I also have had PF for 10 months now but feel that I can finally. . .
Posted by Carol E. on 8/22/99
see the light at the end of the tunnel! Don't give up!!! I am lucky in that I am a stay at home mom with only one teenager left at home(plus 3 in college) so I have been able to stay off of my foot as much as possible during the healing process. I'm sure that this has been very helpful---as opposed to FORCING myself to overdo it because of the requirements of a "paying job". Of course I don't know your situation but maybe you can maximize the use of this time without a job and let your family take care of you for a change. I am a fairly active type of person, and I hated not being able to do stuff I normally do but I just knew that I would have to be very careful with my foot if I ever hoped for it to get better. My family was very good to me and even though I felt guilty sitting in that chair while they were all up doing "my work" I think it was a very important step in my recovery (to not keep re-injuring it EVERY single day!) I pretty much let some of the less crucial housecleaning go, had the kids do the dishes and some of the cooking, I took up a couple of "sit-down" hobbies to keep me busy, did the stretching exercises several times a day, massaged the bottom of my foot by rolling it back and forth over a tennis ball while I was sitting down, I wore shoes with a good arch support, I cut sugar and starches from my diet(this helped tons!) and gradually over the past four months I have been able to increase the time spent on my feet without pain until now, most of the day I can forget that I even have this affliction. I still have a bit of stiffness in the mornings so I just stretch my foot back and forth before I get out of bed and that takes care of it. And sometimes it acts up a bit in the evenings and then I just sit down in my chair and tell my family that my foot has had ENOUGH and they mollycoddle me for a while. These instances are becoming less and less frequent. It appears that the recovery for PF is a very long process but I have confidence that, in my case at least, it WILL eventually go away. Of course, I am no expert, and everyone's situation is different but so many of the people on this board have suffered from this for a very long time and I would venture to say that their situations simply do NOT allow them to just stay off their feet until recovery can take place. Personally I think this is a very big factor for recovery---I just cannot see how the condition can improve when it is under the constant strain of standing, walking and bearing weight. Good luck!Ibuprofen cream instead of pills because of the stomach irritation high doses of pills can cause. This is the only place in the U.S. I've found that sells it.
Heel pain: plantar fasciitis and heel spurs