[punatic]

I was rudely snatched out of my peaceful sleep in the middle of the night last night by an excruciating pain in the big toe of my right foot.  TFW?!  Seems that a uric acid crystal has decided to take up residence in the joint at the base of my big toe.

I knew some serious pain when my appendix ruptured a few years back.  This comes close to that!  Gout sucks!!  Pray that you never get it.  i can't walk.  I can't sleep.  I can hardly concentrate on the book i'm trying to read.  The worst part is no beer till it's gone.  I'm OK with that if it will make my toe stop hurting.

Poor, poor, pitiful me...

[bluesman]

That sucks! My father-in-law gets it from time to time and it's very painful for him. Is there something you can take for that?

[phillamb168]

Wait, beer causes the gout? I thought it was eating too much red meat?

[tygo]

Wait, beer causes the gout? I thought it was eating too much red meat?

Both beer and red meat can contribute to attacks.  Go to the doctor.  There's something they can prescribe that really helps, and quickly too.  I can't remember the name of it at the moment but it's basically a standard painkiller along with a very strong anti-inflammatory drug.

[tschmidlin]

Ouch!  Sorry to hear that, too much beer and seafood and you end up with Rich Man's Disease, eh?

I really hope the dietary changes aren't long-term!

[1vertical]

Cherry juice and fruit....consume them in the interum until you get RX from your Dr.

Edit: My aching foot is the heel. Plantar Fasciitis it seems 24 years of pounding the concrete
is taking it's toll.  I have been getting some Physical Therapy to some small relief....dry needling sux.

[euge]

Wow. Sorry to hear than punatic.

My father suffered from it, but he was in his 70's.

Alcohol is one of the culprits. When I went on my Martini "investigations" by drinking 5 a night and eating lots of cheese and cured meats, a flare-up in the medial dorsal aspect of my left foot halted things quickly. I self-diagnosed myself and took an extended break from the hard stuff. That and drinking plenty of water reversed my incipient gout in just over a week. That sh!t is painful- especially if one is on their feet all day long. Thinking about it, I haven't had a martini since...

Cherry juice and fruit....consume them in the interum until you get RX from your Dr.

Edit: My aching foot is the heel. Plantar Fasciitis it seems 24 years of pounding the concrete
is taking it's toll.  I have been getting some Physical Therapy to some small relief....dry needling sux.

Some of my colleagues have it, and they help combat the symptoms by wearing Crocs.

[weithman5]

My brother calls this "drunk toe".  He calls me every now and then for a prescription. For rare cases i usually will prescribe indomethacin 50mg three times a day or colchicine 0.6mg every 6 hours for a few days.  if you get it often (read poor bastard) i use allopurinol 300mg daily.  there is also a new med out (gets advertised a lot) called uloric.  fortunately my brother was able to alter his diet and stop the attacks without stopping beer.

[oscarvan]

Interesting..... I had this problem (or similar) when I was a tee totaling vegetarian. Now my staples are beer and meat and I'm doing much better.....

[weithman5]

i can tell you that risk factors are risk factors but genetics plays some role. even more than what people eat it is how much.  same with sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure issues. 80-90 percent of my patients would be off meds (and i would be even more broke) if their weight was appropriate

[redbeerman]

I get attacks about once or twice a year.  It really does suck, especially when your usually pretty active.  When you can't walk or run, life gets miserable fast.

[tygo]

Not being able to move around is bad.  Having the searing pain shooting through your foot and leg even when you're completely immobile is worse.

[punatic]

I've been reading up on gout.  Seems that diet is not the cause of gout, but if you have gout, food and drink can trigger a flare-up.  It's a chronic disease that can be controlled to varying degrees, depending on the person, but there is no cure at the present time.  Diet and lifestyle can reduce the reccurence of the painful flare-ups.  If left untreated it can be disfiguring.

All well and good...  I just wish my F-ing toe would stop hurting so bad.  I am taking a NSAID (ibuprophin) for the pain and inflamation.  It seems to help quite a bit.  But, I'm a bike rider and a hiker.  Right now I can't even put a sock on my foot.  I need to ride and hike!

Fortunately Pele is taking a break right now, so I'm not missing any photo ops out in the lava fields.

[Robert]

I had an attack about a year and a half ago. I just waited it out and it went away on it's own. In January, after enjoying a bit of bourbon a few too many nights in a row, it came back. Same story, it went away in about 5-7 days and i thought nothing of it. Except this time, it came back within the next week. I was talking to my dad about it and he said he has been on medication for his since he was about my age. Went to see a doc about it and am waiting on the blood work to come back, but I'm sure that's what it is. I've definitely changed my diet and have severely cut back on alcohol. I've implemented a vegetarian night and a seafood night to my weekly meals to try and cut back on red meat.

[hoser]

As someone who works in an orthopedic office here is my recommendation/cyber medicine:
1. Ibuprofen likely will not be a strong enough anti-inflammatory.  Indocin or Indomethicin is first line in treatment of gout flares.
2. See your family doc or an orthopedist.  You will need a perscription for the indocin.  There are other medications that they can also use to treat your current symptoms and prevent recurrence of gout flares as weithman5 stated above.
3. An orthopedist can give you a steroid injection into your joint to give you very quick relief.  Sometimes they will aspirate some fluid and send it to the lab to confirm you truly have gout in your big toe. FYI the shot hurts like hell.
4. Sometimes there is a stiff soled sandal or post op shoe you can wear to unload the foot when walking until your symptoms subside.  
5. Yes, diet restrictions will help minimize but not prevent future gout flare ups.

Good luck! Too bad you are in Hawaii and not Omaha.  I could get you the hook up today