Random thought - why is it called Gout?
I mean, the word arthritis sounds like a real medical condition. Inflammatory Arthritis sounds like a really painful medical condition. Rheumatoid Arthritis sounds like a horrible Medical condition. But the word GOUT? It's not even two syllables? How can anyone take you seriously when you say "I've got Gout"? Really, how does that taste? Can I have some?
Anyway... My Hubby has Gout... And it is a very painful medical condition... How do we know? Because he went to the doctor today... YES, he went to the doctor today... And whyyyyy did he actually get bad enough that he decided to go to the doctor? I'll tell you why!
Because he went to work yesterday on a foot he could barely stand on, driving a stick shift (clutch) with the foot that he couldn't apply pressure to and physically unloaded trucks for 8 hours. He came home, just gimping, but very proud of himself that he thought he "WORKED OUT" the bad parts.
Apparently at 4:00 AM when it flared back up, he realized "maybe he didn't work out the bad parts" When I woke up at 6:00 it was so swollen that his foot was changing colors and he couldn't put pressure at all. He was in terrible pain and said "I think I should go see the doctor now"
YA THINK?
So I drove him to the doctor around 9ish. He had an Xray done and found nothing wrong. So the doc ruled out a fracture and said it must be Gout! Wrote him up 3 prescriptions and sent him on his way. If the prescriptions don't work, then its not Gout! ha ha... And we go back for more testing.
If the prescriptions do work? Then he goes back anyway and gets blood work done to test his Uric Acid levels. Can't take the blood during an attack because apparently the numbers are skewed at that point.
However, he didn't fill the prescriptions... He's not going to take medicine, he will "suffer through the pain" Granted the meds are nasty stuff, and I would prefer he didn't take them. But we will see...
He asked the Doc if he could go to work today and the doc says:
"Well it looks like you can't walk till that swelling goes down, do you need to walk for your job?'
Hubby says "Yes"
So the Doc says "Well then I don't think you should work today"....
Hmmmm? YA THINK?
So Hubby is on Couch Rest for actually 2 days and hopefully that will be enough to get him on the mend. Staying vegetarian may help so he doesn't get another flair up, and he's drinking cherry juice, because that is supposed to help with the pain.