Toes...
Sitting here at the computer, sad sad sad little me. My toes have been swollen since Thursday night and nothing seems to help. I went to the podiatrist on Friday and she diagnosed me with Raynauds Disease (which basically means poor circulation and very cold hands and feet) and prescribed two ointments, only one of which I was able to fill. The other one comes in tomorrow (Monday.) Unfortunately, the nitroglycerin cream I was able to get gave me all the side effects (dizziness, killer headache) but didn't alleviate the swelling. Because Raynauds Disease is a vascular problem, my toes are very sensitive to extreme changes in temperature. Luckily it's warmed up some (it's in the 40s today) but that still means that any time I leave the house my feet get super cold, and it exacerbates the issue.
I seriously do not know what to do at this point. Normally for swelling I would ice the area, but that's an extreme temperature and wouldn't help. I did soak my feet in cool water for two hours last night. It might have slightly helped my right foot, which was never as bad as my left, but then this morning when I put shoes on and went to church, all the swelling came back in full force. To increase circulation, I should exercise, but I'm not sure what the heck to do when I can't really walk or wear shoes. I'm thinking I might go to the gym and swim tomorrow, and see if that helps get my circulation going. I'm guessing, though, that the jump from air to water to air again is going to cause the same white and purple toes that I always get when I go into the pool in the wintertime, and again, this just exacerbates the problem.
So what. What am I supposed to do? Sit at home? Who's going to drive the kids around and go to the grocery store and what not? Not to mention, I've BEEN sitting around for two days and it doesn't help.
I go back to the podiatrist tomorrow. Maybe I need some sort of injection (cringe) or a systemic medication...I don't know. But it's so painful and frustrating and it's really putting me in a BAD mood. Dan has been wonderful; fetching things from upstairs and bringing me an Advil when I need one. The kids are concerned and keep asking me about my toes, but they just don't understand that moving around is hard for me. I don't expect them to stop asking for stuff, but I had a small breakdown on Friday when I returned from the pharmacy and they were bombarding me with requests for milky and a sandwich and paper to color on and then Geneva pulled too hard on her necklace and scattered beads all over the kitchen so I had to sweep them all up. That's the point where I called Dan and asked him to come home early. I seriously do not know what tomorrow is going to be like.
*sigh*
I seriously do not know what to do at this point. Normally for swelling I would ice the area, but that's an extreme temperature and wouldn't help. I did soak my feet in cool water for two hours last night. It might have slightly helped my right foot, which was never as bad as my left, but then this morning when I put shoes on and went to church, all the swelling came back in full force. To increase circulation, I should exercise, but I'm not sure what the heck to do when I can't really walk or wear shoes. I'm thinking I might go to the gym and swim tomorrow, and see if that helps get my circulation going. I'm guessing, though, that the jump from air to water to air again is going to cause the same white and purple toes that I always get when I go into the pool in the wintertime, and again, this just exacerbates the problem.
So what. What am I supposed to do? Sit at home? Who's going to drive the kids around and go to the grocery store and what not? Not to mention, I've BEEN sitting around for two days and it doesn't help.
I go back to the podiatrist tomorrow. Maybe I need some sort of injection (cringe) or a systemic medication...I don't know. But it's so painful and frustrating and it's really putting me in a BAD mood. Dan has been wonderful; fetching things from upstairs and bringing me an Advil when I need one. The kids are concerned and keep asking me about my toes, but they just don't understand that moving around is hard for me. I don't expect them to stop asking for stuff, but I had a small breakdown on Friday when I returned from the pharmacy and they were bombarding me with requests for milky and a sandwich and paper to color on and then Geneva pulled too hard on her necklace and scattered beads all over the kitchen so I had to sweep them all up. That's the point where I called Dan and asked him to come home early. I seriously do not know what tomorrow is going to be like.
*sigh*