dreadful foot pain from lupus

[RichDC]

hi all

My niece is having an awful time with pain in her left foot which is very swollen; she’s had to get crutches because she can’t even touch the ground it’s that painful. Her lupus specialist put her on prednisone but it’s not kicked in. She’s been on it a few weeks. She is taking methotrexate too now. She’s taking lots of tylenol and advil with little improvement in the terrible pain. Any ideas? Many thanks if anyone can help.

[Paprika60]

If the prednisolone has not worked so far, that means it is perhaps not strong enough dosage. Taking Tylenol and etc constantly is not a good solution for a long term. For a day or two may be ok but a lengthy period can be dangerous as it can cause a stroke if used a lot. I think your niece requires a consultation with her doctor and needs to adjust her medication. Perhaps liquid steroids to bring the swelling down? Hydroxychloroquine usually helps with swelling joints and rash. Many are on this medication. It takes months to kick in but it really does work. I have been on this for seven years now and have not had swelling once. Before that, I had so many occasions...my husband sometimes had to carry me around due to heavily swollen foot or knee. Hope she gets help soon.

[RichDC in reply to Paprika60]

Thankyou so much, Paprika60, I’ll pass this along to her.

[C-aches]

Hello Rich, I am so sorry to hear that your Niece is suffering so. Two thoughts occurred to me reading this, has she had an xray of her foot? and also my daughter had a really painful time with a navicular bone/ joint displacement in her foot, it swelled up with redness and excruciating pain that would not settle. After weeks of suffering, and having been seen by Doctors and Orthopaedics we saw a Podiatrist. The thing that fixed it in the end was wearing an air boot (available to buy - we got one from Amazon) that was recommended by the podiatrist, along with tailored exercise during recovery. The air boot brought immediate relief as the foot was comfortably immobilised. Just a thought as there are many causes of foot pain, not just Lupus weirdness! Also the fact that it has not responded to the steroids is concerning I think. Whatever happens, we Lupies send love and best wishes for a speedy recovery, Liz