No-one believed me! (My Experience Of Gout)

Member Name: sue.51

Product:	My Experience Of Gout
Date:	05/05/01 (105 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: A lot of Pain

Medical science says women can't get it before the menopause - believe it? - read this then

WHAT IS GOUT?
It is very painful, and comically, usually associated with rich living, middle aged men with a taste for the high life; women cannot get it before the menopause, right!!!.

It is a metabolic order that causes attacks of arthritis, usually in a single joint, for some reason usually the big toe, but it can also attack various other joints including the knees, ankles, wrist, foot and small joints of the hand. The joint becomes red and swollen and very tender, and can sometimes be confused with cellulitis. It is caused by a high level or uric acid in the blood, which I believe crystallises in the joints.

FAMILY HISTORY
My father has suffered from it for many years, despite being a slim tee-totaller, his father before him, hence yes, I believe it is genetic.

ABOUT ME
I was a 20 year old, student nurse of slightly above average weight and a good social life. When I wasn't working, my life consisted of pubs, parties, in a regular cycle. One night after a good party and a lot of alcohol, I must have at some stage fallen into a drunken stupore and woke up the next morning with a very painful big toe on my right foot, which I initially put down to too much frivolity and dancing the night before.

As the day wore on and the hangover subsided, a friend could see the agony I was in and took me to the local casualty unit (not in the hospital I worked in), for them to have a look. They prodded, pushed, said 'yes' definitely looks like you may have done some damage, X-rayed me and admonished me for being so 'wild'. The X-rays were clear, the doctor thought maybe a problem with the tendons/muscles and advised the nurse to 'strap it up'.

The pleasant male nurse, who had spent the best part of an hour in the company of my feet, duly did as he was told and strapped up, the by n
ow, very red and swollen big toe. Whilst doing this we chatted, he told me jokingly that my symptoms looked like gout, and maybe I should go see my GP. By the way, the worst thing you can do to a joint affected by Gout is 'strap it up', and by the following day, I was writhing around in agony unable to work, with a thin red line working its way up the bottom half of my leg from the toe in question.

I obediently made an appointment to see my GP, who told me I was ridicolous; Gout could not possibly affect a pre-menopausal woman and that I had just been overdoing it. He issued me with some indomethacin (Indocid) to try and control the pain and told me to come back if it didn't settle down, it didn't.

Next visit, the doctor still refused to admit that there could be a problem, as medical science say it could not happen, but agreed to do blood tests to rule out other forms of arthritis. I was issued with a walking stick and given Ibuprofen as the Indocid were killing my digestive system.

Eventually (whilst abstaining from alcohol), the pain started to subside, and I thought yes I can put this experience behind me, wrong, I had a telephone call a few days later from a very sheepish GP, I did have gout, and a well known rheumatologist wanted to see me, as this defied medical science.
Thanks but no thanks - I get the occasional twinge if I drink to much, which sends me back on the wagon, and other than this I have not had a problem in nearly 15 years, and really don't want to. I used to treat my fathers condition as a joke, but thanks to that medically impossible blip nearly 15 years ago, I will certainly be more sympathetic in future.

THE MORAL
If you know someone with gout, have a lot of sympathy with them, they are most likely not going to be high living portly old men. Likewise, if you know a pre-menopausal woman who seems to show the symptoms, don't ignore them, they could just be telling the tr
uth, although you may struggle to convince the medical profession.

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