Gout?

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SquirmingSusan
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Gout?

Post by SquirmingSusan »

Wednesday morning I woke up with a very swollen, painful, throbbing right toe, and a less swollen, but throbbing and painful left toe. After swallowing a Celebrex and a methadone, I googled gout. The symptoms sure fit, but the profile of someone who gets gout sure doesn't. The people who most commonly get gout are men in their 40s who eat a lot of meat and shellfish and drink a lot of alcohol. I don't drink alcohol, except for an occasional sip of the spouse's beer or margherita, and I may eat 1-2 ounces of meat, once or twice a week. So, as my daughter says, "what the random?"

I was in so much pain that I actually got out of bed at 10am and called the doctor. I got in later that day. She x-rayed my right foot, and it showed some snowiness around the big joint at the base of my right big toe, which is how gout looks on an x-ray, and tested my blood for high uric acid levels. There is a condition which mimics gout, but involves calcium precipitating out of the blood instead of uric acid, and that seems more likely since I live on dairy products.

The doc said that, whatever form of inflammatory arthritis it is, gout or not, they treat it nowadays with nsaids and painkillers, and since I already have both on hand she didn't give me anything for it, just said to call in a week if it wasn't any better.

Grrr. It started on Wednesday morning, and it's a little after midnight on Saturday morning, and my right toe is still way too swollen to wear most of my shoes, and it hurts like hell to walk. It's a good thing my RLS is controlled enough that I don't need to walk it off.

Does anyone know what kind of specialist treats this kind of thing? A rheumy would treat inflammatory arthritis type conditions. Or a podiatrist? I also have an extra sesamoid bone between my big toe and 2nd toe. Who knew. The doc said that can also cause pain and inflammation.

I'm falling apart, gang. And it's nice and cool here and I hate not being able to take the dogs out for walks.
Susan

Aiken
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Post by Aiken »

Me, I'd see a rheumatologist. I think of podiatry being more to do with malformed structure, injuries, wear and tear, misuse/abuse, etc., than something like an joint that's inflamed due to a systemic disorder. Not to mention that if you start getting inflammation in other joints, a podiatrist will no longer be appropriate.

Mind you, a podiatrist might be able to help you with some kind of palliative care, something to make it more comfortable to use your feet while you wait for other treatments to deal with the source of the problem. I dunno what, maybe padded inserts or something. If possible, it might be worth seeing both.
Disclaimer: I often talk about what I do and what works for me, but these are specific to me and you should always consult a healthcare professional before trying these things yourself, lest you endanger your health or life.

Polar Bear
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Post by Polar Bear »

Hi Susan, I know nothing about gout (or whatever is making your toe so sore) but hope that you find some relief for the inflammation.

Sometimes we get a wee spell when it just feels as tho the wheels are falling off the wagon!!
Betty
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ViewsAskew
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Post by ViewsAskew »

My BIL has gout (diabetes Type II, also) and I'm pretty sure he sees his nephrologist OR podiatrist about it. I'll try to remember to email him when I leave here to ask him.

When it first started, he was in IMMENSE pain. it's gotten better over time.

Like you, though, he doesn't eat much meat at all. He's mostly a vegetarian who eats well-cooked meat once in awhile. I can't remember what they thought was the instigator for him.

I do know that cherries help, so try some. I'd read it in a natural healing book and told him. He tried it and said it helped very quickly.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

SquirmingSusan
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Post by SquirmingSusan »

Aiken wrote:Me, I'd see a rheumatologist. I think of podiatry being more to do with malformed structure, injuries, wear and tear, misuse/abuse, etc., than something like an joint that's inflamed due to a systemic disorder. Not to mention that if you start getting inflammation in other joints, a podiatrist will no longer be appropriate...


That's an excellent point, Aiken. Gout can spread to other joints, so podiatrist doesn't make sense, unless I want to see one about that extra bone in my foot.

I got the test results in the mail today, and my uric acid it high and out of the normal range, so it likely IS gout. Also, my C reactive protein is 10 times the normal amount, so there's a lot of inflammation in the old bod'. So yeah, probably a rheumy would be the specialist to see if things persist.
Susan

SquirmingSusan
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Post by SquirmingSusan »

Polar Bear wrote:Sometimes we get a wee spell when it just feels as tho the wheels are falling off the wagon!!


When my dh and I turned 40, we joked that the warranty had expired, 'cuz things were just falling apart. But now, after turning 50, well, "the wheels really are falling off the wagon." Great expression, Betty!
Susan

SquirmingSusan
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Post by SquirmingSusan »

ViewsAskew wrote:I do know that cherries help, so try some. I'd read it in a natural healing book and told him. He tried it and said it helped very quickly.


Oh yeah. Not only do I not eat much meat, and not drink alcohol, but I drink tart cherry extract almost every day. But we ran out and I missed a week or two. I just started drinking it again on Wednesday. It hasn't helped that I can tell. I also started taking alkalinizing minerals. Raising the pH is supposed to help with just about everything. I put the minerals in the cherry juice, and it makes it fizzy. Yummy. I do love cherries in any form. It's weird, I've always craved cherries. Maybe that's my body's way of knocking down inflammation.

Who knows why I have gout. There just doesn't seem to be any reason for it. This isn't the first time I've woken up with a swollen toe, but it is the worst episode. Waking up with inflamed toes or ankles seems to correlate to my monthly cycles, if nothing else.

I told my dh that I might as well take up drinking, and eat lots of meat and shellfish, if I'm going to get diseases that go along with that.
Susan

Neco
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Post by Neco »

Wouldn't suggest the drinking, with the Methadone and everything :wink:

Aiken
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Post by Aiken »

I've always said that the warranty on the body runs out at 30. If you didn't notice the lack of coverage 'til 40, then you were really lucky. :)

On the bright side, the warranty on your brain does run out at 40, meaning that one only has to go about ten years before starting to forget how much better life under warranty was.
Disclaimer: I often talk about what I do and what works for me, but these are specific to me and you should always consult a healthcare professional before trying these things yourself, lest you endanger your health or life.

Polar Bear
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Post by Polar Bear »

Well.... turned 60 last month ...... I can tell you that maintenance becomes a bit more time consuming. :roll:
Betty
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
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SquirmingSusan
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Post by SquirmingSusan »

Thanks you guys. You gave me a good chuckle this morning. Yeah, Zach I know that alcohol and methadone don't mix. Darn. Never was much of a drinker anyway though.

I spent the day inner tubing down the Apple River over the border in Wisconsin. It was great except for the large groups of drunken young adults, the males of which were clearly in the "grunting stage" as one of our friends put it. Fortunately the water was really cold, so it didn't matter too much that I forgot my meds.

Zach, have you ever tubed the Apple River?
Susan

Neco
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Post by Neco »

I don't even know where that is.. I've only lived here for about 7 years so I don't know anything around here, guess not having friends doesn't help either.

Only river I've ever been on extensively is the Shenandoah in Virginia, we used to go camping in the park in the summer

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