Feeling rather crap at the mo...

[Ckennedy]

Hello everyone. Sorry for not having posted for a while, really busy with work ect.

This is slightly bike related but just needed to get this in the air....

Went to hospital yesterday thinking I had broken my big toe, was expecting an x-ray and a long wait but instead the Dr turns round and says I have gout!!! And at the ripe young age of 21

Needless to say I am feeling pretty crap at the moment as I have done some reading on this and turns out it is more than likely to come back again and again and it can happen in other joints and I will need to take meds for it. At the moment I can not work on my right foot even being dosed up on pain killers as they are not touching the pain. It can also create irriversable joint problems.

So yes it may be treatable but what I can not find out is how often it can occur.

What bothers me more is with my foot like this I can not ride the bike OK in this weather I would not want to but if it happens in future then it could make a mess of things.

Does anyone else suffer with this and would be happy sharing there experience with how to deal with it?

Sorry for the winge but I needed to get it off my chest and ask the question.

[agentpineapple]

sorry to hear your news buddy, have a good old search online about gout, i assume theres different levels of gout. and i've heard its very painful, what pain killers are you taking?

[geodude]

Sorry to hear that matey. I know it's not pleasant. My boss suffers from it.

Not sure if you have read this but there is also a video of a chap who has it

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Gout/Pages ... ction.aspx

[mr.john.coates]

Gout, young man? - surely that is for old corpulent gentlemen who drink too much port?

No, actually, I get it myself and I'm not old...it is pretty horrible but mine comes and goes with long periods in between when I'm fine. I suppose they told you to avoid red wine and rich food as this will aggravate it, but look on google for other triggers. You can manage it quite well once you understand what sets it off.

Which foot? If it's your right, just use more engine braking!

[Ckennedy]

Only on paracetomol every 4 hours and ibuprofen every 4 hours, 2 hours between the different tablets. Not taken even the slightest edge off the pain. Going to see my GP tomorrow with any luck as it was A&E I went to as I thought it was broken and a Saturday. There are some meds you can take to help the process of getting rid of it but I have the crystals that grow in the joint causing the irriversable damaged from what I have read online. The swollen joint, extreme pain, stiffness to the point it is like rigamortus. Id have rather broken the damned thing.

Mr coates: That is exactally what I said. Young men shouldnt get it. Do not eat loads of red meat, nor do I drink (well socially but not loads or often) and I am certainly not over weight or old, so none of this made sense to me when I was told. As for engine braking I do enough of this already, hence why I need to free off my brake calipers and replace the pads

[agentpineapple]

try co-codamol, or maybe your gp will try you on tremadol, its opiate based and very strong, your gp will know whats best.

[Wicky]

Quite a few tips in the Comments at the end

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... yth-health

[VTRDark]

Sorry to hear the news buddy. That's not nice to have at your age, but as Mr coats said it can be controlled. You just needs to learn as much as you can about it, what meds work for you, and what triggers it off. I think gone are the days where it's just rich foods or too much Red wine. Look at all the chemicals and stuff that are chucked into processed foods. There's also a lack of vitamins cause peoples diets are not as good as the old days etc ect.

(:-})

[Ckennedy]

I do hope the Dr can find a good pain killer that is no co-codamol. I have had it before and although it is fantastic at killing pain it also sends me to sleep.

I have just seen on the nhs site that some people stopped drinking caffiene and it worked, read another post which was a summed up version of a medical test saying that caffiene may be the cause but caffiene contains the same chemical which the Dr would give me to increase the amount of uric acid which I pee out which gets rid of it. Very confused now. Was also advised to stay off my feet but if I do not go to work I do not get paid, un till I have been off for 3 days and then I only get paid stat sick pay! does not make life easy. Also does not help that my job involves being on my feet all day

[lumpyv]

I got diagnosed with it about one year ago . its very painful but you can do stuff about it. try and lay off the booze. this surprised me because about 10 years ago I was drinking sh1t loads of red wine and never got it but don't drink a lot now and I got it .
a real help is to drink as much water as possible , 5 to 10 pints a day will keep the uric acid/crystals at bay.
other than that ask your doc about Allopurinol. I am on 2 of those a day until further notice.
trying to work out a purine (the foods that give you gout) free diet is a nightmare. a lot of things you think would be good for joints are not good for gout?
I don't envy you having it at your age , im about 30 years older than you and it is well painful. drugs are working though so there is hope.
start by drinking gallons of plain water

[Ckennedy]

out with the caffiene and in with the water! now I just need some none sleepy pain meds!

[lumpyv]

out with the caffiene and in with the water! now I just need some none sleepy pain meds!

good luck with it mate. forums about it are pretty confusing because everybody has different experiences of it. you should be able to get it under control though

[adyf]

AH TREMADOL ,HAPPY DAYS

[lloydie]

just chop it off before it spreads

[VTRDark]

AH TREMADOL ,HAPPY DAYS

Tramadol is what I take when my arthritis gets bad. It's a very good pain med if you want to avoid Codene. I'm not fan of Codene because of the way it affects my gut. Dihydracodene is the worst for that, but interestingly enough Codene phosphate is not as bad. So it does depend on what the drug is mixed with to transport and absorb it into your system. Speak to your Doc let them no if you don't get on with a particular pain killer and then they can try you on something else. They may even be able to supply you something that is non drowsy for the day and something that will knock you out for nights.

(:-})