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 June 01, 2009, 06:25:13 PM
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Full Member
Gender: 
Posts: 151
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Kristin--
I say if there are any problems with anything your podiatrist is doing, or even if something seems not to add up to you, get a second opinion right away. Different doctors in general will often give several different daignoses for the same simple problem. As for podiatry, I've even started to wonder if podiatry is almost a sort of scam, based on recent experiences. I had a puncture injury in a toe. The elaborate things that doctor wanted me to do to heal up, for example soaking the foot in a bucket of vinegar over and over, were extreme and ridiculous. I forget the details now, but something wasn't working.
I had to go to another doctor for arthritis, who wasn't even close to being a podiatrist. He coaxed the details of the foot problem out of me, and gave much simpler, more sensible, and far less costly advice which worked.
Later I went to a foot surgeon about a painful ingrown toenail. I have a history of these, but have been taking care of the problem myself successfully for 30 years, though I seemed to need help recently. He took an x-ray or two, and said surgery was needed at a local hospital. I have to keep appointments short and simple because of my extreme light sensitivity. Hospitals are a problem. He also kept after me for supposedly not bothering to look for medical help for my larger 29-year-long medical eye/neurological/EI nightmare, after dragging an account of it out of me. So where the hell did he get the impression that I spent 29 years doing nothing about it, seeing no doctors? Out of his imagination, I guess. He certainly didn't get it from me. I told him the opposite.
I smelled trouble. When doctors reccommend extreme measures AND act abusive, even if I have no data to use to call their judgment into question, I do it anyway. I got a second opinion, and this new guy just clipped my nail a little, and sent me home. He said it was easier for him to get at the toe to clip the troublesome bit of nail from his angle sitting in front of me, than I was from my angle. He reccommended more appointments to be clipped in the future. I didn't go. I seem to be doing passably well.
Really, get a second opinion now, please. Maybe a third.
PS-- Doctors in general are notorious for not caring enough about side effects. It's not true of all, but many. I got smarter after three years of my medical hell when I was having torture level head pain from a certain drug, specifically because I hadn't allowed time to pass for an old drug to pass out of my system, before beginning the new one. I must have learned that part later. We made an emergency call to him, and he casually insisted that I just follow directions, without questioning him. He just didn't care. I'd had similar experiences with other doctors too, over those past three years.
That was it. After three years of doing anything and everything a doctor asked of me, I'd had it. No more. 26 years later, I'm still often treated by people as stupid or crazy for questioning doctors, but I never wanted to. They forced me to. I was one of those millions of loyal, unquestioning patients for the first three years.
By the way, the doctor I've just been talking about was a headache specialist. He'd appeared on Nightline. He didn't care that the drug he'd prescribed was causing the worst headache I'd ever had in my life.
PPS--- OH... I should add something about the podiatrist who diagnosed me with the ingrown toenail in the first place, way back in 1978. My father and I were ushered by the nurse into a room that was a sort of shrine devoted to the books the doctor had written, which may have just been two, but it still looked shrine-like, and we were supposed to be impressed. On the table was also a tape recorder. The nurse pressed "play" then left. We had to listen to an audio account of this podiatrist's professional triumphs... nothing memorable. I've experienced the wacky egos of MDs in many different incidents like these. At least this time I had my father as a witness!
When he went to work on the toe, it was very painful, so he used a stronger anesthetic. He administered this with two huge hypodermics injecting them on both sides of the base of my toe simultaneously. It felt as if both needles just might end up meeting in the middle, that's how painful it was, much more painful than the pain they were meant to remedy.
So there. Doctors who don't come across as crazy make mistakes too, by the way. So be careful, and if the treatment or tests are too hard or too expensive, consider trying someone else.
PPPS-- I think I've been working on this post, rewriting, editing, fixing typos, for an hour or more!
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"You're better than normal! You're ABnormal!"-- Fry to Leela, who's self-conscious about her single eye, Futurama
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June 03, 2009, 06:45:15 AM
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Sr. Member
Gender: 
Posts: 339
When all else fails, play dead!
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For the ingrown toenails just keep the nails cut short, mine always fixed themselves.
I had awful circulation in my toes for 6 years...Keep your feet up at the same level as your hips to help the blood circulation, it takes lots of effort to get blood up from your feet.
Also, try to wear socks. it was a pain in the butt to wear them for me, polished floorboards and socks isn't a great combination, but don't sit still without them.
My feet don't go purple or black anymore, and I don't have to think about it, I usually wear socks at least, I'm wearing boots right now.
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