The Cause of Gout Symptoms

I first developed gout symptoms in my early twenties. My first attack happened in late spring. The day before, I had been gardening and I made the association in my mind that my foot pain must have been caused by squatting on the balls of my feet for an extended period of time.

That attack passed within a week. Having no health insurance at the time, I did not go to a doctor, so my gout went undiagnosed until well into my thirties.

I have observed that most gout sufferers at first believe they are suffering from a broken foot. I had that belief myself. Over the next few years, the attacks became so bad that I believed I had developed diabetes and that my left foot was going to need to be amputated.

In fact I was beginning to wish I could have the foot amputated, but was afraid that if the foot was removed I might still suffer from “phantom pains”.

Clearly (well, not clear to me at the time) when my attacks set in I was becoming irrational. This is not surprising- they say that gout is the second worst pain a man can suffer, just after passing a kidney stone and on par with childbirth.

The big turnaround concerning the diagnosis and treatment of my gout was meeting my future wife, a medical professional and, when it comes to dragging myself to the doctor, a bit of a nag (In a good way!). She insisted that I go to a doctor, and at last I had a diagnosis.

Over the next several years, I allowed several different doctors in turn to manage my gout. One doctor said I needed Colchicine. One said I needed Allopurinol and a macrobiotic diet. One doctor wanted me to take both Allopurinol and Colchicine!

I finally found a doctor who I trust and have stayed with him for several years. He is treating me with Allopurinol daily and Indomethacin as needed. The only times I have relapses now are if I miss 2 or more consecutive days of Allopurinol, or if I allow myself to become dehydrated. I believe stress can feed into gout as well, so I take steps to manage that in my daily life as well.

I know how unspeakably horrible the pain of gout can be. I have created this website to help as many other gout sufferers as possible learn to manage their condition and to urge them to seek out early diagnosis. Nobody should have to suffer through gout attacks even one day more than necessary.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 4th, 2005 at 6:08 pm and is filed under General Gout. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.