I was diagnosed with gout a couple of years ago, and when I told my wife all she could do was start singing Lunch Lady Land by Adam Sandler. As funny as that moment was, I had some pretty real learning to do with my new medical condition. Apparently gout occurs mostly in 70 year old men who drink alcohol heavily and eat a lot of red meat. As much as I laughed at those symptoms, I did eat a lot of red meat at that point in time, so I didn’t discount the diagnosis, but thought it was weird I had a bad flare up of gout in my leg.
Last week I had a gout flare up in my right foot, and I thought it would take a miracle of modern science to walk without pain again. I took my allopurinol and felt better the next day. I took my allopurinol every day since and last night before I went to bed my right foot hurt again. (I know this is all uber exciting, but I am going somewhere with this, I promise…) As I got ready for work this morning, took my medicine and then took four ibuprofren and thought all would be well. Apparently, taking any kind of pain relief medication in addition to allopurinol is not a great idea, as it doesn’t help with the pain at all, and it only makes it worse. Normally a steroid drug would help out better, but alas, I had none of them.
So the point I want to emphasize is two fold; a) having gout sucks, and b) sometimes you have to put up with illnesses, allergies, and general complications in life that you don’t choose. Even if you take care of your body, eat right, exercise (which I am running again), you can’t guarantee your health. No one can. It’s not a fun fact, but as we age we have to deal with these things. I pray my gout flares are minimized, and to help out with this I am going to try to lay off the red meat for awhile not to mention the beer, but it will be worth it to not have the flare ups that I’ve been having the past five days. So if you have gout, take your medicine, and lay off the red meat and booze. Oh, one more thing; I found out today that I have vikings in my lineage. Maybe that’s why I can grow a boss beard….
Hey man… I have gout as well. If you like cherries, eat about a dozen when you feel the flare up and eat at least 6 a day until completely gone. I hate cherries, so I take cherry fruit extract in pill form. I take 2 pills each meal during flare ups… sometimes more if its really hurting. You can order online or some health food stores and pharmacies have them. Good luck man… it’s not very fun to have.
I have heard that but never tried it. I’ll keep it in mind and order some online. Glad to know there’s another gout sufferer with me!