About all

Foot pain when i wake up: My Feet Hurt When I Wake Up and Walk

by alexxlab

8 Causes, Treatment & Prevention

Foot pain is problematic for millions of people every day, from dull, throbbing aches to sharp, stinging sensations.

For some people, foot pain only occurs at night or when they’re asleep. This can interrupt sleep and make high-quality sleep difficult.

Affected by foot pain at night? Read on to find out some common causes and how best to treat each condition. In many cases, a few home remedies can ease foot pain at night, but you may need to see a doctor.

The tissue that runs from the front of your foot, through the arch and into the heel, is called the plantar fascia. When it’s stressed or stretched, it can cause foot pain and inflammation in a condition called plantar fasciitis.

Common causes of plantar fasciitis include:

  • flat feet
  • high arches
  • obesity
  • tight calf muscles
  • standing long hours on your feet without proper support

Plantar fasciitis pain is usually worse in the morning.

Morton’s neuroma is a painful condition caused by pinching or inflammation around the nerves in your toes. This pinching can lead to sensations like burning and shooting pain.

Pain with this condition isn’t necessarily worse at nighttime. But the pain can persist throughout the day, especially when you walk or put pressure on your feet.

People with Morton’s neuroma frequently have:

  • flat feet
  • high arches
  • bunions
  • hammer toe

During pregnancy, a person’s body processes calcium differently. This change in calcium levels can lead to leg and foot cramps and tenderness.

Why are leg and foot cramps common during pregnancy?

There are many reasons that women may have leg and foot cramps during pregnancy. One reason can be changes in calcium levels. Learn more.

Was this helpful?

High levels of blood sugar can damage the central nervous system over time. This includes the nerves in your feet.

As the damage worsens, symptoms including foot pain and tingling can become worse.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that causes widespread pain and stiffness. This includes pain in the feet and other areas that may frequently experience pressure and overuse.

At night, low levels of the anti-inflammatory hormone cortisol may make pain worse.

Compression of some nerves in your ankle can cause tarsal tunnel syndrome. Compression of the sciatic nerve in your back and legs can cause foot pain, too.

In both cases, the pressure on these nerves tends to be worse at night, which leads to increased pain.

Many episodes of foot pain can be traced back to things like how you walk, how you sit, and the shoes you wear.

Lifestyle factors that might contribute to foot pain include:

  • sitting for long periods of time
  • standing, walking, or running for long periods of time
  • improper shoe support
  • sleeping in certain positions
  • weight

Some people experience more foot pain at night because of the structure of their feet.

People with high arches and those with flat feet are more impacted by conditions that can lead to foot pain.

Foot pain is uncomfortable in almost any form. But the type of foot pain you’re experiencing, or where the pain seems to be located, can tell you a lot about what’s causing it.

Pain in heel

Some foot pain at night occurs in the bottom of your heel. This may make standing or walking on the foot more painful. You may also experience stinging, shooting pain when you get out of bed.

Pain in the heel may be the result of poor shoe supports or overworked muscles in the feet. In these cases, the foot may be throbbing and tender.

In the case of a pinched nerve, the heel pain may be sharp and stinging, and it may come and go.

Big toe pain

The bones and joint of the big toe take a pounding on any given day as a result of walking, standing, running, and other activities that put weight on your feet.

This can lead to painful inflammation and swelling in and around the toe.

Bunion pain

Bunions are bony bumps that develop at the joint of your big toe. These are often visible on the side of your feet.

These growths can be uncomfortable when you’re walking or wearing shoes. At night, they can cause throbbing pain and soreness.

Pain in other toes

Your middle toes are prone to burning and tingling, as the nerves that lead to them are impacted by stress and pressure.

Sometimes, toes might also feel numb if the nerves are pinched.

Pain when lying down

Nocturnal leg cramps are muscle cramps that occur while you’re asleep or lying down. You may feel them in your calves and thighs.

Nighttime foot cramps are related. They cause a painful shooting achiness in your feet. The pain can also travel up the foot into the ankle and lower leg.

Peripheral neuropathy

Peripheral neuropathy causes tingling and burning that results from damage to nerves in your extremities, like your feet.

People with this nerve damage may also experience stabbing, shooting pain. Numbness is also a common symptom.

Treatment and prevention can go a long way toward making sure you get the sleep you need by reducing or getting rid of foot pain at night.

Caring for your feet with properly fitted shoes, regular stretches, and overall healthy habits can go a long way toward preventing nighttime foot pain.

