For most of 2009 and spring of 2010 I was pretty sure I was on the edge of having gout. My mother had it, and Craig was told he has had at least one attack. When he was in pain I did a lot of research about it. Then I tried to be fairly careful about what we ate and avoided many of the foods that are said to be bad. I was taking care of myself and being a "good wife."
Last spring I asked my Doctor about it and he assured me that I "did not have gout."
So I started eating things that I had been avoiding like red meat and beans and lots of mushrooms and asparagus! I also started enjoying red wine again, but then I had some painful joints and the Doctor prescribed Mobic. (At that time I again stopped all alcohol.)
Months go by. I felt great. The Mobic was working.
Until the World Series! During the playoffs we had lots of "baseball food." Hot dogs, Bratworst, beans. Ice cream became an evening ritual after the games. I even had some forbidden beer! On the last night of the series, we had a steak dinner with red wine, and a bottle of champagne to celebrate.
36 hours later, while grocery shopping, my ankle seemed to disintegrate into 1000 shards of broken glass. I could barley walk and hung onto the cart to get myself into the van and home. I called the doctor and described what had happen
and he said, "Sounds like a gout attack."
No kidding. I knew that, and now he finally gave me some medication for it. He also suggested a vegetarian diet for at least a week to ten days. I'm doing that, and I do know what foods to avoid in the future. It's not hard, but when he told me in spring that I didn't have it I saw no reason to give up red meat and all the other things I liked.
So for now I'm not eating any meat and my ankle is ok again. Tomorrow I want to resume walking. Next week I'll try some chicken.
On another note, I finished all of the sculptures that had been ordered and shipped the last of them this morning.
The next two weeks will be devoted to a much needed house cleaning effort. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and we will be having family visit.
Craig and Merikay at Avenue of the Giants, California
Ouch! I hope it is gone for good!
ReplyDeleteDon't know what gout is so will look it up on line. Whatever it is it sounds painful. Hope you get to feeling better real soon. Glad you got your art orders out in the mail. Wishing you a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteI never hear much about gout anymore but it`s obviously still around. Hopefully, you`ll be able to get medications to keep it under control so you can at least eat some of that good stuff you`ve had to give up.
ReplyDeleteGlad you're feeling better. Although we don't hear much about it anymore, I've recently heard two other people mention having problems with Gout. My grandmother had it, too. Hope the change in diet helps.
ReplyDeleteHi Merikay,
ReplyDeleteHope you are feeling better by tonight! It was interesting learning about gout on your blog. I've heard about it but didn't "know" anything.
Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment the other day!
Did you order the denim coverup? I've tried to order from that catalog before, but every time I try to order my size, it's always out of stock! Makes me kind of suspicious that it was never there to begin with! IDK! That's really cute tho, and you had a good idea for it!!
Hope you recover quickly. I had what I think was gout 15 years ago and it is no fun.
ReplyDeleteOh, so sorry to hear about the gout problem. Sounds really, really painful. Good thing you already know how to take care of yourself. Sometimes makes ya' wonder if the patient knows more than the doctor.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are feeling better Merikay. I have heard of gout, but I don't really know what it is. Sounds very painful!
ReplyDeleteHope you continue to feel good! :)
So sorry to hear about the gout. Before my dad passed away, he had problems with it for years. I don't know what type of medication the doctor prescribed, but it helped. The problem was as soon as he started feeling better, he stopped taking the meds. Of course, soon enough the gout would come back. You'd think he would have learned his lesson, but he never did.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have a good handle on how to take care of it.
I can't believe Thanksgiving is just around the corner.