Has anyone had one? I’ve done 5 of the shots to try to kill the nerve that way, but it didn’t work. The only was to get rid of it is surgery, I’m really down today thinking about it. It’s on the same foot that I had surgery 4 years ago.
Didn’t have surgery but had Morton’s Neuroma back when I was a long-distance runner. Sorry you’re going through this.
I had never heard of this before but just read up. It sounds brutally painful. May your healing and recovery be swift and permanent.
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I thought I had this. Asked the doctor not to cut the nerve if there was no lump on the nerve. He found inflammation but no lump, so left it…I wanted to feel when I had an injury, so I wouldn’t have other problems, like an infection.
Anyhow, he pushed things apart, told me it would heal in 6 months. I continued to have pain. Can never wear tight shoes or heels, but it hasn’t bothered me since I stopped (heels), so I hadn’t thought much about it since. That surgery was done about 22 years ago. I hope they have progressed in treatment since then, but I doubt it.
I’m sorry. I have terrible nerve damage in my face and it is awful. I don’t know anything about the condition but I did find a few threads on inspire.com which has a lot of health information and discussion boards. And as odd as it sounds, there often very informative accounts on gofundme.
So sorry to hear about your diagnosis. My mother had Morton’s neuroma and when the physical therapy and cortisone did not work, she turned to acupuncture. Her pain was relieved and continued with PT and had special orthotics made. I think it took about 4 months for her to be pain free.
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I’ve had two Morton’s neuroma surgeries–one on each foot, plus I have another Morton’s neuroma on my left foot for between my 2nd & 3rd toes. (Unusual, but I have multiple orthopedic issues with both of my feet.)
It’s been while, but my recollection of the surgery is that it’s over pretty quickly and recovery takes only about a week or so. You’re advised to stay off the foot as much as possible for the first week but I don’t remember having to use crutches at all—except maybe to go home the day of surgery. You will be wearing loose slippers though. I had surgery on Friday morning and went back to work on Monday.
I only get symptoms with my current Morton’s when I wear stiff soled shoes–like hiking boots or Birkenstocks–for more than an hour or two. So I just don’t wear those kinds of shoes. I also don’t regularly wear heels higher than an inch and always have roomy toe boxes on any shoes I own.
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Thank you! That makes me feel better knowing you had a successful outcome. Mine is between the 2nd and 3rd toes, which I understand is not the norm. He told me I would be off my foot for a week, then a soft surgerical boot for a month. I’m thinking the beginning of June. Of course, I’d like to do it in winter, I just don’t think I can last that long. My back hurts from not being able to walk much.
Morton’s neuromas are exquisitely painful, not to mention debilitating since you cannot walk with out pain. I can understand why you don’t want to wait. The surgery came as such a relief after repeated rounds of steroid injections failed to resolve the problem.
Good luck with your surgery. Buy yourself some really comfy (and not too snug) mule slippers. Ones with a soft, padded insole. I wore those instead of a surgical boot. (Wearing a surgical boot probably wasn’t standard procedure back when I had mine done.)
RE Loss of sensation–the loss of sensation is pretty dramatic. Your toes will feel “weird” and numb starting immediately after surgery. Your numbness will be from the middle of your second toe to the middle of your third. (it’s really strange to feel pressure/pain on one side of your toe but not the other.) You’ll eventually get used to the [lack of] sensation and may actually regain some or all feeling in your toes after a time. I’ve regained almost all feeling in my right foot, but not in my left.
I have this as well. So painful and so hard to find the right shoes that don’t end up with me in excruciating pain. Keep us posted on next steps. I haven’t done anything yet, but I need to.
My understanding is that the alcohol injections work about 80% of the time. My doc did 8%, whatever that means. He did 5 injections , then we stopped. Most people have a lot of relief after 3. They deaden the nerve, so you don’t have to have surgery. I’d try that first. Just figures I’m the 20% where it didn’t work. My neuroma is 1 cm, which he said is big.
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He told me the numbness would be in the “v” between my toes. Is that where you have yours, or is it on top, too.
Yes, as well as along the entire inside length of each toe.
Yes, I meant along side of each toe. What about the tops or bottoms of them. Did it make it difficult to walk? He said it wouldn’t, but he’s never had it done. Does it feel like your mouth after you’ve gone to the dentist and you’re still numb?
How long was it sore up top and when did you feel like you could bend your feet to walk?
These stories are resurfacing memories for me of the cortisone injection in my foot. It was incredibly painful and I was making some noise. The doctor said, “Oh, careful, people will wonder what I’m doing….”
I said, ”yes, that you are torturing me!”
It was probably a few years later, that I realized what he was implying, and I thought, “yuck, what a disgusting man.”
Zero problems walking. Tops & bottoms have sensation. I was walking (just not far–just to the bathroom and a bit around the house) the next day.
Honestly I can’t remember how long it took for the soreness to go away after surgery. It’s been a decade since the most recent surgery. A few days to a week, maybe? But the pain was from the incision. The pain from the neuroma was gone right away.
Yes, the residual numbness after you get novocaine at the dentist pretty well describe the sensation. But you don’t get that buzzy, prickly feeling as sensation starts to return afterward. It just stays numb. No tingling. No feeling like the tissues are swollen or don’t function correctly like I get after local dental anesthestic. You can press firmly on the numb spot and feel pressure, but lightly rubbing your finger over the numb spot just feels…weird. Like you know something is happening but you can’t quite tell what.
I have not had this, but chiming in to say that when I had a nerve elsewhere that went haywire, RF ablation was a godsend. No incisions whatsoever. I see that it is now used to treat Morton’s neuroma. Maybe something to ask your doctor about or get a second opinion. So sorry you have to deal with this painful condition.
No, no, no! I had one cut out about 19 years ago, and the recovery was HORRIBLE. I was on crutches for like a month, I couldn’t walk normally for at least 3 months, I think it was about 6 months before I started to be anything like normal, and for years afterwards, I had pain in the mid foot, just proximal to where they cut out the neuroma, I think because the fibrous wrapping of the forefoot had been disturbed as a part of the surgery.
Go to an orthotics maker to have them make you a custom orthotic that is exactly right for your foot, with the only addition being a little bump just ahead of where your forefoot bones (just proximal to the metatarsal heads) fall, so that your weight touches down on the bump, and that weight spreads the metatarsal heads, instead of compressing and pinching the nerve. Many people whom I know have used something like this and have quick relief of the pain, and after a few years, no longer have to even wear the orthotics.
Funny you should post this. Just this morning I had a neuroma injected on the other foot, same 3/4 interspace. It started acting up because of having worn winter snow boots to walk the dog this winter, and trying out some hiking boots that obviously weren’t wide enough in the forefoot. I decided to go to the injection early, in the hopes of preventing a lot of scar tissue from forming, but I myself am looking to for a podiatric orthotist to make me the right thing, too.
I have Morton’s foot. My second toe projects out more than my first toe. Is this related to Morton’s neuroma or are they different?I don’t have any foot pain. Anyone know?
Reading this thread might be saving me from something more serious, and I’ve made an appointment to see a respected podiatrist. So thank you all who have shared your stories.