See a doctor for conditions like pinched nerves and inflammation to help prevent worse damage.

FOOT PAIN AT NIGHT: IT MIGHT BE MORE SERIOUS THAN YOU THINK

FOOT PAIN AT NIGHT: IT MIGHT BE MORE SERIOUS THAN YOU THINK

Many patients over the age of 65 who have a history of smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, and/or high cholesterol wake up at night with pain in their foot or toes. Some believe this is arthritis or gout; others think it is the result of just spending too much time on their feet during the day.  Patients often self-adapt to this problem, as it usually develops slowly over time, but when questioned about their sleep habits, they will sometimes tell you that they sleep in a recliner or they sleep with their leg hanging over the side of the bed to make their pain go away.

It is very common for elderly patients to get up at night to go to the bathroom. Sometimes, however, it’s actually foot pain that wakes them up.  Once up, they get out of bed because that makes their feet feel better (again due to gravity) and after walking to the bathroom they can go back to sleep, pain -free for a couple of hours.  Even that small amount of walking helps to get their blood flowing again and makes it easier for them to go back to sleep.

Sometimes, foot pain at night is the sign of a more serious condition.

  • Foot pain at night may be related to having poor circulation in the foot. The name for this in medical terms is “rest pain”. This is not “pain at rest” but rather pain that happens because the circulation cannot support the tissues even when they are at rest.

Foot pain at night may be an early warning sign of critical limb ischemia.

  • Chronic Limb Ischemia is another term for lack of blood flow;  if you experience this rest pain at night and it goes away after hanging your foot over the side of the bed or chair you are sleeping in, immediately call and speak with your doctor to set up an appointment for them to evaluate your symptoms. Although it may come on slowly, the arteries in your feet may be so blocked that they cannot even deliver the minimal amount of oxygen the tissues in the foot and toes need to keep them nourished. Left untreated, this blockage can lead to a more serious problem, amputation or even death.

What’s important for the patient to realize is that chronic limb ischemia causes the foot and leg to get swollen, so the patient is often MIS-DIAGNOSED with a vein problem, not an arterial problem

  • It is the “Right” experience that matters in diagnosing these kinds of vascular problems and why more local independent physicians refer their vein and vascular patients to Dr Kokinos than to any other vascular surgeon in the Silicon Valley Region.  https://www.southbayvascular.com/blog/the-right-experience-counts-when-it-comes-to-your-health/ 

If this sounds like something you or someone you love is experiencing, it is important to tell your primary care doctor OR schedule an appointment DIRECTLY with a vascular surgeon. These symptoms are a sign that your body is giving you that you may need immediate help. This truly is a sign that your foot is starving for oxygen and blood and that if left untreated, might lead to an unnecessary amputation. Help is possible, however and if treated early enough, those suffering from these symptoms can be helped significantly.

If you suffer from painful feet in the middle of the night, WE CAN HELP

contact us today  at 408-376-3626 to learn more about PAD and how Dr. Kokinos can help, click here.

South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute: We Offer Hope When Others Say There Is None.

 

 

Posted on 02/08/2021 at 10:02 PM

“I found Dr. Kokinos to be excellent at explaining, assessing, and treating. It is wonderful to find an excellent doctor who is also a friendly and compassionate person.”

– SBVC patient

“For over 12 months I went between UCSF and Stanford Clinics trying to get diagnosed because I was so ill. ..no one could ever find a cause to any of my symptoms….it turns out it was a blood flow problem that was making me so sick. I am very thankful I found Dr. Kokinos!”

– SBVC patient

What diseases does constant hunger indicate: 6 serious diseases – June 19, 2022

If after a hearty meal you soon feel hungry again, you should think about the reasons

Share

with this problem: you had a hearty lunch, it seems that the brain gave a signal that everything, the body is full. But very little time passes, and the feeling of hunger returns. The so-called biting begins: you ate a piece of cake, then a cookie, then nuts. But the feeling of hunger does not subside. It turns out that in some cases this may indicate the presence of serious pathologies, says Dr. Peter.

Natalia Kruglova — dietician of the sanatorium “White Nights” IMC “SOGAZ”.

Physical hunger increases slowly, gradually, and depends on when the person last ate, the nutritionist says. Emotional hunger arises quickly and provokes cravings for certain foods.

It is important to know that true hunger occurs 4-4.5 hours after eating, with a feeling of emptiness in the stomach, rumbling, weakness. Psychological hunger is the desire to eat, not accompanied by any physical sensations from the gastrointestinal tract. Psychological Hunger Triggers:

  • boredom;
  • alarm;
  • voltage;
  • sadness;
  • dissatisfaction and other emotions.

