Does it sound like I have arthritis?

[thunderseed]

Hi,
For a couple years I've had chronic pain in my right toe joint, I've been tested for a bunch of things including gout and have been to physio, and they said it was injured, however I did not do anything to injure it at all. I am waiting on a bone scan but I really don't think it's going to show anything, since it doesn't feel like there's anything wrong with my bones, it's seems to be coming within the joint and then the whole area around it gets inflamed.

I simply woke up in the middle of the night after having a dream of some old man punching me in the foot repeatedly, with excruciating foot pain that felt like I was being electrocuted. I don't have walls near my bed, so I couldn't have kicked anything to actually injure it, it's like the pain came out of nowhere. The excruciating pain went away after a couple weeks and ever since has been chronic pain only when I put pressure on it.
I sometimes get weird constant muscle spasms in the toe.
It hurts to bend the toe upwards more than downwards.
It doesn't appear to be swollen or red and there's no lumps.

The pain goes away temporarily when I push really, really hard on the toe joint. It hurts a lot but then the pain just goes away, but of course it comes back within ten minutes or so.

From what I know about arthritis, I don't think I have any of the signs but I'm not really sure.

I'm only 26.

Sometimes the joint pain is sort of a pleasant kind of pain, it's sharp, but has an "itch" to it that makes me crave putting pressure on the joint. I'm not sure what's going on. I can feel that pleasant itching pain in my other joints if I crack them and have ever since I was a kid, in fact sometimes I used to crack my thumb joint when I was a kid until it began to really hurt, but otherwise my other joints don't bother me at all.

Does my chronic toe joint pain sound like some kind of arthritis? How would my doctor know if I had arthritis?
My sports doctor basically told me if the steriod injections into the joint didn't work (they didn't), I might have a rare kind of arthritis and he didn't even tell me what the name of the type of arthritis was or how to cure it or anything.

[Tuckamore]

Cmbcrosby and DaveHnt,

Thanks so much for your informative additions to this thread. It certainly helps when it comes from others that has the same or similar issues.

My Best,
~Tuck

[DaveHnt]

I had this too for 2 years (never pinned it down a name exactly, but had it called sesamoiditis/metatarsalgia/early-halux-limitus).  Mine started from running on hard surfaces and also having my big toe touching the end of the shoe (too short).  I solved it with proper footwear:
1)SOF-Sole memory foam insoles
2)Merrell Phoenix Ventilator shoes (1/2 to 1 size too large to avoid toe collision)
3)Try to avoid hard surfaces, particularly barefoot even around the house (e.g. shower)
4)Ice/elevate if it ever swells

[cmbcrosby_200]

Yes diffenately  see a podiatrist.  I am a lot older than you and less than 10 weeks ago I had to have an implant put in my big toe. The cause was osteoarthritis  which I've had for years but it ate the joint away. I have had arthritis for years. It isn't just for old people. I think it's in my genes..my husband is 12 years older than me and doesn't have any arthritis at all. I have it in too many places to mention but I do know it likes to jump on our weakest joints, whether an injury or surgery. My Dr found mine by an x-ray and followed up with a mri. She is a podiatrist. Good luck

[Tuckamore]

Hi Thunderseed,

Please excuse my tardy reply. I hope you are still monitoring this site. It sounds like you are seeing all the right physicians - have you also consulted a podiatrist? They are the specialist of the feet and toes. I thunk it may be worth your time to set up an appointment with one.

Most ppl are unaware of the fact that there are over 100 kinds of arthritis. We all seem to think arthritis is either osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis's and a few know about gout - which is an arthritis. It's simply called gouty arthritis.

There are lab tests like Sed Rates, Antinuclear antibody (ANA), Rheumatoid factor (RF)  and more that will reveal inflammation. Lab tests holds many microscopic clues to what’s going on throughout the body. Other tests may require urine, joint fluid or even small pieces of skin or muscle. In other words your Physician won't have to guess. There are multiple "markers" that will prove or disprove the presence of arthritis.

If you haven't visited the Arthritis Foundation web-site I encourage you to do so. It's full of great information.

If it's found that you don't have arthritis and your physician seems "stumped" I would be sure to consult a podiatrist as I said earlier.

I wish you well and hope you'll soon have answers.

Best of Luck,
~Tuck