please help doctor google isn’t adequately diagnosing me.

[Dandelionrarrrr]

Hi all,
Sounds ridiculous but.. I dropped a massive heavy cows knuckle bone on my big toe whilst in the pet shop. I tried to save my 1yo from running infront of a trolley so let it fall onto my big toe. I was wearing sandals so it hit my toe directly. The pain was awful. It landed on the nail, which went blue straight away. I can walk on it just about, but it feels like it’s about to explode with each step. I can just about wriggle it. The pain hasn’t gone away at all, it is the same. I can only have paracetamol because I’m pregnant.
I know you are not capable of x-raying my toe through mumsnet but do you think it could be broken? What should I do? any experiences or advice would be very very helpful. I don’t really fancy an unnecessary trip to a&e but NHS suggest big toes are a bigger deal (haha).

If the nail is blue you could have a subungual haematoma (blood under the nail with nowhere to go). Have a google of that and see if it fits.

If you get to OOH in reasonable time they can pierce the nail with a cautery device or a paperclip heated to glowing in a lighter flame. Blood will then come spurting out and relieve the pressure. It’s very satisfying.

I'd go and get it checked. They may be able to relieve the pressure on the nail and make it more comfortable. They can also have a feel to check that it's not broken.

Hope it feels better soon.

A horse stood on my foot once - the nail had to be pierced at the hospital and the blood drained. It was horrendous but felt a lot better afterwards.

I agree with RedLemonade except I'd get my DH to do it not go ooh!

I had similar and big toe wasn’t broken, was the pressure of blood under the nail - hurt like hell! GP sent me to A&E for Xray and they used a sterilised needle through the nail, which made a hole for the blood to escape - fast relief! The nail later fell off.

I had a quick look at subungual haematoma‘s. The description sounds similar, however the pictures are a lot darker. Mines quite a pretty blue at the moment. It says if I have more than 50% coverage to get it checked.

Procedure doesn’t sound pleasant! You are brave, I have a feeling I’ll lose the nail. It will grow back right?

It grows back may not even drop off the procedure hurts but it feels so much better it's worth it !

Mine took 2 years to grow back. Nail bed was damaged, and that took a further year to recover. But no pain!

My 6 year old trapped his thumb in a car door, the nail instantly went black and he had to have it drained, the draining was painless OP, wasn't horrendous at all as a PP said. They use a pen-like device that is heated and they put a tiny hole in your nail and let the blood drain out on its own. It brought much needed relief. His nail dropped off about two weeks later but has now nearly grown back.

This happened to ex. Went to a&e, they heat up a paperclip and poke a hole in your nail and the blood comes spurting out. It sounds gross, but the pain relief was immediate.

Thanks for all of your help. I keep knocking it and my ds fell on it just to make it all worse.
I suppose I will try to go to my GP tomorrow and see if they can refer me. Not looking forward to sleeping with it.

I used to love draining these in my days in A&E. Used to heat up a paper clip in a flame. 😄

Ex was very unimpressed by the low tech paperclip, but the reality is that a needle is too thin. Your gp should be able to do it as well.