Certain activities and habits can also encourage eating, such as going to the cinema, eating, watching TV, chatting with friends.

– There is no single explanation for this, there are a lot of reasons for such cravings – from neurophysiological processes in the brain to the emotional state of a person. Most often, this is a combination of several factors,” explains Natalya Kruglova.

Strong food cravings may be due to the activation of certain areas of the brain that are responsible for memory and the sensation of pleasure. Often fatty or sugary foods are given positive properties (for example, in advertising) or used as a reward. So the connection between food and a sense of pleasure is firmly fixed.

For many people, food cravings increase when they are emotionally stressed or anxious. With chronic stress, the hormone cortisol is produced – it increases appetite and increases the desire to eat something high-calorie.

Two more appetite-forming hormones are ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin increases appetite, and leptin sends a signal to the brain about satiety. When their balance is disturbed, a person feels hungry, even if he has eaten heavily. The level of ghrelin rises in violation of the regime of work and rest and due to lack of sleep.

Another important detail: vitamin and mineral deficiencies can cause cravings for certain foods. A low level of potassium, magnesium and chromium provokes a desire to eat sweets, a lack of iron – meat, a lack of zinc – salty.

— Stress is the most common cause of severe hunger. At the same time, some people lose their appetite, while others, on the contrary, overeat, experiencing “false hunger”. Food for people under stress acts as a tool that helps drown out negative emotions, switch from their experiences to food, says the nutritionist.

Appetite disorders can also occur if a person eats too much sweet and starchy foods – such foods increase insulin levels, and then it drops sharply. Due to fluctuations in insulin, the feeling of hunger occurs already about an hour after eating. Obesity can lead to insulin resistance (increased plasma insulin concentration).

Salty, spicy foods can stimulate gastric acid production and provoke appetite. Flavor enhancers increase the palatability of food and also make us eat more. A striking example is the same chips.

In addition, the feeling of hunger can be confused with thirst. During the day, doctors advise drinking at least 1 liter of pure water. And if you want to drink, then you need to quench your thirst with water, and not with juice, coffee or soda.

Constant hunger can also be a consequence of extreme diets – this is a signal from the body to restore the balance of nutrients. In addition, taking certain medications can increase appetite:

  • hormonal drugs;
  • antihistamines;
  • antidepressants;
  • neuroleptics;
  • corticosteroids.

Finally, distractions such as watching videos, movies, reading books, and so on can interfere with feeling full. Try to make eating a self-study, so you are more likely not to miss satiety.

The medical term “polyphagia” is used to describe extreme hunger and increased appetite. This condition can be a sign of various diseases.

Hyperthyroidism

The thyroid gland produces hormones that control metabolic rate and affect weight and mood. With hyperthyroidism, too many hormones are produced, due to which a person constantly experiences hunger. At the same time, we do not observe a significant weight gain, and sometimes a person even loses weight.

Diabetes mellitus

In diabetes, blood glucose remains abnormally high (hyperglycemia). Therefore, glucose from the blood cannot enter the cells – due to a lack of insulin or due to insulin resistance – therefore, the body cannot convert food into energy. Lack of energy causes a feeling of hunger.

Hypoglycemia

This is a condition in which the concentration of glucose in the blood is below normal.

– If blood glucose falls below 3.5 mmol/L, the body releases glucose from the liver to raise blood levels to normal. The feeling of hunger arises as a reaction of the brain center to a low concentration of glucose in the blood, the nutritionist explained.

Hypoglycemia can occur in people who consume too little carbohydrate.

Gastritis or chronic gastritis with high acidity

High acidity of the stomach can provoke a constant desire to eat. With this disease, the patient is concerned about heartburn and aching pain in the stomach. To get rid of unpleasant sensations, a person begins to eat and, unfortunately, most often overeats.

Bulimia

Bulimia is an eating disorder that involves overeating and then avoiding food through vomiting, laxatives, and other medications.

– A person experiences uncontrollable bouts of hunger, but at the same time does not feel the taste of food and satiety. The physiological cause of the disease is that the brain does not receive satiety signals, so a person cannot stop while eating. But more often bulimia is caused by psychological disorders – against their background there is a feeling of abandonment, loneliness, anxiety, which are drowned out with food, says the nutritionist.

