I’ve bene lucky – so far – in terms of health. I have just learned the importance of never taking that for granted.
Some of you know about my recent bout with gout, a disabling condition that can transform you in a matter of hours from a guy who could run five miles as easily as most people can walk to the bathroom to a guy who can barely hobble to the bathroom. It is a humbling experience. A lesson in the impermanence of health. More finely, a lesson in keeping that in mind when you are healthy.
I never thought I’d get gout. I’ve always been fit and work out six out of seven days a week. But I did put on about 25 pounds over the past couple of years and gave up trying to lose them, even though that meant moving up a waist size (something I’ve never had to do before). I figured – who cares that I’ve gotten a little beefy?
As it turns out my body did.
The causes of gout are vague but include being overweight and that happens (typically) as a result of eating too much food and usually the wrong kind of food. That’s my big weakness. Not drugs or booze. I don’t smoke. I figured that running and lifting weights would counterbalance whatever ill effects might arise from being 25 pounds heavy. I did not take into account the synergistic effect of being 25 pounds heavy and eating the wrong kinds of food. In particular, food that comes prepackaged in boxes with ingredients lists longer than some of my articles. Plus the Chinese food bar at the Food Lion (get behind me, Satan!)
I thought I was invincible because I have always been invincible. Then I found out that I am not. The very hard way. This gout thing is what Marcellus from Pulp Fiction meant when he used the word Medieval to describe what he was about to do to the hillbilly at the pawn shop. Imagine someone stabbing your foot with a rusty and dull blade and then turning the thing in the wound. Imagine this kind of pain surging continuously for days, no matter what you did in terms of popping Ibuprofin like Pez or icing it or elevating it. As bad as the days are, the nights are worse. Sleep is not possible and the pain feel even more intense as the hours slowly tick by.
Imagine not being able to put your shoes on because your swollen feet won’t fit. Imagine being instantly unable to do basically anything, even go for a drive, because it hurts too much to push down n the pedals.
You come to Jesus quickly. I certainly did. Over the course of the last week since the flare – that’s the technical term – hit me, I have lost three pounds and am determined to drop at least 17 more. Not because I am vain but because I cannot deal with this again. I am praying that getting back to my formerly usual weight and getting seriously religious about what I eat will set things right.
I wrote this little column not primarily to tell me story but in the hope that it won’t be your story. Health is never something to take for granted, most especially when you believe you are healthy. It is much better to know you are.
Take it from the man who found that out – the hard way.
. . .
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Everyone here has given great advice. Someone mentioned kidney damage if the uric acid isn’t controlled long term so worth monitoring via blood test.
I’ll add one more I remembered from the doc discussion with me. Recurring gout will damage the affected joints when it happens over and over. With me it was the classic left big toe joint at the foot, and both ankles thankfully not at the same time. Once it hit me 3 times in one year it was time for the maintenance medication. I didn’t tolerate allopurinol (gastric pain) so I’m on Uloric and years in I’m tolerating it fine.
Please don’t tough this out any longer. I’m with you I’d rather avoid the medical complex but this needs to get squashed. Prednisone dose pak and indomethicin should be available thru an urgent care clinic.
Eric,
I’m very sad to hear of this. You’ve been a fairly heroic figure with the fact being that you’re in your late 50s (I believe) and yet are still able to run 5 miles a day and bench press a dirt bike, as well as write as prolifically as you do.
Sometimes we’re reminded of how pitifully mortal we are. Some might say there’s a reason, such as giving us a lesson in sympathy for others. Or maybe we’re all just floundering biological oddities, ephemeral and hopelessly powerless.
In any case, I hope this passes quickly. I would doubt you’re guilty of any extreme dietary sins. If anything, cut the sweets, if that should be your crutch. Refined sugar is the ultimate dietary villain of the modern age. It might not be directly related to gout, but metabolic syndromes, most certainly.
Don’t you wish that the cure to our haunting ailments was to do *more” of the things we liked?
