Hi My name is Chrystine. I am 18 years old and live in a small town called Mays Landing in the state of New Jersey.
My life was preety much the normal life of your typical teenager until July 1998. In July of 1998 I started experiencing a lot of feet pain so i went to a orthapedic doctor and he said that I had Morton's Neuroma in my left foot.
Morton’s Neuroma is a common foot problem associated with pain, swelling and/or an inflammation of a nerve, usually at the ball-of-the-foot between the 3rd and 4th toes. Symptoms of this condition include sharp pain, burning, and even a lack of feeling in the affected area. Morton’s Neuroma may also cause numbness, tingling, or cramping in the forefoot.
Morton’s Neuroma is a foot condition caused from an abnormal function of the foot that leads to bones squeezing a nerve usually between the 3rd and 4th metatarsal heads. Symptoms of Morton's Neuroma often occur during or after you have been placing significant pressure on the forefoot area, while walking, standing, jumping, or sprinting. This condition can also be caused from footwear selection. Footwear with pointed toes and/or high heels can often lead to a neuroma. Constricting shoes can pinch the nerve between the toes, causing discomfort and extreme pain.
The first step in treating Morton’s Neuroma is to select proper footwear. Footwear with a high and wide toe box (toe area) is ideal for treating and relieving the pain. The next step in treatment is to use an orthotic designed with a metatarsal pad. This pad is located behind the ball-of-the-foot to unload pressure, and relieve the pain caused by the neuroma. The next step in treating a Morton's Neuroma is to treat it with medication, My doctor put me on lodine. The lodine didn't do anything to help, so the next step for me was either surgery to remove the neuroma or getting a cortisone shot. I chose the cortisone shot because I was deathly afraid of surgery.
After the cortisone shot the pain intensified, so I knew immediately that something was wrong. The cortisone was supposed to relieve the pain not increase it. So, my mom and I started looking around for a different doctor. We first went to Dupont Children's Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware and saw a doctor by the name of Dr. Stanton and he sent me for physical therapy and put me on elavil.
I went to physical theraoy at the Kessler rehabilitation facility. I had the 2 nicest physical therapists and they treated me with massage and ultrasound and excercise. Little did I know back then, my prescription for PT said possible diagnosis of RSD. My PT's got me into remission for a period of 3 months and I went to school for 3 days but then it went down hill from there.
I then started seeing various doctors and was dropped by various doctors, but they were alll treating me for a possible diagnosis of RSD(see my page on RSD). It was a rough time dealing with RSD and being dropped by doctors and doctors not knowing what to do for me. i was on homebound schooling where a tutor came to my house because there was no way I could make it from class to class with this pain. I then went to Jefferson Pain clinic in Philadelphia, PA and saw a Dr. Jon Parks and a psychiatrist named Dr. Kelly Marcus. They are botg great people and treat me very well. I had an epidural catheter(see my page on RSD Procedures) which didn't work but my doctor wants to try one in the future once I work on the mental aspect of pain with my psychiatrist thru biofeedback, meditation, etc... And thats preety much where my life is at now. O yea I am on SSI so I manage to help pay for a lot of things in my life...
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