Premenstrual syndrome

During PMS, the levels of estrogen and progesterone in a woman’s body change – hormonal fluctuations lead to an increase in appetite.

Prader-Willi Syndrome

This is a rare disease that is also worth knowing about. The strongest appetite is associated with genetic characteristics – a violation of the concentration of the hormones ghrelin and oxytocin, due to which a person does not feel full.

Treatment of eating disorders includes:

  • psychotherapy;
  • nutrition education;
  • medical therapy if necessary.

Since eating disorders are associated with a negative perception of oneself and one’s appearance, the main specialist who helps to cope with this condition is a psychotherapist.

Help from a dietitian is also needed to help a person improve their diet. The specialist makes a balanced diet, prescribes vitamins and minerals.

People with eating disorders often have trouble feeling hungry and full. A nutritionist teaches you to recognize them and, focusing on desires, independently compose your diet.

— When working with such patients, it is important to expand the diet gradually, taking into account the state of the gastrointestinal tract and, of course, psychological readiness. To choose the dosage and type of vitamin-mineral complexes, we rely on laboratory diagnostics data. It is important that consultations with a nutritionist are regular (at the beginning of treatment 1-2 times a week, then at least once a month) in order to adjust the diet based on the needs and condition of the patient, Natalya Kruglova concluded.

Foods that cause inflammation and rheumatism – October 17, 2021

Along with food, joint problems can also appear in your grocery basket

Share

ov than heavy physical activity, you can’t imagine, but it turns out that it’s quite easy to harm them with food and even “eat” rheumatism. According to experts, the topic of the influence of food on the development of rheumatological diseases is very popular, but a significant part of the common beliefs has nothing to do with reality. Today we will try to figure out which statements are true, and which are nothing more than a myth.

Joint problems can be added to the treasury of carbonated suffering, at the bottom of which, for example, obesity and stroke are already present.

“Phosphoric acid and caffeine are common ingredients in such drinks,” says dietitian Elena Lapshina. – These substances actively interfere with the normal absorption of calcium in the human body. With frequent use of soda, there is a risk of a decrease in bone density in the hip joints. A large amount of caffeine, approximately 300 mg, affects significant bone loss. In simpler terms, a sweet carbonated drink literally leaches calcium from the joints of the body. People with osteoporosis should not drink soda.

Elena Lapshina — nutritionist, doctor of the 1st category.

Experts have also found that the more soda a person consumes, the more damage they do to their knees. Scientists from Brigham Hospital and the Women’s Hospital in Boston examined 2,149 patients diagnosed with osteoarthritis. At the beginning of the study, they answered the question of doctors about what drinks they often drink. The condition of the patients was again studied after a year, two, three and four – to track how the disease progressed. Doctors also measured the weight of patients.

It turned out that the disease progressed the most in men who often consumed sweet soft drinks. So, in patients who did not drink soda, the joint space (one of the first signs of the disease) narrowed by an average of 0.29 mm. But in people who drank more than five liters of such drinks per week, the narrowing of the joint space was 0.59 mm. At the same time, the worst indicators among soda drinkers were observed in thin men. Curiously, the association between beverage consumption and knee health was mostly seen in men. In women, it was observed to a small extent.

According to the National Medical Research Center for Therapy and Preventive Medicine of the Ministry of Health of Russia, trans fats, vegetable oils industrially processed into hard margarine, can pose a great danger. It is these fats that are most harmful to health, since their consumption, along with obesity, the development of atherosclerosis, and diabetes, also provokes inflammatory processes in the joints.

These foods have the most saturated fats

Share

Many of these fats are found in confectionery products, as well as deep-fried foods: chips, crackers. Therefore, the Ministry of Health advises to abstain from the use of such products. In particular, from those where harmful fats are combined with sugar or salt. It is also better to treat soft spread margarines with caution, carefully reading the labels on their packages and reducing their consumption to a minimum. But unsaturated fats, on the contrary, will benefit.

“They are often included in the diet of people with diseased joints,” says Elena Lapshina. – Also, in moderation, such fats help to avoid vitamin deficiency, improve the functioning of the nervous and endocrine systems, and improve blood circulation. Healthy fats support the beauty and elasticity of the skin, which needs omega-3s for moisture.

Unsaturated fats are good for the body and can put it in order

Share

According to experts, smoking foods reduces the content of nutrients in them by a third, but at the same time retains calories. Pickled foods retain fluid in the body and provoke swelling. As a result, the load on the joints increases, and they begin to collapse. For the same reason, experts advise giving up fast food.

