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6 years of feet/ankle related pain/swelling. 6 years of unanswered questions

First of all I just want to say that this is very much a last resort option for myself to come to a health forum but I feel as though I have no other choice.

I have been dealing with mild to severe pain and swelling in both of my feet for years. To get a few things out of the way, I am 25 years old, 5'11 and medically obese. I have been told by medical professionals that weight loss would help me to fix my problem I have been having but that is about the extent of it. I see people twice my size going about their life without feet related issue, so what is the deal?

To go into depth, either one of my feet at any moment could swell crippling me for a few days. Most recently it was my right, when historically its been my left foot that has given me the worst luck. Most days I deal with very mild achiness in either foot, as of right now it is my right. I have to give myself a time limit of how long I can be on my feet as I cannot be on them for more than an hour and a half without the achiness becoming too much and forcing me to sit. I cannot run, as the stiffness from this history of issues makes doing so mildly uncomfortable and if I'm particularly unlucky, either one my feet will swell due to the usage.

Lately, I have felt some circulatory issues (feet getting pins and needles) as a precursor to the swelling. This is very recent in the grand scheme of things, as I've only noticed it for about a month. I saw an earlier forum post regarding heart related issues and upon an EKG I received from an emergency room visit for the same problem, I was determined to have a healthy heart. Further complicating the reasons as to why I've been suffering with this problem.

With the swelling, certain areas of the bottom of my foot become swollen and sensitive. I have had it all over the foot, but more particularly the area just below the toes and to the outside of the foot below the pinky toe. I have also had inflammation appear on the top of my foot, swelling it as a whole and making it painful to move and bend. Lastly, the ankle sometimes becomes the center point of the swelling making basic movement impossible and leaving me bed ridden.

Further information I'm willing to provide: I am relatively flatfooted and do walk with pronated feet on both sides. As far as I'm concerned, this isn't uncommon in terms of obese individuals. Which leads to my next thing,

I have visited a local podiatrist in my area and his recommendation to settle the problems was to surgically reposition/realign my foot to develop an arch and fix pronation. This was after two visits this determination was made. I of course made out that I wanted a second opinion, and have not yet made my visit to my second podiatrist. I look forward to that visit, as I do not believe the problems I described are caused by said issue. I am not the medical professional, I just believe this conclusion was made very rapidly with very little research done.

Any and all help would be nice. If there are more people out there like me, I would love to know of your experiences as well. I'm very desperate for answers or even potential answers at this point that could lead me to having answers. Any help is appreciated, thank you.
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134578 tn?1693250592
How 'medically obese' are you? The answer to your foot issues could be in the amount of weight being too much, or the amount of salt in your diet, or from blocked blood vessels. So it is a pertinent question to ask how much weight you are carrying.
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4 Comments
Thank you for your question and your swift response. I am 330 at the time of this comment.
Have you been tested for diabetes? Foot issues are very common for people with that condition.
Also, even if you have 'seen people twice your size going about their life without foot-related issues,' that doesn't mean your own body's ability to handle the weight without foot issues is also guaranteed. Your body might just be different from all the other people you see who are overweight and don't have foot issues. In your position, I would take seriously the need to get weight off for reasons of the heart and brain as well as your feet. To that end, I would talk to a therapist and to a dietician. A friend of mine who weighed 400 lbs. before I knew her, and was down to 250 lbs. when I knew her, said packing on that much weight came from her emotional reaction to a life that had served her some bad turns. And that when she got into therapy, the diet advice and the ability to dump habits that kept the weight on was able to work. So, try both approaches. Your doctors aren't kidding when they advise weight loss, having a lot of weight is harmful to a lot of body parts, and you risk a heart attack, a stroke, and high blood pressure among other things. But losing weight not all about the mechanics of dieting, or people would do it all the time with ease. It's also got a huge component of the need to address the issues of the psyche.
Hope to be of some help. I’m on a low cal diet. I had edema of the legs and ankles. I keep my sodium and calories in a logbook daily. Have lost 125 lbs in two years time. I have arthritis which is much less painful now in my knees and is no longer painful in my ankles. You need to get to a point of being disabled and wanting more out of life than soothing yourself with food. Think hard on this honey. It’s your only way out now.
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