periods of inactivity. It is improved somewhat after walking and stretching. Today though, whilst out shopping and being on my feet for a few hours it became very painful, swollen and inflamed. Having done some research on the internet , I have classic symptoms of Planter Fasciitis.

I have made an appontment to see a podiatrist next week but now after reading these posts on this thread i am wondering if I should rather be making an appointment to see my Rheumy. For those of you who have suffered from this condition, what has helped over time. Anyone get insoles/physio? Has this helped? Or was an increase in medication the only thing that did help.

[Meredith]

My heel pain is doing much better - I went to Walmart and got Dr. Schols gel inserts, what a difference that has made when I do any kind of walking. I have started walking 1 mile a day at work on the treadmill without any problems. So maybe it is not wegner's.

[drz]

I have been having a lot of heel pain over the past few months or so. It first appeared last October when i had a sinus flare and then I was sure it was related to WG. It has come and gone since and although I seem to have recovered from the sinus flare I am just not as well as I was before. For the past 6 weeks the heel pain has become more pronounced and is particulalry painful when putting weight on the foot after getting out of bed in the morning and also after periods of inactivity. It is improved somewhat after walking and stretching. Today though, whilst out shopping and being on my feet for a few hours it became very painful, swollen and inflamed. Having done some research on the internet , I have classic symptoms of Planter Fasciitis.

I have made an appontment to see a podiatrist next week but now after reading these posts on this thread i am wondering if I should rather be making an appointment to see my Rheumy. For those of you who have suffered from this condition, what has helped over time. Anyone get insoles/physio? Has this helped? Or was an increase in medication the only thing that did help.

I was diagnosed and treated for the same thing for over a year and some months. Did the whole thing with braces, exercises, Physical therapy,shoe inserts, ortho shoes, etc. etc. Nothing helped much or for very long but all the symptoms went away after my diagnosis of Wegs and treatment for it and haven't returned yet almost two years after initial diagnosis.

YMMV and you can have both disorders too I guess but I now think I never really had plantar fasciitis-- just Wegs attacking my feet.

PS I also have serous neuropathy of both feet too.

[Al]

The orthotics, plus a few exercises, helped immensely--I haven't had heel pain since. But I sort of doubt that the lateral whatever-it's-called is related to the WG. But I do have neuropathy that the inserts have, of course, no influence over.

Al

[JanW]

I also had WG affecting my feet ankles. My ankle never came back 100% but the pain disappeared as soon as I went into treatment at the right dosage of mtx.

[KathyB]

I passed by this thread initially and just now remembered I said to my husband last week -- "I think I need new tennis shoes. My right heel is sore, kinda like the "jel" built into the heel has collapsed. The sides of my heels are sore.". I haven't done anything about it yet, but you all have me thinking!!

[Tim Roberts]

I responded to another thread in the forum related to foot neuropathy and now after reading this I am wondering if my issue is more related to wegeners than anything. In about August of last year, my rheumatologist decreased my weekly dosage of methotrexate from 20 mg weekly to 15 mg and I continued that way for about 4 months. During that time my ANCA numbers increased and she felt with that I should up my dosage back to 20 mg. After about 2 weeks of increasing my dose, I noticed that my foot would feel like it was goingo sleep at times and if I got up and walked around it would go away. I was still running about 25 to 30 miles a week and that seemed to helped but during the last three months it has continually gotten worse to the point I can no longer run and I now have tingling in the tips of my fingers. Dr. Specks at the Mayo felt it could be caused by the toxicity of the methotrexate and the neurologist wasn't as convinced. They did an EMG and it was normal and I return for some follow up tests tomorrow. My original presentation of disease was lung involvement so this is a new thing to me. It sounds like wegener's attacking the feet isn't an unheard of symptom and my at my last meeting with the neurologist I think he felt the same although I show no inflammation at all. I think that it perplexed them that I showed these symptoms while being treated by methotrexate but isn't it possible it stopped working effectively? Please let me know your thoughts as sometimes I think we are more of the experts although I have absolute faith in the doctors at Mayo to get to the bottom of this but I would REALLY like to know your thoughts. Thank you!

[Dirty Don]

Tim, I have neuropathy from left shin down across top of left foot, none on bottom. But, I have had it since dx in Aug '11, before mtx and after. I am at Mayo in Phx, doc said it's not the mtx, it IS WG. It may go away or not...though I've been declared in remission, nothing has changed in the foot, but some other minor areas of neuropathy have improved in last month or so. It may be you could use a stronger drug though as it has been suggested that as the mtx does its job, the neuropathy could improve...who knows...it's a journey at best! Best of luck!

[Tim Roberts]

Thanks for the message Don and am inclined to agree that it is probably wegeners even though my inflammation markers and blood work don't indicate this. With so many of us having foot neuropathy and treating with so many different drugs it appears that the common thread is the disease. I am hopeful after the testing this week at the Mayo in Rochester they will rule out everything else and then the decision will be to treat me with a different drug, probably rituxan. Thanks for the message and I really appreciate the help!