The problem with this food set is oxalic acid. Raw foods containing oxalic acid are definitely healthy. But during heat treatment, it releases oxalates (esters and salts of oxalic acid). Those, in turn, react with calcium, which leads to the formation of oxalate stones. They are not absorbed by the body and accumulate in kidney stones. The process of removing salts becomes difficult, chronic inflammatory processes develop, including in the joints, and soon arthritis.

Many vegetables and herbs contain oxalic acid

Share

This seemingly polar set of foods has one thing in common: they are all rich sources of phosphates. And phosphates disrupt the acid-base balance and reduce the density of bone tissue and cartilage. In addition, the deposition of calcium phosphate salt in the tendons, cartilage and joint capsule increases the risk of meniscus rupture, osteoarthritis and spinal arthropathy.

Various phosphorus compounds (and phosphates are salts of phosphoric acids) are widely used in the food industry as acidity regulators, stabilizers and water-retaining agents. The technical regulation “Safety Requirements for Food Additives, Flavorings and Processing Aids” allows the addition of phosphates to many products: milk, cheeses, spreads and margarines, ice cream, popsicles, desserts – the list is endless. Phosphates are allowed to be added even to baby food.

Phosphates can be found in any grocery store. Just in different quantities.

Share

“They themselves do not represent harm and are not alien to us,” says hygienist Andrey Mosov. “But it is important that all these compounds, when added to products, shift the balance between calcium and phosphorus towards phosphorus. And the more products contain added phosphates, the more this ratio shifts. The permitted application rates for phosphates are between 500 and 20,000 mg/kg (mg/l). That is, 100 g of a product with phosphates added in permitted amounts can already cover the daily need for phosphorus for an adult. What if all food manufacturers did not neglect the possibility of adding phosphates to their products?

Andrey Mosov – hygienist, expert in food products, catering services, healthy nutrition, baby food, scientific consultant of the Expert Center of the Consumers Union.

If we take an ideal balanced diet, then the calcium content in the average daily set of products is approximately 1663 mg, and the phosphorus content is 2049 mg (the ratio of calcium and phosphorus is 1:1.2, that is, very close to optimal). However, according to the Research Institute of Nutrition, the actual ratio of calcium and phosphorus in the diet of Russians is approaching 1:2. Far from ideal, but even that is just an average.

“Such an imbalance in the diet with the systematic use of products containing excess phosphorus will sooner or later lead to disturbances in phosphorus-calcium metabolism,” says Andrey Mosov. – With an excess of phosphorus against the background of a lack of calcium, the latter is “washed out” of the bones, up to the development of osteoporosis, which, in turn, determines the risk of fractures even with minor injuries. In older people, such fractures often lead to a fatal outcome – the bones do not grow together for a long time, and a person who is bedridden for a long time can die from hypostatic pneumonia.

According to Anastasia Sarapulova, a rheumatologist at the New Hospital Center for Clinical Rheumatology, scientists are studying the effect of diet on autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases, but so far all these studies are of low quality. For various reasons: a small number of people, lack of randomization, a relatively short follow-up period, fragmentation of evaluation criteria and outcomes. Most of the work is devoted to polyunsaturated fatty acids – vitamin D and omega-3-PUFAs. But thanks to research, experts still managed to establish that the most recommended diet for autoimmune rheumatic diseases is Mediterranean. With plenty of vegetables, fruits and greens, plenty of dairy and fish, and limited amounts of red meat and “fast” carbs.

— There are diseases for which nutritional benefits are undeniable, — says Anastasia Sarapulova. – For example, osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease that usually affects middle-aged and older people. The main task of nutrition is weight loss to reduce the load on the joints. In addition, an increase in the intake of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (and a decrease in omega-6), a decrease in total cholesterol and a change in the blood lipid profile, and an adequate intake of vitamins A, C, D, K (mainly from food) are recommended.

Anastasia Sarapulova — rheumatologist at the New Hospital Center for Clinical Rheumatology, Candidate of Medical Sciences, doctor of the highest category.

Another disease is gout. In this case, the main dietary recommendations relate to weight loss and limiting the intake of so-called purines from food, which increase uric acid. These include, first of all, meat products, alcohol, drinks with fructose.

— Osteoporosis is associated with increased bone destruction, the restoration of which depends on the intake of calcium and vitamin D, continues Anastasia Sarapulova. – Therefore, in the diet of any person (in the absence of intolerance), dairy products must be present – the main food source of calcium.