Ouch! Below Deck stew Hayley De Sola Pinto was in pain thanks to a swollen foot, which is something Below Deck Season 6 third stew Caroline Bedol knows a little something about.
Hayley pushed through the pain, even laughing while sitting in the crew mess with her foot submerged in a bag of ice. And like Caroline, Hayley ended up seeing a doctor, who doesn’t deliver any specific diagnosis, except for rest, ibuprofen, elevation, and ice.
Both Hayley and Caroline seemed to suddenly be faced with pain and swelling. But Caroline didn’t find out what was wrong until after she left the boat. And when Hayley said her big toe was numb, she may have been dealing with the same foot injury as Caroline.
Hayley and Caroline from ‘Below Deck’ had swelling and numbness
Hayley showed her swollen foot to chief stew Fraser Olender, clearly concerned. While she laughed about it, she admitted to be being in pain. “It feels like my foot is gonna spontaneously combust,” she said in a confessional. “Is that where things burst into flames?”
Similar to what Caroline experienced, Hayley said her ankle was suddenly swollen. “It’s f***ing huge,” she said showing the cameras. Hayley asked Fraser if her swollen ankle is normal, but he laughed, shoving his feet under a towel telling her his feet were swollen too.
Hayley later showed her foot to Captain Sandy Yawn who noticed the swelling almost immediately. Adding, “The only concern is that it’s numb down the side of my toe,” Hayley said showing Captain Sandy.
Captain Sandy called for a doctor who examined Hayley’s foot. Hayley told the doctor that her toe was numb. His recommendation? “Some ibuprofen will bring that down. Icing, elevation,” he told her. But what about the numbness? He shrugged it off.
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But Caroline learned that pain, swelling and numbness was actually a result of neuropathy. Caroline’s season was set in Tahiti and at one point she wondered if the swelling was the result of a bug bite. She too was given simliar instructions as Hayley and was sent back to the boat with antibiotics.
At the time, some Below Deck viewers thought perhaps she had cellulitis. In a deleted Instagram post, one fan questioned her treatment. “I am more focused on the fact that you weren’t put on IV antibiotics. It could have been a cellulitis infection and been very serious. You should not have been working,” the fan wrote.
What is neuropathy?
Caroline later learned her foot pain was a result of neuropathy. “It turns out to be neuropathy,” she shared in the comments. “It’s in both feet and hands now. But chin up it could be way worse!” And added, “And I didn’t get better….my neuropathy has gotten much worse.”
The Mayo Clinic defines neuropathy as “a result of damage to the nerves located outside of the brain and spinal cord (peripheral nerves), often causes weakness, numbness and pain, usually in the hands and feet.” Neuropathy can stem from many reasons, but repetitive motion can be the cultprit.
Treatment can include a variety of approaches but ibuprofen tops the list.
