Unhappy with MRI report

darcygirl

Hi
Firstly just to clarify im not looking for any medical advice as i know thats not allowed. I'm experiencing a problem with my foot since the beginning of August. I was limping very badly and decided to go see a Podiatrist. After about 10/15 minutes of examining my foot she told me it was arthritis in my big toe joint - due to having a bunion. I went away but the diagnosis left me confused as I never had any problems with this toe prior to this. I sought a second opinion in the same practice and told that this diagnosis was wrong and in fact it was a second metatarsal stress reaction. I had to cease weight bearing excercise until I had no pain and was able to do 15 calf raises with the foot feeling the same as the uninjured foot. No suggestion of getting an mri was mentioned. After 3 weeks I ran on it as I had no pain and could do the calf raises. I ran for 2 weeks but felt that the bone wasn't quite right after the 2nd weeks parkrun. So I rested it again for 2 weeks. I have been able to run for the last 4 weeks pain free. The metatarsal feels fine. I developed some discomfort on the outside of my foot and around the 3rd,4th and 5th toes (feels like I was walking on the edge of my foot all day) which wasn't going away. The podiatrist tried temporary orthotics but I felt they were making it worse. I was told it was trial and error. I had to stop wearing them as they were too uncomfortable. Last Friday I went to see an osteopath/physio to try and have a look at it from a different angle. He felt that I wasn't using my big toe when toeing off which was putting pressure on the 3rd 4th and 5th toes. He organised for me to have an mri. The report came back saying I've a undisplaced stress fracture at the base of 2nd metatarsal and coexisting gout in the big toe joint (the osteopath doesn't think gout is right). Now i have been running pain free for weeks. I did a 23km hilly run on Sunday and speed training yesterday and my metatarsal feels fine. There is no pain! I can walk normally barefoot. The only slight discomfort I have is at the other side of my foot as mentioned above and I only feel it when walking in shoes usually. Surely if I had a stress fracture I would have pain. I mentioned this to the osteopath and he said I must have being soldiering on when running and blocking out the pain which is complete horsesh*t. I hate pain I'm not going to run through it no matter what! So he told me to rest it for 4-6 weeks. I have paid out a fortune to podiatrists, osteopaths and for an mri and don't feel any further on. Ive lost faith in all of them at this stage. Sorry for 'the long rant but this is so frustrating. Has anybody else ever had a similar experience and gotten a 2nd opinion on a MRI scan. They gave me a CD copy to take home with me but I can't open the files on my PC.

hillsiderunner

No comment about the medical stuff (though I have bone stress experience myself).

However, there are free MRI viewers you can install on your laptop to view the images if you want. I used the free version ('Lite') of OxiriX, though that is Mac-only. From a quick Google, ImageJ is free and there is a version for Windows.

And be careful with the mileage!

Supercell

Actually first thing I thought before I got to the gout bit was this sounds like gout.
As someone that has suffered from this personally in the past (last flare up over two years ago) is that it comes and goes and diet, regular exercise , adequate fluid intake and stress all play a part.
Without getting into medical advise territory, eat well, exercise well and keep fluid intake up (quite important for gout sufferers), in other words live healthily and it will go a long way