Help Chronic foot pain in Runner

So here it goes. My story starts back in September 2018, although it seems like forever ago I know many have been suffering longer. let me start by saying I am a runner, at my prime I am running 40 miles a week, September 2018 I completed and PRed in the Erie Marathon. I had no pain during the race. The next day I was stupid and went for a run, I put on older shoes and initially felt like the shoes felt tight but didn't think much of it and went out on a 7 mile run. I developed some left foot pain between my 3rd and 4th toes. I continued to run for a few days, really not taking days off, I know stupid. A week or so later I decided to get help. I saw a podiatrist to felt it was a stress fracture, I was placed in a cast shoe and set up for a bone scan to confirm. a week later I had the bone scan that was essentially normal, I followed up with the podiatrist who then diagnosed me with a neuroma, I had a steroid injection that did not really help, at this time I started to develop similar pain in the opposite foot. I took more time off from running, I saw a chiropractor who diagnosed me with a peroneal tendonitis, I saw him for 4 visits and was given exercises, stretches which did not improve my pain. with frustration and no real answers I started to run again. the pain was bearable and would come and go. I believe it was at this time I discovered TMS and felt like I fit the personality to a T. I essentially ignored the pain, read Dr. Sarno's healing back pain and felt like I was somewhat progressing. fast forward to February, I did a 9 mile race, had pain but manageable. 2 weeks later I did a 5 mile race and had extreme pain the first half mile, I finished the race and at the end had a swollen and bruised foot in between the 2 toes where my previous pain had initiated. I lost hope in TMS, I had multiple xrays, saw a new doctor an orthopedist who thought it was a neuroma, had another steroid injection, wore pads in my shoes, switched to wider shoes and even wore a boot for 6 weeks. the pain would wax and wain but never completely resolved. I got an MRI in april that showed edema in the interosseous muscles of my foot between the 2 toes. my ortho doctor recommended not running for an extended amount of time. I did not run for 7 months, I still exercised, mostly biking and swimming. after months of some improvement I finally set a date to start running again in September of 2019. my pain had mostly resolved. I started using the elliptical 2 weeks before running to trying to get my muscles back to running shape, in this time my foot pain increased. I still decided to start running again. I slowly ran, making sure to do low mileage and not run every day. my pain was there but did not get worse. I ran the same 9 mile race 2 days ago and had my usual pain, scared I might take my shoe off and seeing bruising I had some relief that there was no swelling or bruising. but my pain was worse. I really believe I have TMS but I am having a hard time fully committing to the diagnosis, is it coincidence that I injured the same area in February, did it get injured from weakening the muscles from the steroid injection? Does the edema on the MRI mean anything, can TMS cause edema on an MRI. I am frustrated and want to be pain free. side note, I have a history of anxiety and depression essentially my whole life. I had school phobia as a child and the September my pain started was the same time my son started kindergarten. I dont know if this is a connection or again coincidence. I would appreciate any advice.

 

Howdy...you're story slightly reminds me of myself. I had a long history of IBS issues. Every time I got a stomach scope or colonoscopy (which was a lot), the doctors always told me everything looked normal other than "a little swelling". This made me incredibly frustrated, but now I know that the swelling was just my brain. Thankfully, I never had serious issue and am now mostly recovered. On that note...I wouldn't worry about edema on an MRI. It's just a scary name for swelling, and swelling is a huge part of TMS/MBS. It seems you've seen enough doctors to rule out a significant structural issue. If it truly was a neuroma, the injection should have taken care of it. And any mild to moderate injury would have healed after 7 months of rest. I would assume you are fine to do a slow build up of running again. I would recommend you do the SEP on this site or another similar TMS program if you have not already. That will help with your doubts about the TMS diagnosis by giving you more information to better understand the syndrome and how your symptoms do or do not fit with it. Good luck!