Broken Toe

[sandpiper]

Hi everyone,

I'm pretty sure I broke my toe on Friday. It turned blue and black on Saturday, and ice a few times a day has reduced the pain and swelling, but the colour's the same. It's one of the wee ones, the third toe from the big toe?

I haven't been to a doctor in ten years, and didn't want to sit in Emergency for 7 hours.

I have two questions:

1. Can a doctor even do anything for a broken toe?
2. Is this me being stupid, or me being self-reliant?

[lagatta]

Where do you live, sandpiper? Are there community clinics where you live?

Here they are called CLSCs. Hope you don't need to go to a hospital.

[sandpiper]

I live in Halifax, and there are community clinics. But I just don't like doctors. And my body always seems to heal itself pretty quickly. But this was a really bad toe meets wall accident.

[deBeauxOs]

Many provinces have 24/7 health info lines staffed by RNs.  I found this toll-free public-health line, 1-800-430-9557 for Nova Scotia.  You could call and explain that you don't want to go to emergency nor do you have a GP.

[Herr Magoo]

1. Can a doctor even do anything for a broken toe?

You mean a wee little peanut sized cast?  No.  At best they'll do what you can also do: tape it to a buddy.  Try to stay off it as much as you can.  An exception would be a full dislocation, but unless it's pointing east, while the others point north, I wouldn't worry too badly.  Go to a doctor if you can, but if not, heal thyself.

I broke a little toe camping (running to the lake, buried rock with a bit sticking out).  It was a few weeks before it was back to normal.

[sandpiper]

I never thought about taping him to his brother. That's a good idea.

A friend of mine said she'd broken toes several times, chasing after her kids when they were younger. She recommended sneakers and aspirin.

Edited to add: thanks for that RN number! I'll keep it on file.

[kuri]

You mean a wee little peanut sized cast?  No.  At best they'll do what you can also do: tape it to a buddy.

Actually, I've seen half-foot (or toe) braces in the plaster room. I don't know how often they use them, but they exist.

[skdadl]

sandpiper, IANAD, so take this for what it's worth ($0.02), but I have been told that the worry with our digits (are toes digits?) when anything causes them to swell is blood circulation -- you don't want to cut it off.

Because fingers and toes are so narrow, swelling is already a problem -- that may be cutting some circulation. Taping a toe too tightly could make things worse.

I think deBeauxOs's suggestion is a good one -- it would be worth it to make that phone call.

[sandpiper]

Thanks skdadl,

My toe's looking better this morning. More red then blue.

Your 'Conservatives running with scissors' makes me worry about my toe more then any colour. I often wonder what they'll cut next.

I called that 1-800 number, but they said they didn't give any medical advice out. It's a great idea, though. I worked at an in-bound call centre to put myself through school, and we answered for a lot of doctors offices. We obviously weren't allowed to dispense medical advice, but we often asked pertinent questions, like "So, you have the flu, then?" and "Have you put ice on it to reduce the swelling?" I think we saved people many long hours of 'emergency' room waiting.

[deBeauxOs]

... I called that 1-800 number, but they said they didn't give any medical advice out. ...

Yeah, it is a fine line.  In some places, they really publicize the service because it allows individuals to speak to a real person.  As for dispensing advice, their role is to help determine how serious an injury, a disease or medical condition is.  A few years ago, there was an outburst of meningitis and my daughter developed some flu-ey symptoms.  So I called the Ontario number, explained my concern and they went through the list of what to watch for and to take her immediately to Emerg if some of these symptoms developed further.

[brebis noire]

Living in the country, I find the Info-Santé telephone lines to be a big help. The last thing I want to do is drive 45 minutes through a snowstorm, e.g., and sit in a waiting room only to find out that there's nothing to be done, or that I could've done it at home - sometimes more effectively.

I thought my kid broke his toe once, and was ready to take him to emerg when I decided to call instead, and they told me there was nothing to be done there. Turns out it wasn't broken anyways.

Once I went with a broken finger - broke the tip at the beginning of a beautiful day on the slopes, and didn't want to miss a day of skiing. So I went to a walk-in clinic, and waited 2 hours to get an x-ray and a piece of tape. Never got those 2 hours back, of course.