No Changes, Everything Remains The Same
I carefully hobbled to bed last night, thinking that perhaps today I would suddenly be cured upon wakening. Yeah, that didn't happen. It was not a great night. I went to bed in pain and woke in pain.
During the night when I should have been sleeping in an ideal world, I was constantly moving dogs away from my foot. Eddie likes to be touching me and is agreeable to me moving to a more perfect location and was not an unusual interruption of my slumber. Mr. BoJangles was a different story. He was at the foot of the bed one minute, then leaping over my sick foot and walking across my abdomen on the way to try to steal my pillow. He would curl around my head and make me feel claustrophobic while I massaged my belly where he landed and knocked the breath out of me.
Several times he grazed my big toe and caused a streak of pain, like lightning jolt through my foot. I usually navigate my way to a bathroom break in the dark, but last night I turned the bathroom light on to gaze at my foot. Surprise! The gout has spread to my next three toes! Have you ever jammed a finger? Yes? Well then you know how my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th toes felt. The little piggy that went to market has somehow avoided affliction.
My feet are usually cold when I go to bed, but the sick foot can warm the well foot now. I was finally able to slip a sock over the affected foot yesterday and had briefly considered try to slip a shoe on ..... Decided I shouldn't rush things.
I made the mistake of trying to touch my toes and won't be doing that again. Should I feel guilty that I wasn't more sympathetic when HeWho had gout? I waited on him like I was suddenly a servant. I brought him food and drink and ice packs and kept the animals off his foot .....
That was during the first three attacks he had. He was aware of his trigger (shell fish and rare beef), but continued to eat what he wanted because he was taking pills! His elbows were really funny looking and knobby, as well as his knees. I don't want to add more pills to my daily regimen.
Instead I am sipping on my cherry juice and have a small pot of ginger tea brewing and wishing this worked faster!
So, now the sun shines down on my world and I still can't get up the drive to my sanctuary to see what mess awaits me. There is gravel and I cringe to think about walking with a barefoot ....
UGH! Have you tried a heating pad or cold pack?
ReplyDeleteIce packs, since my foot is so hot to the touch. Still drinking ginger tea and cherry juice. I read that black tea can attribute to it, so I stopped drinking it,
DeleteIs it normal for gout to hang on and spread like this? Perhaps what I had years ago wasn't gout at all, I had very painful toes on one foot for a day or so after eating a lot of salty foods, but no swelling or discolouration and it hasn't happened again since I cut out the salt. I shall have to look up gout, but I think too that you should see a doctor.
ReplyDeletefrom Google: "Gout is a type of inflammatory arthritis that causes pain and swelling in your joints, usually as flares that last for a week or two, and then resolve. Gout flares often begin in your big toe or a lower limb. Gout happens when high levels of urate build up in your body over a long period of time, which can then form needle-shaped crystals in and around the joint. This leads to inflammation and arthritis of the joint. When the body makes too much urate, or removes too little, urate levels build up in the body. However, many people with high levels of serum urate will not develop gout."
ReplyDeleteSo I see it lasts a week or two, maybe I just got lucky or probably did not have a gout episode.
Yours was probably just edema from salt intake. It does make for stiff joints and some pain, but not like the crystals in the joint does. Lucky for you! It has only been a week, so maybe I am just impatient.
DeleteDrink baking soda and water....about 1/8 of a tsp in an 8oz glass of water per day, then increase it by 1/4 tsp per 8oz glass a day. You have to get your body's PH more on the acidic side to relieve your gout.
ReplyDeleteBaking soda is alkaline, I think. I didn't see it in any of the articles I read. At any rate I will see my primary this afternoon. I need to change some of my prescriptions to other drugs (new Insurance) anyway, so two birds with one stone. As far as I know Colchicine is the go to drug for gout. You take large doses until you develope diarhea. HeWho used t take it daily until there was a recall for side effects. Now they will only subscribe it for a very short period of time. I would prefer NOT to take it and just tough it out. The intense pain that took my breath away is over and now is just a nagging pain that makes it hard to be on my feet.
DeleteI hope you get something from the doctor to speed up your recovery. Even if it's just advice, not drugs. Better to get over it before you jump into your projects, rather than risk a setback.
ReplyDeleteTry apple cider vinegar with honey in warm water, a tablespoon a couple of times a day?
ReplyDeleteThe articles I read had put the remedies in order of effectiveness and cherry juice was on the top. Ginger tea came before the vinegar. My mother drank the vinegar and would extoll the virtues of her cure for arthritis, despite the fact that she still had to deal with the pain of arthritis. She had one of joints removed in her second toe. Makes me think it might not be very effective! I can still see her in my mind's eye as she shoved that serving spoon of honey and vinegar into her mouth, swallowed, then gagged. No warm water for her!!
Deletewell, that sucks. and it seemed to be getting so much better.
ReplyDeleteMuch better now, but the attack usually lingers for up to two weeks and I am in day 12 now. I am still guarding my toe as it is still sensitive.
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