I have been in excruciating pain since last night. I'm talking off the charts pain and tears. I would not wish this pain on my worst enemy.
I made an ER appointment with my orthopedic Dr thinking I must have a stress fracture because I've had that before on the same foot.
I was shocked when he said it was Gout. He asked if I knew what that was and I said only from the TV commercials we see with the man carrying around green liquid in a test bottle. He told me it can be inherited and is common with someone with diabetes.
So, I call my dad who has mild diabetes and ask him... Thanks Dad, I just learn that he has it fairly often and he takes the daily RX for it. He told me it is extremely painful.. No doubt about that. I am not diabetic, not overweight at all, am in great physical shape so this hit be by surprise.
So I just got started on pain meds and steroids. I need to get rid of this and fast. I am going to the beach on 6/13 with my daughter and this orthopedic boot won't work well on the beach plus right now I can't walk or put any weight on my foot.
My dad said cherries have something in them that does help so I am eating cherries now. Do yo have any other advice, tips that could help me get through this? I understand diet has something to do with it as well, especially meats and this past weekend we had lamb, ribs, burgers, and steaks... maybe that hurt me. He also said shellfish will trigger it.
Thank you all so much for the advice. Just background info... The last time I was on an antibiotic was over 4 yrs ago and I had an allergic reaction to it so I was scared to take ay RX with this but I could not deal with the pain. I have always been very healthy, drink tons of water, very little sodas and I practice a good diet, so I thought. We do enjoy fine wine, sometimes red, so maybe I will need to lay off the merlot but I tend to do that during the summer anyway. We don't drink THAT much of it but I will cut it 100% out of my diet for now.
My brother has contacted me and said he did research on it because he thought it might effect him some day and he read somewhere that it is also linked to the chicken pox virus... I'm going to do more research on that myself.
Pain is much better today, maybe down to a 5 or slightly less. The meds so make me a bit dizzy and shaky so I will not be driving at all. I still did not sleep very well last night, just in small intervals of up to 1.5 hours at a time. Lot of potty breaks because I was drinking water like crazy. The Pharmacist did tell me that the steroids might keep me up. I backed off the pain pills already to 1 per 6 hrs IF needed vs 1-2 every 4 hours. I took 2 when I got the meds and 2 4 hours later and then at 7 hours later I took 1 and again about 7 hrs later I took 1 more.
Thanks again for your advice. I will do some research as well and figure out some triggers so I can avoid this in the future. I feel for anyone who has had any pain like this... AWFUL.
My young (35yr-old) husband who is 6'1" and 185 lbs (gorgeous and def not overweight either) has this too.
He stopped eating all meat, and only drinks alcohol every once in a blue moon and hasn't had a flare up since. And he takes NO medication. Good luck!
Organ meats, beer, beans, spinach are all triggers (i.e., bad).
Cherries and cherry juice are good for it, though.
I'm sure there is a great website that tells you what other foods to avoid.
i had gout a while back.....about two years ago. my pain was in my right index finger. the pain came on all of a sudden during the night. the next day, my finger hurt so so bad. i actually almost cried trying to dry my hair. i called my bother (a PA) and described the pain. i told him i thought it was carpal tunnel...it was the only thing i could associate that type of pain with at the time (I had CP during my second pregnancy). when i told him how isolated the pain was, he said "well, i don't know how much you've been drinking lately, but you got the gout!" sure enough....i went to my GP doc the next day and he told me i had gout. he gave me some info on it.....rich foods and alcohol (esp red wine) can contribute to gout......stress, other general things like that. he gave me the meds and it went away. the doctor said to make sure i was 100% pain free, else it would come back over and over again. i think i had to take an extra round of steroids.
it hurts! i feel your pain (have felt it...don't want to feel it again.).
take care,
A.
It's a build up of uric acid-and shellfish will trigger it-I've had it-not to the extent of needing medication-and, yes, the pain is crushing! Take care! Drink a lot of reverse osmosis water-take vitamin C and Zinc-and no sugar or high fructose corn syrup
Drink lots and lots of water.
You have to help your kidneys clear out the build up of uric acid in your system.
You can manage gout through making diet changes.
Look up "nightshades." Foods in that category can make gout worse.
Have you been sick recently, or on any heavy antibiotics? I got really sick one time and had to be on really heavy medication. I got gout. The Dr. said it's not uncommon.
Gout is a life long illness that you have had but not had symptoms of before. One of my gay college roommates had it, he took Allopurinol every day and still does. He does not eat certain foods and stays away from all kinds of foods he likes but they cause the Uric Acid crystals to build up in his joints so they are gone, not a part of his diet. You could probably google foods that cause gout and get a huge list. You can eliminate foods until you find the ones that effect you more than other.
Hubby had kidney stones sometimes and they are acid crystals too. A good doc that knows all about gout would be a godsend for you to help you understand this life long illness.
Prevention is the key. If you keep the crystals from forming you won't have pain or the buildup.
I've never had gout, but my mother suffers with it.
She gets it in her big toe and foot on one side.
It is EXTREMELY painful.
She knows which foods will cause a flare up for her so she avoids them. She also swears by cherry juice, not from concentrate, 100% cherry juice. I don't know what brand she gets, but she often finds it in the frozen juice section. It somehow helps get the uric acid out of your body. Her chiropractor who is very much into holistic health told her about it and she keeps it on hand for flare ups and drinks a bit daily.
Of course, eating cherries won't hurt you, but you can get more from the juice.
Keep track of what you eat and what causes an episode. You'll quickly learn what to avoid. And in the meantime, get yourself some cherry juice.
Best wishes.
My husband used to have frequent horrible 'flare ups." He was told red meat, shell fish and beer trigger it. Its been well over a year since the last occurrence.
Unlike me, my husband is not one to ever take a 'natural' cure and always would prefer a script. However a friend of his who also has gout recommended 100% pure black cherry juice and said it worked amazingly well. My husband bought some and agreed. It takes the edge off the pain to where its mostly an annoyance and the inflamation goes down. I believe there are capsules, but my husband bought the juice by the bottle at GNC. He put a few spoonfuls in a glass of grapejuice and chugged it. It works within hours if I remember correctly. Good luck.
Oh BTW, my husband does not have diabetes and is not overweight either but he does have a family history of it. Apparently most of his uncles have it as well.
I don't know a lot about it but rich foods trigger it. I know my ex's dad would drink crazy amounts of cranberry juice so he could go out drinking later. So I assume his doctor said cranberry juice.
