bunions. How glamorous. Anyone else?

[steppemum]

My feet hurt. A lot.
I have had painful big toe joints for 10+ years.
I was told it was arthritis and nothing to be done.
It has got worse and worse and now I have no movement in the joint and pain. Joint is swollen.
So I go back to GP, expecting arthritis advice. But I did say that I don't have arthritis in any other joint. She said it is bunions. That makes much more sense.

So, treatment? Well, they can be operated on to fix them. But here in the rub. To be referred to a consultant, to even begin the process of treatment, my case has to pass a pre-referral panel. The gp says that 90% of cases fail the panel.
She has told me to write a letter and what to put and will send it plus photos etc.

So I can't even get onto a waiting list, unless the panel says yes. If they say no, I have to go away and come bakc in a year or two and try again. Where upon they will say no again.

I am 56. It is starting to effect daily life. I think twice about walking anywhere. I can still walk the dog, but only with certain boots on. A dog walk in wellies would leave me in pain for a week.
I could get them done, and then be pain free and fit and healthy for the next 40 years.
Or they can say no and I can get more and more crippled and also more unfit as I can't walk/exercise and end up costing bloody nhs thousands in care.

The NHS is broken. You just don't realise it when you only deal with A&E. The rest has gone.

Anyone else suffering with bunions? My joints are straight not bent over. Can't wear any bloody shoes except trainers.

I only had one bunion, but had it done on the NHS in 2021. There didn’t seem to be any procedure to go through, I just saw the consultant he looked it and agreed it needed doing. He pre-filled my consent form and I was called up for surgery three months later.

I think they were only just starting elective surgery again and were looking for quick operations with short stays to get the lists down. I had enquired about private care, but it ended up being cancelled as the NHS took all the private capacity near us in early 2020. I had had the operation by the time they were able to book me in again.

It has made a big difference, but it certainly isn’t an easy surgery and you will be largely in bed for a fortnight and then non weight bearing on crutches for at least another month. I hope you can get approval, if private is a possibility for you then I was quoted £5,000 in 2021 for one foot.

My neighbour just had her bunions done on the NHS, she had to wait about 6 months but there was no doubt about it getting done.

Perhaps it depends on the degree of deformity?

Yes I have them. One foot worse than the other. My job involves being on my feet all day. I'm not feeling hopeful with NHS waiting lists so I plan to go private when it gets to the point I can't walk.
I'm only 35 😭

that sounds really positive.
Where I am there is this filter of pre-referral to gte through for a whole list of things. I had never heard of it before, but the GP says it is there for a whole load, and they turn down 90% of requests. She could refer me for x-rays, but not for a consultant without going through the panel.

It is just so depressing.

I don't have any deformity. The toes are straight. The joint is swollen and painful.
I have heard before that you can have bunions without deformity.

I had 2 bunions. The worst one I had removed on the NHS in 2019. I was going to go back and get the other one done, then the pandemic arrived and it didn't seem important enough to jump through the hoops to get a non urgent medical procedure. When I finally went back to the GP to start the referral process again, I was told they no longer operate on bunions under NHS. Yippee 😩 Now I've got odd feet as well as one bunion!!

When I finally went back to the GP to start the referral process again, I was told they no longer operate on bunions under NHS. Yippee 😩 Now I've got odd feet as well as one bunion!!

That just isn't correct. They certainly won't operate for cosmetic reasons obviously, but where the bunions are causing pain or making it difficult to walk this surgery absolutely is funded by the NHS.

If your toes are straight, you don't have bunions. So your Gp is referring you for the wrong thing, so it may well get rejected.

For bunions, the amount of deformity is irrelevant, yiu can have a 90deg bend and no pain, or, a 30deg bend and agony. Pain is the only indication for surgery, everything else (with a few specific exceptions) should be rejected as there is no evidence to justify operating.

It sounds more like you have hallux rigidus, have a look on the bofas website for more info.

I had my bunion operated on this year. Arthritis, so only option was fusing joint. Was done in April, foot now fully fused and no swelling. I can walk with no pain and no awful ache end of day. Just cannot ever wear heels, but never could because of bunion. Also, feet the same size now. Please emphasise pain. I can't see how you will be turned down suffering.

so it sounds like this might be like mine.

Can I ask, do you have arthritis in any other joints?

and also, with your joint fused, can you slide it into boots?
My joint is pretty rigid now, and am struggling to get my walking boots on. I can't work out if that is due to painful joint or rigid joint

I have arthritis in my fingers. I can wear boots, slide them on, just can't bend the joint. I have no pain, no unsightly deformity, so a win win all the way. I had a foot and ankle surgeon perform surgery. He told me his wife had the same op. I really didn't have a lot of pain after operation, given painkillers for a few days. Please go for it, and message me if you need name of my surgeon. NHS

I had day surgery in lovely NHS hospital also. I'm in the south east.

If you can afford to see a podiatrist I would - it doesn’t sound like bunions

looking at bunions online, it sounds like it is hallux rigidus, which comes under the bunion umbrella, but which is a form of arthritis. the solution is, as snorkmaiden says, to make the joint rigid. Whereas with bunions the solution is to correct the joint deformity.