Possible broken foot/ankle

[Miranda27]

Two days ago I fell down my stairs.The top of my foot and both sides of my ankle are swollen and bruised.
Yesterday I needed crutches to get around. Today I can limp around, however, it still hurts like crazy. I don't have any medical insurance. How can I tell if it's broken or sprained. I don't have or want to spend the money to see a doctor only to get sent home with a sprained foot/ankle. Please help. I have a 2 yr old that doesnt sit down for anything. I need this to go away. I've been icing it every other hour and taking pain killers. I'm also trying to stay off of it and keeping it elevated as much as possible but it's almost impossible with my son. I'm a stay at home mom and can't call in sick.

[Dr Vinod]

Hello!

I am sorry about your condition but you would need proper diagnosis; least an X-ray.

Do not exert yourself or move or do weight bearing as if you have any pathology you will disturb it further.

Please do get some help for your baby and take NSAIDs and rest till you diagnose your condition. Continue applying ice packs.

Take care!

[Red931]

Actually, you will need an X-Ray and an MRI. It is possible that there is a fracture as well as ruptured ligaments and tendons. If there are ruptured ligaments or tendons and they are not repaired you will have ankle instability that can cause some more serious problems. Even if they are partially torn your ankle needs to be in a cast.

I realize you don't have insurance so it is going to be tough but it should be addressed properly.


Good Luck.

[geminigirl1963]

There's no way to tell for certain if it's broken or just sprained without xrays.  Don't think that just because you were able to limp around on it today that it can't possibly be broken.  A couple of years ago I took a fall after stepping in a hole in the yard - I thought I had just badly bruised my ankle/leg because I was able to walk on it, although it was miserably painful to do so and was badly swollen and bruised.  To make a long story short, after walking around for a week, i finally had it x-rayed and found out I had broke my tib/fib/ankle - spent six weeks in a cast after that, then PT and to this day I still have horrible rproblems with my ankle.  So please, don't feel that it can't be broken just because you can put some weight on it.

You need to have it xrayed to find out for sure if there is a break or just a sprain - either way it probably needs some sort of stabilizer not only to help provide some pain relief, but also to give it support as it heals.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes.