Big toe in shoe pain!

So, I'm experiencing huge pain when I put on my climbing shoes on the knuckle of my big toe, meaning the joint right below the nail. A bumb seems to of formed too, but only seems prominent when I've put them in shoes. This is not a case of wearing super tight shoes for I've resorted to my crack climbing shoes for everything and it still sucks super hard. I have broken this toe many years ago but it never gave me trouble till just a couple months ago. Some days it is farmer painful then others with the spectrum being between totally fine to limping... Any ideas?

It could be a bunion. I'm experiencing something similar myself.

maybe look into gout?
I know it can often times be in your big toe joint(only spot) and can also come on quite rapidly.

Sounds like a run of the mill climbers bump to me!

If it's just a callus on your big toe knuckle, that's what you're looking at. I have one if I climb in any aggressive shoes even ones that fit well. If you're limping the shoe is too tight, but that bump can get painful after a big day in sport shoes. Evolve shamans were built to mitigate this but you will still have the bump..

Takes months of no climbing for it to go away

Quick clarification: did you start wearing the crack shoes before the pain started, or as a result of it? This sounds like a poor shoe fit to me, as I had the exact same thing happen when I tried to cram my feet into a too-tight pair of Katanas. The toebox of stiffer shoes generally doesn't stretch much, if at all, so you can end up with nasty pressure points that can cause serious joint damage. The bump on top is pretty common with tight shoes, and it's possible that even loose-fitting shoes are aggravating a pre-existing injury...

Sounds like overuse. I ended up having a bit of arthritis in my big toe joins from overuse. Sad life considering I am not even 30     

The mention of gout in a comment above could also be a related possibility. Apparently overuse injuries in joins make you more succeptable to gout. Basically, as far as I have understood, the little micro-cracks in the joint make for perfect spots for lactic acid to crystallize. The first time I actually decided to go to a doctor for the join pain was because it got so bad that I couldn’t walk. It turned out that it was gout affecting an overuse injury.

Now I have lots of pills. 

Chris C. wrote:

Sounds like overuse. I ended up having a bit of arthritis in my big toe joins from overuse. Sad life considering I am not even 30     

The mention of gout in a comment above could also be a related possibility. Apparently overuse injuries in joins make you more succeptable to gout. Basically, as far as I have understood, the little micro-cracks in the joint make for perfect spots for lactic acid to crystallize. The first time I actually decided to go to a doctor for the join pain was because it got so bad that I couldn’t walk. It turned out that it was gout affecting an overuse injury.

Now I have lots of pills. 

Allopurinol anyone?  Colchisine was another one.

I had really bad tendonitis and bursitis in my elbow that a quack doc tried to convince me was gout. Gave me a shit ton of drugs, none of which worked because I didn't have gout. The elevated uric acid was from all of the NSAIDS I was taking to control pain.

Try more shoes!  Otherwise...life of a climber!

Pictures, please.