ping: Doctors in the House - foot injury

[korme]

Saturday afternoon, I took a pretty tough tumble and landed on the inside of my left foot, in the upper big toe area. I was met with extreme pain and immediate swelling. I attempted to walk on it for a little bit but by an hour I found myself unable to put pressure on it.

It's now Tuesday, and I don't know if any swelling has gone down, but there's no more pain and I can at best limp around, though I'm hopping as much as possible (no crutches).

Without health insurance, I am hoping it is a sprain or just severe bruising as I don't want to visit a doctor if I don't have to. I attached some pics in the spoilers below (they are feet pics, I figured I should put em in spoilers ).

Any advice one could lend? I've been taking 800mg Ibuprofen and keeping it on ice/elevated as much as I can.

Thanks in advance!

Spoiler

[Ksyrup]

I've had mixed results with this on ankles - first time I hurt my left ankle about 9 years ago, I dealt with it for 4 days before the wife forced me to go to the doctor. It was broken (although I think that's misleading - it's not like it was hanging by the bone, just a small bone chip had broken off).

A couple of summers ago, I severely sprained my right ankle and it stayed swelled up for 2 weeks before it eventually went away.

Right now, I'm dealing with some pain in my left foot that's been bothering me off and on for 2 months, but this weekend was not good. I start an adult soccer league this Thursday, so we'll see how bad it really is. I just don't want to find out it's damaged because it's freaking summer and I don't want to be in a boot like I was back in 2001. If I can walk on it (and run - I jog regularly and it doesn't hurt until the day after), then I'll put up with it until fall or winter.

So... I'd say I'm probably not a good person to take advice from on this sort of thing.

[Rizon]

Go to the doctor.
Or cut your foot off.

[Pyser]

doctor

[Lathum]

The obvious answer is doctor since you don't want to risk infection and a much larger medical bill. I would look and see if there are any free clinics nearby.

[korme]

Well, crap.

[Coffee Warlord]

Not A Doctor: But, having sprained my ankle on more than one occaison, that doesn't look much like an ankle sprain.

So, yeah. Find a free clinic and have it looked at is prolly for the best.

[Swaggs]

Go to a primary care or clinic, rather than the ER and you will keep your costs down.

Go easy on the Ibuprofen -- especially that large of a dose. It can cause damage to your stomach if you use it for too long (which you may be pushing if you've been taking since Saturday).

[korme]

That's the recommended dose from my mom, who is an expanded function dental assistant.

I think I'm going to look up some doctor's offices.

[korme]

Nothing like sittin here in u.c and dealing with loud trashy people who aren't minding their own damn business

[RainMaker]

A regular doctor is just going to send you in for an X-Ray. I'd honestly give it a week before going. It looks like a sprain and even if it is something that is broken, you aren't going to be doing anymore damage to it.

And 800mg of Ibuprofen is not going to destroy your kidneys. You can take 2400mg in a day if you really needed to (although a doctor would probably want to OK it first). The damage is in long term effects if you were taking this for years.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

And 800mg of Ibuprofen is not going to destroy your kidneys. You can take 2400mg in a day if you really needed to (although a doctor would probably want to OK it first). The damage is in long term effects if you were taking this for years.

2400 mg for 3-5 days is probably fine (although that is a pretty heavy dosage), but if you get up to 7-10 days it will almost certainly cause you stomach discomfort, diarrhea, indigestion and/or constipation and potentially stomach bleeding. A doctor once recommended alternating between Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen to me.

[k0ruptr]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

2400 mg for 3-5 days is probably fine (although that is a pretty heavy dosage), but if you get up to 7-10 days it will almost certainly cause you stomach discomfort, diarrhea, indigestion and/or constipation and potentially stomach bleeding. A doctor once recommended alternating between Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen to me.

I really think it depends on the person as I know one whole summer I was taking 2400 - 3200 Mgs a day for 3 months straight and had no problems at all.

[korme]

Doctor came in staring at my foot: "You waited three days to see me on that thing! Wow. I'm pretty sure it's broken bud."

(...do some x-rays)

Doc (stunned): That's a shocker. You got lucky. You fell on it really nicely, not breaking it or anything. It's probably one of the deeper bone bruises I've ever seen.

---

So long story short, I got some heavy duty anti-inflammatorys and should be ready to go back to work by Thursday or Friday. Great success!

[DaddyTorgo]

At what cost $$-wise?

[judicial clerk]

I recommend you start drinking heavily

[B & B]

Originally Posted by judicial clerk

I recommend you start drinking heavily

Immediately.

[korme]

Originally Posted by judicial clerk

I recommend you start drinking heavily

Doc asked me if I had any questions and I said well, I probably know the answer to this but can I drink on this stuff? And he said he wouldn't recommend it.

I mean... he didn't say no.

[digamma]

Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

[korme]

Originally Posted by digamma

Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

I haven't seen that movie in a while.

[Eaglesfan27]

I didn't want to say anything as orthopedics is by far my weakest area, but I would have put money on it being broken from the appearance in the picture. Sorry you spent the money, but I still think that was the right call.