Dystonia?

**Warning if you hate feet, photo's of feet this post is not for you"

I have had painful spasms in my feet for as long as I can remember, for a long time I have just assumed that it is part of the Ehlers Danlos Syndrome I have and just put it down to that but I have always felt it was odd that it was only really my feet that were effected. EDS is a connective tissue disorder and connective tissue is everywhere throughout the body, so in reality more parts of me should be going into spasm than just my feet alone. After a particularly bad week with it back in late February / early  March ( before the world went mad ) I ended up consulting Doctor Google to see if there was an alternative explanation (differential diagnosis ) for what was happening, low and behold there was Focal Dystonia.

When I worked out what the issue was it was clear that the UK would soon be heading for lock-down and I didn't want to be in or around a health care setting for anything that wasn't urgent and when I say urgent I mean life or death. So I decided that when the madness had passed I would seek medical help but this evening ( I'm talking about Tuesday in Wednesday ) I have been in so much pain with the muscle spasms / contractions I am kicking myself that I didn't do anything about it. Not that there is a cure but I may have had better medications here to cope with or stop the contractions. When it is as bad as this the pain is no longer just in my feet but travels up my calves along the ligaments and tendons. I can feel the spasms moving along them until it hits my feet and then a wave of pain starts as my toes begin to distort themselves, in rather bizarre ways. I have no control over it at all. I can grab my toes, massage my feet but the minute I let go they once again return to their painful contractions. Often whilst I am attempting to force them out of their distortion I can feel the pain building up again which means another spasm is on its way.

There is no stopping it as the minute I let go my toes move without any conscious effort from me. On a bad night, it is almost always a night I get this, although when I have a very bad night during the day I can feel less powerful spasms on and off all day like I have today, nothing will stop the spasm. Massage will only provide a very short period of relief often just seconds. The only thing I can do is ride it out, apply heat and hope that it eventually goes away.

I have found it very difficult to capture images of my feet as the spasms can be very subtle. Unless you know what you are looking for it can be difficult to see why I am in so much pain. The spasms are always focused around my toes but the pain is felt throughout my feet. On occasion you can see the tension in the skin on my foot as my toes are trying to move in two separate directions. Almost always my big toe and the toe next to it want to go one way whilst everything else goes in a different direction. Spasms have been so strong in the past they have dislocated my big toe ( agony). I have raised this with doctors before who just look at me as if I am a sandwich short of a picnic. Where as now after checking it out on line there is a very real possible cause for what has been happening. I managed to take some photos this evening - my feet are swollen due to the amount of salt tablets I have to take and the toe nail on my big toe is a mess due to having the sides removed over ten years ago due to recurrent ingrowing toenails so my apologies. But without the photos you may not "get" it.

On this photo my big toe is pulling out and down, at the start of a spasm.

Just a few seconds later my big toe and the one next to it are twisting and pulling forward whilst the remaining three toes are curling toward the sole of my foot.

In this photo taken a few seconds on again you can see the big toe and the one next to it looks like I am flexing it forward and curling the other toes back. 

As I said it is hard to capture especially as it mainly only shows in my toes and make not look that strange to other people but the pain it produces is off the chart.

I managed to get this short video

The gasping noise is me due to the pain the movements are causing me. This was taken at around 9pm last night and it is now coming up to 2am and my feet are both throbbing still from the pain this 30 minute episode caused me. The pain and weird feeling I get afterwards extends all the way up to both knees. It is always my left foot that is affected the worst and whilst this was happening my right foot was joining in to a lesser extent.

I ended up having to take some pain relief and applying a heat pad to relax the muscles and to stop the contractions. Once an attack is underway I have to be very careful how I move my feet for several hours afterwards as it will trigger another round of spasms. Although to be honest it doesn't matter how I move if they want to spasm they will I have zero control over them.

I have noticed it gets worse if I am tired / stressed / unwell ( more than normal). I have been pushing myself too hard lately and need to drop down a gear, which will be hard for me to do as I feel guilty when I don't get all my jobs done.

People have suggested that it is low B12 levels that are to blame for these spasms but as I self inject on a regular basis due to my deficiency being under treated by the NHS, I really don't think that this is the cause. Plus I have some many neurological things going on that I really wouldn't be surprised if it is all part of some yet unexplained genetic syndrome that I have.

So for the moment I will just try to capture as many images as possible showing the distortions / muscle contractions so that when the situation with Covid-19 resolves or just things go back to a new normal I can show the doctors who treat me.