Heel & Ankle Pain After Antibiotics & Steroids: Possible Causes & Relief

Question
I'm a 55 year old woman, I have chronic bronchitis and 3 days prior to the day I had this condition I had just finished the Z Pak and the 7 day steroid pak. I woke up feeling rather cold and I live in Tucson Arizona and it was warm outside. I started to shiver so I went outside and lay down on the driveway to warm up. That evening my left heel and ankle became painful, on a scale of 1-10 I would give it a 9. I woke up the next morning and the foot pain was worse, it was also starting in the other foot, I could not bend my digit finger on my right hand and after taking a shower I noticed that I had hives covering my back and some on my arms and legs but they did not itch. I also had a headache. I noticed on the side of the first foot that was in pain a small bump that seems like it was the source of entry if it were a spider bite but I didn't see any fang or stinger dots. I went to the ER yesterday and the physician said he had no idea what I have but is treating me for a skin infection. Started me on steroids, Bactrum and Benadryl. I woke up this morning feeling 90% better, but the potential point of entry is still very sore, hives are starting to dissipate. No headache. I looked up the symptoms for a Black Widow bite and it was the closest I could find but not perfect. I didn't take my temp when I had the chills and sweats but did take it yesterday afternoon and it had reached 101. Any thoughts?

Answer
Those are tough.... I get a lot of presentations like this.... we like to assign some cause to these skin lesions, but often we can't....  You obviously have a skin infection, probably a staph infection and Bactrim is the appropriate treatment.... so basically finish the treatment and see how things go.  Why do you lay down on a driveway though?   It may pay to invest in a cheap lawn chair.  :)

PS... steroids do weird things to people.... it may explain a little... the joint stiffness but hard to tell about the hives.

Balck widows usually hurt immediately and cause some GI symptoms so it doesn't sound like spider to me.