I wish, just one of these times, my doctor would tell me “Now, I want you increase your drinking frequency. You’re going to need plenty of booze to get through this. And sex. Lots, with as many women as possible. Throw in plenty of t-bone steaks and a little cocaine, and you should be right as the mail. I’ll write you a prescription for Demerol to get your through otherwise sober and bothersome days. Happy healing.”
Roger that, BaDnOn!
As I sit here munching a celery stick… oy vey!
Hang tough. You’ll get through this.
Thanks, Mister – I will power through it!
In a way, it’s got a silver lining in that I’d gotten complacent about my gut and had a “who cares?” attitude about what I ate. Now I care. And I figure that I’ll be much healthier long term when I am thin again and eating right (for the first time). Last night’s left foot flare has subsided a bit and the good news is the foot isn’t massively swollen as my right foot was. It’s just a “hot” (red) area on the left side of my left foot. Hoping that’s as far as it goes!
Eric – I’m no authority on anything, but it could be that your becoming heavier is a symptom of something underlying the weight gain AND the gout. They could have the same origin. One thing leads to another. I remembered I have a friend who gets the flare ups. I’m curious as to what he did. I’ll post.
Roger, Swamp –
There is this thing called Metabolic Syndrome and one expression of it is a gut. Mine’s not huge, but I’ve always been thin (until the past couple of years) and maybe my body can’t take being even 25 heavy. Gonna find out!
I’m sure you’re already doing this but up your water intake and drink tart cherry juice.
Do a search for “Dr. Berg gout”
Thanks, Horst – yup!
That plus celery, which is my new snack (God help me). The left foot flared up hideously last night but as of 8:08 (right now) it’s tamped down to tolerable. I am hoping to drop at least 10 pounds over September which would bring me back to 217 and close to where I was before I got heavy. Hopefully by the end of October I’ll be near my ideal weight and then get the rest off by Christmas. I am praying that this plus no more fast food, etc. does the trick.
Eric – I took this from my old home remedies book. You have to avoid foods high in a substance called purine. These include: anchovies, consomme, heart, kidney, liver, herring, and (more commonly) gravies, meat extracts, pork roast, poultry, roast beef, luncheon meat, and even asparagus and spinach. The purine in these foods cause uric acid buildup.
Losing weight is good, but not too fast it says. A crash diet can actually raise uric acid levels. And have lots of water to drink. That Chinese food can really make you thirsty for water, especially the soy sauce… I know because I have a weakness for takeout Chinese, too.
Big Pharma’s got me locked in, though, thanks to high blood pressure and LDL cholesterol.
Hope this helps
Thanks, Bill!
The weird thing is I almost never eat “anchovies, consomme, heart, kidney, liver, herring, and (more commonly) gravies” or “luncheon meat, and even asparagus and spinach.” And I drink only occasionally and not much when I do. The main things I do are beef (and chicken)… that and occasional fast food/desserts. I have sworn 100 percent off the latter and for now the former. The only thing I can think of is that I did put on 25 pounds and – for the first time in my life – got a gut. But not a huge one. I went from my normal “fit” 200-205 to 230 and had to go up to size 34 from 32 waist for the first time in my life. But I wasn’t obese. Or so I thought. Maybe my body just can’t take being 25 pounds heavy. I’m down to 227 as I type this after about two weeks now of getting right with Jesus (so to speak)!
Had pinched nerves in one foot about three years ago. It royally sucked. Thankfully you can self treat it fairly easily (in my case, mostly less tight shoes and socks). Hasn’t flared up lately thankfully. Gout sounds a lot worse. Hope you get well soon, and the weight comes off. Ironically the pinched nerves happened AFTER losing about 15 pounds.
Thanks, Rich –
It’s 2:45 in the morning Thursday and I’m up because now my left foot is flaring badly. My right foot is fine. But – here I get to go again. Can’t walk, again). I get why people put a bullet in their heads at a certain point.
“It’s no fun getting old, but it’s better than the alternative “ grandfather Savant who made it to 95 years.
Back when I was a young man working at the grocery store, a little old lady looked at me and said “They say these are my golden years. Bullshit! Nothing golden about it.” That was 30 years ago and I still remember it.