Stubbed toe really badly last night - intense pain normal?

[zeromango]

I feel so stupid! Last night 8 month Ds woke crying so rushed to see to him in the dark, forgetting we'd left a stool near his crib while hoovering earlier in the day. I smashed my toes into the leg of the stool and it was agony. Took some pain relief and DP put some ibuprofen gel on my toes.

This morning they look a little swollen but not bruised, bent or discoloured. However all day
today I've been getting really intense ankle and leg pain, it's like a really sharp ache deep in my ankle every so often that makes me cringe. Has anyone had similar? I'm trying to rest it and keeping with elevating etc. Anything else I could try to help the pain?

How about putting something cold on it? If you use an ice pack wrap it in some cloth so it doesn't burn the skin.

I'd go and get it x-rayed. Hopefully it's just a broken toe which will mend itself but you don't want to hobble around on something more serious and end up with a long term problem.

I did similar top of my toe is now red but my ankle doesn't hurt did you do something else to.it maybe?

Stubbed toes absolutely knack. I stubbed one of mine so hard that it cracked straight across and is now shorter than the matching one on the other foot. The pain made me see lights and feel like I was about to vomit. I hobbled for a week or so and then went to x Ray revealing a very neat fracture. They strapped it to the next toe and it was a lot better.

Well it might be broken but I wouldn't bother to go to A&E because they don't do anything for broken toes.
Wrap it in something soft and strap it to the next toe. Cohesive bandage is good for this. Also you can get a tubular foam toe protector.
If broken it will heal in a few weeks.

It is relatively easy to break a toe. Bit of a design fault when you think about it...

ExH once broke his big toe building a chest of drawers. It wasn't going awfully well, and he kicked it in frustration - slightly too hard as it turned out.😂

I have broken a toe a few times and they have always bruised very quickly (think black toe!) If it's that painful though you should probably get an X-ray.

I would assume broken as well but my concern is that you're saying the pain isn't just in the toe - so I would probably want an x-ray if possible. Where I live 111 can refer you to a timed appointment at a and e for x-rays.

It’s not necessarily true that they don’t treat broken toes. I had a horrible crush injury last year when an extremely heavy weight dropped on my feet. I went to A&E (on advice of 111) and was warned it might be a displaced fracture due to the heavy weight in which case I might need surgery. Fortunately I just had a clean break of my big toe and it was just left to heal. It was still a very debilitating and miserable couple of months!

With the pain radiating backwards, I'd get it checked out. I've stubbed my toe before and ended up with a bone broken in my foot, which they did treat.

Get it X-rayed. You may have broken a bone in your foot instead of a toe, particularly with ankle pain.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/broken-toe/

I (am pretty certain that I) broke a toe a few months ago. Hard stub, then a couple of weeks of nasty pain. It felt grind-y & it moved oddly. And quite bruised for a few days. I followed the advice on the NHS page above. It's ok-ish now, a bit achey sometimes but generally ok.

I'm pretty sure I broke or fractured my big toe many years ago. Didn't get it treated as I was an idiot student. It still clicks uncomfortably sometimes. Big toe issues are always worth getting checked if they are very sore for longer than a regular stubbed toe.

I'd be more concerned about the pain up the ankle & leg though, maybe you've hit a nerve or something? Nerve pain can be awful & it's surprisingly tricky to treat.

If you can get a virtual doctors appt or call for advice, do that. I broke my little toe recently, and it didn’t sound as painful as yours in terms of going up the leg. Though it hurt a hell of a lot, and normally stubbed toes are dreadful but feel better quite quickly.

broken big toes are worse than others - maybe worth getting someone to look at it? I went to minor injuries on advice of online gp. It’s just been healing itself but worse injustices might need looking at.

I’m sure I broke my little toe in lockdown- my foot was pretty bruised on that side. No other pain though so I’d def get it looked at.

A colleague of mine stubbed her toe at work, carried on with the rest of her shift, and then drove to her evening hobby class. At some point after that she found she couldn't stand properly and went to A&E, they found she'd broken her metatarsal, 6-8 weeks recovery time.

This is what minor injury departments are for! Do you have one near you? They can X-ray and advise.

Get it checked out, a friend thought she'd stubbed her toe, finally got it checked out when it still hurt after a week and discovered she'd broken a bone in her foot.

it's not true that broken toes are not treated.
if the bones align then keeping them taped might be enough.
but if bones are displaced or tendons are involved then more traatment is warranted.

feet are full of nerves and tendons. damage to those makes it uncomfortable to stand and walk.

op given your pain please get it seen. minir injuries with x-ray might be a good place.

Thank you everyone! I didn't want to bother the NHS with this just being a stubbed toe (well, 3!)

Its's still sore today, still getting that intense pain in my ankle every so often but not quite as bad. I'll see how I am tomorrow and reassess. I appreciate all the advice and REALLY hoping it's not broken as I don't have time for that

I’d get it checked out seeing as you have pain in your ankle.

I broke mine spectacularly which I stubbed in the the bed leg. It was sticking out at 90 degrees so needed pulling back into position. Very oddly, I had virtually no bruising though!

I think they do for big toes.