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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU - to not go and get this checked out?

14 replies

fourandahalfkids · 13/08/2013 22:03

Saturday afternoon I walked into town wearing my mock crocs. It had been raining and as I walked into a store with a lovely shiny floor I slipped. Barely a slip at all really, grabbed hold of my 11 year old for support as my right foot shot out in front of me. Thought nothing more of it but was a lot more careful walking around the rest of the town.

Several hours later and my foot begins to throb all around the ankle joint - no swelling/redness/bruising nothing but pain that gets gradually worse. So I rested it on Sunday, took painkillers, iced it etc etc. Now it's Tuesday and it still hurts, quite a lot actually.

I wake up in the morning to just s slight bit of discomfort but as I use it, it gets worse and worse. I have taken co codemol and ibroprofen tonight and it still hurts.

Several friends are urging me to go and get it looked at, but on the basis of no visable injury and the fact that I can weight bear (although it hurts a fair bit), I am guessing they'll just say rest it. Now I have four children and it's the summer holidays. There's only so much rest I can do. So i'm just thinking - grin and bear it till the pain's gone...aibu?

OP posts:

mumofweeboys · 13/08/2013 22:06

I would say try and rest it for a few days (no easy task with 4 kids), then if still painful I would be off to a and e for an X-ray

LEMisdisappointed · 13/08/2013 22:06

My mum did similar - turned out she had broken her foot!! Saying that, they didn't do anything just recommened, rest and anti-inflammatory drugs. I would probably go and get it checked though

mumofweeboys · 13/08/2013 22:06

And strap it up and wear sensible shoes like trainers

CajaDeLaMemoria · 13/08/2013 22:07

No, as long as you don't moan if you drastically worsen the damage or it requires physio/surgery to fix and you are at the bottom of a long waiting list.

It could be sprained. It sounds it. If it is, you'll need to rest it by all means possible or you'll make it worse and worse until you have no choice but to rest it.

I do hope it feels better soon. Joint pain is the bane of my life.

MissMuesli · 13/08/2013 22:07

I think YABU, only because if you have damaged it you might be making things worse and potentially being "out if action" for longer. I say this as some who broke their collar bone without realising, and made things worse by using I and insisting it didn't hurt that much!!

numbum · 13/08/2013 22:15

'I have taken co codemol and ibroprofen tonight and it still hurts.'

YABU! Go and get it checked out

Irishmammybread · 13/08/2013 22:23

Get it checked out!
I started with a swollen foot/ankle at the end of May, didn't think I'd done anything to injure it,left it a few days, went to GP who said it was probably ligament damage and to rest it and take antiinflammatories. I asked if it would make much difference and would I do any harm if I kept working and was told it might just take a bit longer to get better.
I kept going and two weeks later as I moved from a walk to a slightly faster pace I got a searing pain along my calf, my leg buckled and I could literally hardly walk. I went straight to A&E where I was diagnosed with a torn achilles tendon. They couldn't say how/if it was connected with the ankle problem but I was advised it could take at least 6 weeks to resolve.
It was taking a long time to improve, my GP referred me to a specialist who was more concerned by the persistent swelling of the foot/ankle so I was xrayed a few weeks ago even though he didn't expect to see a fracture at that stage.I'm now booked for an MRI scan next week, though ironically,even though there's still some swelling there's less pain and it all seems to be getting better ,it's taken so long for appointments to come through!
I wish I'd had better advice on managing the initial problem and also that I'd pushed to get it properly diagnosed and investigated earlier, I've had to take much more time off work and it's really dragging on.

Original poster

fourandahalfkids · 13/08/2013 22:25

Hmm-ok maybe I am being unreasonable then. I hate to think i'd be wasting time. And there is just nothing at all to look at. Dh just rubbed some heat lotion into it tho and I felt like I could cry :-(

It seemed such a non event slip at the time aswell- so much so that I have been wracking my brains to think if there is anything else I could have done to it but I cant think if anything.
Wouldn't a sprain or a break swell tho?

OP posts:

Original poster

fourandahalfkids · 13/08/2013 22:27

Oh gosh Irish really hope it gets sorted soon sounds like u've been thru it a bit.

OP posts:

karinmaria · 13/08/2013 22:29

Some fractures don't swell... So get it checked out! It'd be better if you came back and said 'you idiots! Making me worry over a sprain!' than not going and finding out your hairline fracture is now a lot bigger because you kept putting weight on it...

3boys3dogshelp · 13/08/2013 22:31

I went over on my ankle -while drunk- a few years ago and it was sore but not swollen for about a week. My mum (who was an a and e nurse for 30 years!!) told me it was fine and not to waste nhs time, then I ran for a bus and felt something twang and my foot swelled up. I had an xray and I'd fractured 2 metatarsals in my foot. Get it checked!!

Original poster

fourandahalfkids · 13/08/2013 22:42

Ok, thanx, will pop in tomorrow just to be on the safe side.

OP posts:

zipzap · 13/08/2013 22:43

I hobbled wandered around for a week before going to see the doctor with a real pain in my foot, he referred me for an xray which took another week.

When they took the xray - so 2 weeks from when I'd injured it - I'd broken my toe badly (there was nearly a cm between the two broken halves of the toe bone that had broken. And they missed hairline fractures radiating out of the toe joint. Even they were surprised the break was still so big after 2 weeks!

They were only able to splint it to the neighbouring toe and give me pain killers but it hurt to walk on for over 6 months (not least because the hairline fractures when they healed grew extra bone that my toe joint had to wear down back to normal), and I still wear much flatter shoes than I ever used to (and very very rarely wear any high heels) 10 years later...

So definitely go get it checked out!

In fact the xray people told me off for not going straight to them - even a week after doing the injury. I thought I was doing the right thing going to the gp's and getting an appointment, I always reckon that a&e is for things you've done immediately.

Featherbag · 14/08/2013 09:42

Have you a walk-in centre or minor injuries unit nearby? I'd go there if I were you, and if not maybe see if you can get a GP appointment? I ask as I'm an A&E nurse and I'd triage you away with a 4 day old injury if you were weight-bearing, don't want you to waste your time with A&E!

Sprains can be incredibly painful and take months to stop hurting completely, I sprained my ankle in January and still got pain in it up until June, I eventually had physio which really helped.

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