sesamoiditis- Your experiences/recovery?

After talking with him about the weeks/month leading up to the onset of this, he seemed pretty confident that the mix of training load plus the two races (both of these were trail races where some sections were so steep you had to almsot scramble up), and two other hill workouts I did in the week or so around that were a big part of the issue.

Shoes dont have a huge drop from heel to toe, but were getting worn, not dead yet but def a factor in there.
I mean i'm pretty sure i know how/where i screwed up

I've had sesamoiditis that, thankfully so far (knock on wood), seems to have gotten better.

In my case, I think it was mainly due to upping my mileage too quickly in combination with doing tempo runs that were longer than I should have been for the mileage I was running.

It started as what felt like a bruise on the ball of my right foot and seemed to get slightly worse with each run.

First step in treatment was getting the Green insoles with a "dancer's pad" under the arch and the rest of the forefoot, but with a cutout around the big toe. That didn't help much, so I also had 2 cortisone shots (between the toes hurts like heck).

The next step was custom orthodics. Taking about 5 months off from running, along with custom orthodics seemed to help significantly. That was 2.5 yrs ago, and over that time, with gradual increases in mileage, I've done several more triathlons, a few 10k's and a half marathon and I'm training for another half marathon in October. However, it doesn't necessarily feel fully healed and I'm not sure it ever will. I've felt the beginnings of similar pain a few times, but taking a week or two off from running and then gradually getting back into it seems to have helped.

Some other tips:
-Avoid going barefoot and avoid flip-flops. I wear crocs around the house and when going out, sandals that are very supportive instead of flip-flops or crappy sandals.
-Avoid running until the pain subsides. I was still able to bike and swim (pushed off on flip turns with my other foot), so I increased my biking and swimming significantly when I couldn't run.

thanks.

My onset was much faster than it sounds like yours was (went from no issues to not being able to run for weeks within the span of just over a week or so).

Because of no previous history of this, and a perfect storm of stupidity on my part (training load, older shoes, hills etc), i'm pretty sure the cause is clear. Shoe wise I think outside being worn I'm in the right ones, I have wider feet and the two i run in both allow that (and i;ve been in these two models for a few years with no issues).

hopefully recovery goes smoothly

I have had similar experiences as some of the posters.  My doc thought that mine was being aggravated by the tendon that the sesamoid bones are embedded in.  he recommended a stretching program that I really started to do just while sitting around at work or while watching TV.  I alo iced quite a bot at first and got the green insoles but never did the cut out.  Never stopped running.  Don't use the green insoles anymore.  Still a bit of discomfort every now and then but no pain so no worries on my end.

I hope so, I have not really been able to run since later may.

My sesmoids were fractured, but I really didn't care because I also had plantar faciitis going big time in both feet., I got a few pairs of custom orthotics, one had a big metatarsal pad that caused mortons neuroma. I was fitted for a second orthotic, but it was too solid., not very athletic. Still very welcome necessary support in the first year of recovery. With the sesmoids, whenever I went down stairs, if I pointed my toes down to touch the next step I felt the sensation of an electric knife in the sesmoids. So I had to start going down stairs sideways. I was strictly in the pool for the first few months. Neutral cushioning category shoes seemed to help. Avoiding hard surfaces, tile, solid wood flooring etc helped. I love those zoot ultra recovery sandals. Sole makes a similar sandal. It's taken a few years but I'm back to some slow jogging/walking. The bike and swim have come along a little though. My podiatrist wanted to remove the sesmoids that same day, on my first visit. I declined and found a sports pod with a more conservative wait and see approach. I never accepted cortisone, as I read that it is destructive to foot "padding", and that's why pod's can only administer a few shots and even then over a period of time. Def wait until the pain is gone before going back to full routine.

thanks for the thoughts.

for a bit more background, i was running a lot over the winter, built up to where 60mpw was fairly routine,not hard on me, etc. got a few 70+ mile weeks in, was fine with this, a bit tired, but no real issues. backed off to 45-50 for a few weeks (work got in the way more than anything), did 4 races in 3 weeks with two of them on the last weekend, both super hilly trail ones, etc. things were ok there, but i did a hill workout about 8 days out from that, and afterwards noticed some pain. iced, it, etc. happened two more times on the next two runs. and then it was too much to run on, walking hurt, etc. saw one doc that said i pulled something, wait until it stops hurting and then wait another week or so he said. did that and actually waiting a few more days, no pain, ran once and the nail in my foot was back. took some serious time off, gradually got less, went away during a lot of day to day stuff, but was back if i spent too much time on my feet. saw someone else that was pretty much useless, no ideas, etc. finally 8 weeks later saw someone here recommended by a number of people (this was the doc i saw this week), and he and then another were the two that gave me this diagnosis. After talkign to both, both thought the training load/style plus the worn shoes were the issue which i guess is good on that front.

Hopefully the shot helps. I'm taking advil at his rec plus that/ice, and a day later while the top of my foot is still sore from the injection pressure does not hurt the actual spot where there was pain before. I'm going to wait a bit longer than they said before i try running, as at this point my season is shot and i'd rather wait a bit longer and have this be taken care of than try and rush back into things.

its been a royal pain in more ways than one though. Can't wait to start running from ground zero