![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A couple weeks back the big toe on my left foot was giving me fits. It felt like it was about twice as large as it should be, I was having shooting pains in the joint, and putting any weight on it was excruciating. I was hobbling around like an old man. Did I go to the doctor? Well, uh, no... I hit the Tylenol and Advil, and it got a little better each day and finally went away.
Then last night, around 2:00 AM, I woke up with excruciating pain in the joint again. I limped to the bathroom and took some Tylenol, then (about an hour later) Advil -- neither really seemed to kill the pain. I finally got back to sleep around 4:30 AM. Denise, umm, insisted that this time I was calling the doc. So I did, having no interest in going through this again.
The doc looked at my toe, flexed the join once or twice, felt it with the back of his hand. "Gout," he said immediately.
Gout. That sounds like such a geezer disease... Not that I'm not in good company: evidently the roll call of famous gout sufferers includes John Milton, Henry the 8th, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Martin Luther, Queen Anne, Oliver Cromwell, Galileo, Theodore Roosevelt, Henry James, Benjamin Disraeli, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Thomas Jefferson and Karl Marx. (I note that the list is almost exclusively male; I assume women also suffered from gout, but they are notably absent from online lists of gout sufferers).
I was prescribed a course of NAIDS, had to go get a blood test to check uric acid levels, and we'll go from there. I also have a diet sheet which excludes much of what people like to eat. We'll see how well I do with that -- no promises.
Gout. Hand me my cane, so I can shake it at the kids and yell at them to get the hell off my lawn.
Then last night, around 2:00 AM, I woke up with excruciating pain in the joint again. I limped to the bathroom and took some Tylenol, then (about an hour later) Advil -- neither really seemed to kill the pain. I finally got back to sleep around 4:30 AM. Denise, umm, insisted that this time I was calling the doc. So I did, having no interest in going through this again.
The doc looked at my toe, flexed the join once or twice, felt it with the back of his hand. "Gout," he said immediately.
Gout. That sounds like such a geezer disease... Not that I'm not in good company: evidently the roll call of famous gout sufferers includes John Milton, Henry the 8th, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Martin Luther, Queen Anne, Oliver Cromwell, Galileo, Theodore Roosevelt, Henry James, Benjamin Disraeli, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Thomas Jefferson and Karl Marx. (I note that the list is almost exclusively male; I assume women also suffered from gout, but they are notably absent from online lists of gout sufferers).
I was prescribed a course of NAIDS, had to go get a blood test to check uric acid levels, and we'll go from there. I also have a diet sheet which excludes much of what people like to eat. We'll see how well I do with that -- no promises.
Gout. Hand me my cane, so I can shake it at the kids and yell at them to get the hell off my lawn.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
(Also, based on our experience, it's worth tucking some of the extra NSAIDs into your travel kit. It's *hell* to have an episode on the road.)
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Also, it was determined that the gout was contributed to by his love of very fine beers.
From:
no subject
I'm fascinated by how such a small part of the body can be so disabling. Years ago, the pain from cut on my thumb pretty much took over my brain left my entire body was aching in sympathy. My reaction was, "C'mon, it's only a thumb. One thumb." My body was not convinced.
I didn't know until looking it up that gout is a form of arthritis. "One of the most painful forms...." Well, that sucks.
Best of luck with a swift recovery and may the current bout of gout be your last.
From:
no subject
Well, definitely you are in good company.
From:
no subject
Hang in there!
From:
women do get gout
Diet does play a factor in management of the disease, but there are a lot of good food and drink you'd need to avoid.
Should I bring you back a blackthorn walking stick to shake at the kids?
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
K.
From:
no subject
BTW, how that gall bladder holding up?
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
Re: women do get gout
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Not that that makes you old or anything.
um.
From:
no subject
I am so sorry. I know it's amazingly painful.
From:
no subject
Good luck with it, though!
From:
Not a doctor...
From:
no subject
Only four more days to go. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then it's goodbye and good riddance to Sir G. Bladder (so dubbed by Mr. Improbable Himself, Marc Abrahams (http://improbable.com/about/people/MarcAbrahams.html)).
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Yet.
:=)
From:
no subject
From:
Re: Not a doctor...
Actually, even after the first dosage, the toe already feels better.
From:
no subject
I get it mostly in my big toes and occasionally in the arch of my feet. The arch attacks are the worst, really. Like having your foot in a vise.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
FWIW, my brother in law started dealing with gout in his early thirties. Definitely not a geezer disease. :-D
However, terribly painful. :( I hope you get relief.
From:
no subject