Broken toe

[vilakins]

And in other news, I think I've broken my little toe. I caught it on one of the bed legs this morning and it hurts. I've done this a couple of times before over the years and I've just treated it the usual way - strapping it to the next one - but Greg wants me to go to A&E. This is my holiday: I don't want to spend half a day sitting in a hospital being forced to listen to reality TV and strident ads, and though ACC (Accident Compensation Corp) will pay for it, they don't cover all the X-ray costs. If it's still painful tomorrow, I suppose I'll go in, but what can they do but strap it, which I've already done?

Damn. The weather's turned fine (if still cold and windy) and I wanted to do some interesting stuff.

Comments

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Yikes! I can't imagine not going to a doctor if I thought I'd broken something, but then I'm a wimp and hardly trust my own first aid skills... Regardless of whether you do or don't, I hope it heals up quickly and well.

Completely random question, but I'll ask it, because I've seen the term several times in the last few weeks without, as far as I can recall, ever having encountered it before then: What the heck does "A&E" stand for? Here in the US, it's a cable TV network. Obviously elsewhere it's some kind of emergency room, but I can't for the life of me figure out what the "A" is for. :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Accident and Emergency.

I'll see how it does overnight. Broken toes usually stop hurting in a couple of days. I might take a painkiller; I sort of forget about those since they don't work on headaches and that's the pain I usually get.

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

Ow ow ow. I'm with you, when I broke a toe that's pretty much all they did...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

As I thought, and I really don't want to waste half a day. You can't even read there, it's so noisy.

[kerravongenius.livejournal.com]

I've done exactly the same thing to my toes more than once. My mother is a nurse and she says there's no point in going to a doctor for breaks to toes, because there's nothing they can do but confirm it is broken. It's the same with shoulders, as a former employer of mine discovered when she broke hers. Comfrey tea or comfrey ointment is said to speed bone healing. I used comfrey a lot after a car accident, and it seemed to help.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the confirmation. :-)

I've never used comfrey, though I know arnica's good for bruising. I'll see if I can find some tomorrow and in the meantime I'll take some arnica now.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Ow, you poor thing :-( My instinct is always to hurry to the doctor; mraltariel's instinct (he does a lot of work in healthcare) is the exact opposite.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

The other ones I broke healed up quickly enough, and I have quite straight toes compared to people who squash theirs into pointy shoes, so I must have done all right with them.

[kerravonsen]

Oh dear! Well, put your foot up now, and hug a cat or two...

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

I agree, that sounds like a good plan

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I've been doing just that while watching TV. :-)

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Not bothering with Doctors or A&E are my first instincts too. Only if things don't go as I expect with self treatment. My first course of action then is the practise nurse at my doctors, A&E comes about 120th on my list, I hate the those places. I hope the toe feels better soon and it doesn't spoil your time off too much.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

My other toes healed up well enough with no intervention. I won't be going for long walks for a few days, that's all.

[ecossefilmmaker.livejournal.com]

I hope you feel less sore really soon! :(

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I think it's getting a bit better already, but that could be the wine and panadol. :-P

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Oh, bad luck! I'm sure there's interesting stuff that can done not standing up, though....

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

There's plenty and I've been doing it (reading, writing etc) but I wanted to go to the museum at some point and do some day trips. I'm back at work on Monday, and Greg has another week; I might be able to work shorter hours though in return for the long ones I did last month.

I second the comfrey thing ...

[quarryquest.livejournal.com]

I have mended a cracked ankle/foot and a broken shoulder/humerus with that.

The shoulder rather surprised a young doctor as it was supposed to take three months to get better but calcified in one and a half. 'Is this your x-ray?' he said when I went back for my check-up. When I explained about the comfrey (and the family herbal self-treatment thing) he nodded and said to carry on, 'if more people knew about that ...' he said, 'we'd get less people in casualty'.

Mind you comfrey should NOT be used on open wounds - they heal too quickly.
Very good for healed scar tissue though - used that on my blender-accident finger and dad has used it on his re-shaped nose. Docs were very impressed with that as well - prevented the need for steroid injections.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

That's brilliant! I only knew about arnica; I'll get some comfrey today. I wonder if it will work on old scars.

Do you recommend the tea or the ointment, or both?

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Ouch.

You take care, you, and I hope it heals quickly.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It seems to be. It's a lot better today.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

Oh, bad luck. I don't blame you about wanting to avoid A&E. I'd look after it myself if I were in your shoes (ha, inadvertent metaphor). The only reason (I think) to bother them is if it gets worse, or if you need stronger painkillers. I hope it doesn't affect your ability to go out and enjoy yourself for too long. I love walking in cold and windy weather.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It's a lot better this morning; I won't need painkillers today. Yes, this weather would be perfect for walking in: fine and cool. It's very unpleasant when the high temperatures and humidity hit. Maybe I can fit some in before work next week; my toe should be better by then.

[spacefall.livejournal.com]

Ow!!

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

Ouch. Toes do get attacked by furniture quite often, don't they? Especially in the dark.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It wasn't in the dark. :-P This new bed has legs on the very corners unlike the old one which had them further in and I was careless.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

Ouch!
Hope it gets better soon!
If you need painkillers try to gear ones to treat more than the pain. Ibuprofen works to reduce swelling and inflammation which is the usual cause for pain in a break.
If the pain is bad you can take ibuprofen and paracetamol without risking overdose as they don't interact, wouldn't recommend with any aspirin or codeine based products though as iboprofen and they do interact.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that advice; I'll remember it for the future. The pain's not at all bad today so I won't need anything. I did look for nurofen as I usually have it, but I didn't. I shall try the comfrey two others recommended, plus some arnica; I can see some bruising now.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Ouch. Sorry to hear about it. I've no experience of broken toes, but if you've managed to heal them on your own in the past, I expect it's safe to stick with that unless it seems to be staying bad.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It's already quite a bit better. [looks at your icon] I was indeed. I seem to have no appropriate icons myself.

[labingi.livejournal.com]

I hope your toe is better soon! Take care. My partner's mom just broke her toe too; there must be something in the air.

[daiseechain.livejournal.com]

Or on the floor?

[daiseechain.livejournal.com]

Ouch! *winces*

Commiserations.

I have personally found that broken toes heal just fine if you leave them alone. Of course, they don't heal in the previous alignment...

And also! Happy! And New! And also Year!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I've broken about three and they're all still fairly straight. Taping them to the next toe seems to help.

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

Yet another voice here piping up about the uselesness of going to A&E with a broken toe, because they'll just recommend you tie it to an unbroken toe anyway and can't do anything else (rant often heard from nurse Mum who takes lots of A&E shifts). It would be a waste of their time for people to rush in with that particular complaint:). Hope it's doing better, and that it gets lots of purrs from the kitties!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Greg was annoyed with me for refusing to go to A&E but everyone's confirming it. I just strap broken toes to the next one and they h4eal up well. This one's already pretty much stopped hurting. I got some comfrey ointment for it so it should heal even faster. :-)

The wind's dropped; time for the hammock and a book, I think.

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear that - I hope it's not broken...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It's either broken or severely bruised, but it's a lot better today and only hurts occasionally so I'm happy. I'm hardly limping now.