I started my Vit C, 5-HTP and excersise last May and was in pretty good shape by the end of August but one thing that really helped was a 3 week vacation of sailing. When I first started this vacation I could walk about 1/2 mile and by then end I could go for about an hour staight. My point is that I believe your mind and mental state have a much bigger impact than people give it credit. There is a strong link between ones mental state and ones biochemical state. Depression screws up your bodies hormones and chemical balance. So if there is anyway of fixing this do it. And that is why I strongly advocate fun dance music. It realy can ease your mind. When ever I'm home alone (I work from home because of my problem)I crank up the music and do excercise and dance. How embarrasing to be telling someone this....
My feet can do this but at first I just did floor excersices.
Try swimming.
I also was in a wheelchair and I don't think it was the greatest idea because then the legs get weak and it's hard to go back. I purchased a TENS unit from my acupuncture guy for $140 (cheap) and that helped numb the pain and get the blood flowing in order to start walking again. I know a lot of people claimed it didn't do any good for them but maybe it only is significant for the extreme cases. It is not a cure, just an aid.
I think that even though mechanical type devices such as arch supports releive the stress they do not cure the real cause.
Given that a) Many people say they don't have relatives with this it can't be hereditary
b)Mechanical devices only cure a portion of the people
c)Many people suffer more than just the feet (carpal tunnel, neck shoulder etc.)
It must be that the problem is biochemical. And since these type of problems are highly on the rise it must be something in the food or air or water.
When I had a toxcicity test done they found very high amounts of copper (way off the scale) in my hair.My blood showed ok though. Doctors don't know what to make of the hair thing.
Anyhow, I searched for an anwer to the source of copper and called the local Water engineer in Kent WA. He said that there was a known problem with the water and that it had been anounced in the NEWs paper. THey are fixing it.
The water did not have copper but the PH was so far off that it was causing the copper tubing in houses to dissolve into solution. In fact both tubes going to my hot water tank broke (only ten yr old house). He said to make sure you run the water for a minute before using it for drinking. Well (I do hydraulics engineering) and I figured it would take about two minutes to really flush the system all the way back to meter with any kind of confidence.
In the past I always made a fresh jug of orange juice from tap water every morning without flushing the system(to get my dose of copper).
Anyhow,I don't know if this is really the problem because I never went back to check my copper levels since, but I got better using the Vit C to take out the copper.
Here is the name of a lab that does it."Trace Elements, Inc. 4901 Keller Springs Rd. Dallas Texas 75248 USA. 1-800-824-2314. They may advise you of a local doc or nutritionalist that can order the test. It cost me $47. Demand to get a copy of the doctors and patients report.They are different.
Tell me what your levels are and I'll be a happy man.
Anti-depresents help because when your less depressed your body can do a much better job of healing.
Because your toe is going numb I highly suspect you have poor circulation in your foot (inspite of what the doc may say)and this is the casue (but what caused the bad circulation). Mdeciation that helps circulation might be a consideration (I think Ginko does this) and supposedly 5-HTP (the good stuff) does this.
If you have poor circulation in your foot be careful with too much icing. A friend of mine has a daughter with that circulation disesase and she went in for minor foot surgery. Well, her foot never recoverd in the big toe because she over-iced after the surgery.
Ice helps but it can hurt.
Anyhow good cardivascular excersice is the best thing for circulation.
My hurt the most when I sit around so i massage them with a fork while I'm on teh computer. Couldn't do that when they were real bad.
Another thing, If I go for a hike and then don't do anything the next day then they get sore. So I always do some mat work after I ice them and then first thing the next day.
Check some of my other tips on other answers to see if anything helps.
I would like to get Scott to submit a more clinical survery to get to the route cause of this thing. Then we can let our doctors know how to fix it.
Good luck
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