Gout

My grandmother had it, I think if you get it you'll know when. It was very painful, she could ahrdly walk, we actually got her a walker to help her out as she lived a lone, and even then she walked as little as possible.

 

Gout runs in my family.

I had a bout of it about 10 years ago when I forgot my blood pressure meds while vacationing in Florida.

I thought I broke my toe.

I've been careful to keep my blood pressure under control and have never had it since.

Rob

 

My DIL was just diagnosed with it yesterday. I don't know much about it yet, except that it's very painful.

 

I would get it on and off, over a course of a few years, until about 4 years ago. My big toe at the on the right foot would swell twice it's size, the joint at the base would ache and used to drive me crazy!

It is a weird disease. I believe most often caused, or in my case anyway, the cause was probably hyperuricemia (high levels of uric acid in the blood) one of the main causes of this is high fructose intake due to soft drinks, and I think that was my onset problem.

Hyperuricemia has to do with malfunctioning kidneys but I don't remember how this all works together. Hereditary kidney diseases are usually associated; in my case there is a lot of kidney stones in the family, also some kidney failure.

Another sign of hyperuricemia is scaling on the knees and elbows which eventually might get into the joints, also itching. I have a little of that going on now and so am concerned and am looking into lifestyle changes to improve kidney health.

This summer I'm going to look into getting my uric acid levels checked. My fructose levels should be much lower since I've basically quit soft drinks.

Gout is a scary thing because it could be a serious warning sign of other underlying issues as far as I'm concerned.