Ask your doctor to test for gout. The pain can be insane.

Insane is a good way to describe what I'm feeling. I thought gout was more in the joint area? I will mention it to my doctor Monday. Thank you.

I found this pic and it shows exactly where the pain started.

I only read a small part of your post when my first thought was gout also. It sounds exactly like my brother described when he had gout. The pain was at the top of his foot rather than at the joint which surprised him too.

You don't remember stepping wrong at any time yesterday? I will sometimes do something, maybe trip when I'm out walking the dog and promptly forget all about it. It's not until I think really hard about it, I will have a memory flash and remember that I hit a step wrong or tripped on something or twisted my ankle etc. I was having this bad thumb pain and a trigger thumb just out of the blue and didn't remember doing anything until a few days later, I was walking up the basement stairs and hit it on the bracket that holds the hand rail and remembered that I had jammed it really bad and that was what caused the pain and trigger thumb I was having.

Make sure you don't have any bites of any sort...it seems weird to me that the pain would continue to spread like that without injury...I'd look for a definitive cause.

I was thinking gout too. Mine shows up on the side of my foot and ankle. I remember when I first experienced it, I thought I had a broken bone because I couldn't put any weight on my foot. Saw my Dr, he sent me for xrays and said there were no broken bones, did a blood test and it showed high uric acid. I don't want to take the medication so I am careful what I eat. No cauliflower, asparagus, mushrooms, beer) those are my gout trigger foods. The pain from gout is unexplainable.

That happened to me several years ago. I was stretched out on the couch watching TV on a Friday night. I got up to go to the kitchen , took two steps and had that same kind of pain in one foot. I got back to the couch and see where the top of the foot was a little swollen and maybe just a hint of redness. The next morning it was still puffy on top with pain so I tried to stay off it as much as possible and thought if it didn't improve by Monday I would go to the doctor. By Monday it was pretty much ok and I have never had that happen since. Worst part was , I had planned to go to a large craft show on Saturday but that didn't happen! I have no idea why that happened. Hope you have improvement soon. Try to keep off it as much as you can.

Mama when you go to the doctor Monday please take his/her recommendations as far as pain medication. Some people hesitate about taking strong medication for bad pain for fear of addiction, but if the duration of the medication is only a few weeks that is not likely to happen. And severe unrelenting pain can have its own consequences and make life miserable.

Cellulitis? Not an M.D. but a friend had a bout with that and it started the exact same way.

I was thinking cellulitis too. It's very very painful and presents just the way you described.

My father had that happen last week. He went to the ER--had to use a cane to walk. They diagnosed it as gout and gave him a steroid injection (and pills). He walked out of the ER without needing the cane! He said the relief was instant, and the pain hasn't returned. Good luck. Hugs!

I'm sorry you're hurting. I have foot pain all the time now. Tops, ankles. I think it's arthritis. I sprained my left ankle 2 1/2 years ago and it is always swollen and painful now. The other foot hurts from time to time too. My doctor told me to use arthritis formula Tylenol...which I only use if I know I'm going to be on my feet most of the day.

Thank you everyone. I survived the night. Actually at about 2 am I followed the doctors instructions and took two of the pain pills. It gave me some relief but made me soooo tired but than again it was 2 am and I had been up for 22 hours by than. When I woke this morning I felt like the pain wasn't quite as bad as yesterday. As this morning progressed I feel definitely the pain is better..I'd say 30% better. I took no pain pills today.

I was also worried about cellulitis once the pain spread, but since the pain is letting up I'm not so sure. I will avoid standing all day cleaning, cooking, ect... and just take today to rest the foot. I've learned since my last bout with the flu..I'm to old to just carry on when somethings wrong with this body.

Thank you all.

Gout was my first thought, too, and cellulitis my second thought. I'm very glad you are feeling better today, but don't take that as an excuse to ignore the condition! If you don't already have an appointment with your primary care doctor, make one first thing tomorrow morning!

Try to drink as much water today as you possibly can. If it is gout, this will help your kidneys to flush out the excess uric acid. If it's not gout, it's not going to hurt anything.

But PLEASE! Don't ignore this! Gout can be managed and Cellulitis can be treated! Take care of yourself!

Rusty

The doctor's diagnosis may be correct.

I hope that it does continue to improve. If it doesn't continue to get better AND there is redness that starts spreading up past the ankle, that needs urgent attention from a doctor.

Whatever it turns out to be, hope you are feeling better soon!

I"m glad the pain is a bit better -- but still significant, so please continue to be smart about taking care of yourself :-)

I was having pain on the top of my right foot. Went to foot doc. Turns out I have a very high arch and needed inserts. Big relief. But when I wear sandals or shoes without the inserts the pain comes back! Have to wear my very nice tennis shoes with inserts as often as possible. In fact, when I see him in the spring I will ask for the arch support to be a bit higher.

I have no guesses as to what it is. I do however hope it returns to normal soon. I know you're in a lot of pain. Do whatever the doc says. Will say a little prayer for you. Hugs

Ice is a wonderful thing for anything inflamed. I know no-one likes ice. It's winter. It so cold. But it does miracles. After a few minutes you don't notice how cold it is. It's a good time for a warm blanket and a good book too.

Elizabeth, your comment about tight socks describes what I think caused the right upper side of my foot to hurt. In fact, I even had feelings like needles in the bottom of my feet, couldn't rest the foot in any position without it throbbing. This began in mid-December. Then it dawned on me - the tops of my socks were tight. They were leaving indentations in my legs, esp. the left one. Also, I wear short work boots a lot and they are hard at the tops.

Took a long time to figure it out but then I began wearing some more loose socks and as of today it's MUCH better. Still somewhat sore, but I use Aspercreme.