Knees and Ankles and Toes

General
#1

Hey all,

A question for any of you that this might apply to. My embolization etc. was in January of 2018. I have had problems with balance, walking, not catching door frames as I go through them, stubbing my toes way more than normal (I think I have broken at least one) banging my knees on a table, on the coffee table in the living room, the door to the car, you name it I’ve hit it. I’ve also stumbled going up the stairs and down the stairs but never far. I have also tried to do some walking with my canines - it’s going “ok” but a lot slower and a lot shorter walks than I did before.

In the process, I have developed an extremely sore Achilles’ tendon, a number of other aches and pain in my feet and ankles and up into my knees. It literally feels like I have something loose in my knee cap.

Has any one had something like this before? Any ideas, insights and how to deal with it?

Thanks in advance,

TJ

#2

TJ,

Good morning!

I’d look to any pain in your foot as the root cause here. My wife has recently been diagnosed with Haglund’s Deformity which is a bony spur near the Achilles tendon, irritating the bursa causing it to swell up and put pressure on the tendon. The consequences of it are that simply walking is painful. The consequences of that are that she compensates by walking funny which then mucks up her knees etc. Anything that causes you to change your gait is a bad thing that could lead on to strain in other places in the leg or hips or back.

Other than painkillers, NSAIDs for the swelling, she is being advised to do a bunch of stretching exercises daily to improve the tendon. It hurts like hell but every professional she sees is insisting on the stretching.

I’ve had plantar fascitis in the past. Again, regular exercise and stretching the relevant muscles despite the pain was the key to resolution. As soon as you become conscious of pain you adjust walking and it just magnifies the problem. So look to sort out whatever is causing the issue with your Achilles tendon and I hope you might get better.

Oh, and Mrs D has a long history of splitting her toes either side of a table leg or bed leg or chair… I’ve done it a couple of times recently too :grimacing:

Very best wishes,

Richard

#3

Hey TJ,
I used to be active, real active. I’d see 4-5 clients in a day, having to be ready to deal with almost anything. I was working in clients homes, so you never really knew what sorts of situation might arise. My clients could be up to 20km away from each other, so I was always on the move. And then BANG and everything stopped. A month or so later I tried to get back into it, but phew, I couldn’t keep the pace up. I knew something wasn’t right, just thought a month off had made me lazy. I could hack the pace before, so I could do it again, so I pushed and again something went POP. This one really laid me up for months.

When I decided I needed to get going and do something, OHHH, I found muscles and muscle aches I’d never had before, my stamina and my abilities had evaporated. I think the old saying of ‘If you don’t use it, you lose it’ rings true for me. Because my activity had gone from constant to nil, everything started breaking down. My knees and ankles had aged 20yrs in 20 months and now I’m really feeling my age. I never had before. I have to pace myself with e v e r y t h i n g, that ‘spoon theory’ idea is very true. I used to tease the wife about old age slowing her down, now she’s doing it to ME!!! WTH

I think our body’s learn to cope with what we throw at it, it learns to adapt to the environment we give it. So when I was working, my body got use to that routine. When that routine ceased it stopped adapting to the work environment and went to lazy slob environment. That’s why when I try the work routine now my body screams at me and it takes 2 days to recover. I’ve lost that stamina and the muscles to go with it.

As for my balance, it was a mess (and at times still is, even years later). I stand up I see stars and bright lights, get dizzy and have to grab a wall, a wife or anything else that’s close by. At first the frustration was HUGE and that was more frustration with self. That frustration has mellowed somewhat to a bit of acceptance, but I still hate it. It’s become part of ‘pacing myself’ I can’t just ‘get up and go’ like the old me. I did that once and woke up on the floor, with a wife standing over me waving a finger ‘tsk tsk’. I have to slowly stand. wait. then take a step (wobble a bit) wait for things to normalise and I’m usually OK, then I can go. It has taken me a while to accept it all and some days that acceptance is better than others, but those days of rest and recovery shows me that I REALLY have no damn choice in the matter. My body tells me ‘Slow down or I’ll put you down’

Hope it helps
Merl from the Modsupport Team

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#4

Good topic

I noticed this, of course it’s no huge biggie considering

But, I seem to drag myself a bit & not have the same sense of balance. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad - but, I notice things like: running into my aquarium with my shoulders pretty hard multiple times per day, same things with other furniture throughout my house + when I walk, I do notice a bit of limp/drag on my right side

My old lady neighbor noticed this, so did my mom - my right hand side, now seems to follow the left - since the right side is what got effected by my left side AVM

The way I feel about my physical/mental health is that I was doing so well for the last decade prior to this year. This year hit - and, I caught up on the last decade of aging

#5

Mike,

Thanks - that reminds me of what my counselor said. He said, "TJ, it sounds like with your other AVM treatments/surgeries, you maybe lost a couple of years with each. So, over 4 treatments, maybe 8 to 10 years.

I probably lost 20 years with this one. Not an insurmountable deal when I go from 55 to 75, but if the good Lord gives me until I’m say 75, what’s it going to be like? 95%?

one day at a time

TJ

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