Ankle Injuries

[bluestar97]

I fell down a few stairs and immediatley had swelling across the front of my ankle, across the top of my foot on both sides immediatley wrapped it in an ace bandage and could not walk on it within 2 days my whole foot was purple down to the sole of my foot and across my toes. I've had sprains before but nothing like this. After 2 weeks I'm walking on it, but the swelling is still on both sides of my ankle and has gone down considerably but when I'm up on it, the swelling returns.
I have no insurance so have put off seeing the doctor. Could it be a fracture?? Or just a very bad sprain? Any help would be appreciated.

[footankledoc]

Unfortunately, the only way you will know if the ankle is fractured is to get a x-ray. It's important to get the x-ray so that if it is indeed broken and out of place, you may need surgery to put it back together. "Black and blue" can mean both a broken ankle and a severe sprain, but a x-ray will tell whether it's one or the other. Despite not having insurance, it's very important to have your ankle treated appropriately or you could have long term consequences like severe arthritis or deformity of the ankle if it heals improperly. There are many county hospitals that take non-insured and have programs for payment of services. I strongly encourage you to seek treatment even though you do not have insurance. Good luck!

[bluestar97]

Thank you for the input.