bigtoe
28th February 2011, 09:24 AM
Hello there,
I've just joined this forum because, surprise surprise, I appear to have developed gout. It first began about three weeks ago when I woke up thinking I'd broken my big toe. As I now realise this is a text book gout entrance.
For the first six days it was merely bad, never terrible, so I managed to go about my daily business expecting all the while that it was going to get better. However, by the sixth day as well as being assailed by incredible pain from a shoulder problem (yes, more problems!) the toe was getting no better and I was starting to find it difficult to walk. I had googled the problem but seeing as the joint didn't feel hot and I didn't think the pain was amongst the worst I'd ever felt I thought it probably wasn't gout. But by the monday - the 7th day - the pain had increased enough for me to decide it was time to visit the doctor. By monday afternoon my foot had swollen up and it had become almost impossible to walk. The Doctor prescribed cochicine which I dully began taking late that afternoon.
The agony I experienced within 5 minutes of taking this medication is almost indescribable. It was so bad I started to think of amputation as being a welcome relief. Several frantic phone calls to first NHS direct (put on eternal hold) and then to friends who had doctor friends to find out if there was any pain relief I could take as well as colchicine finally revealed that I could take paracetamol/codeine or ibuprofen. I didn't have any ibuprofen but found some codeine which helped a lot with the pain. After about 16 hours the pain had subsided significantly but the first three times I took colchicine produced extreme agony.
So, has anyone else experienced this?
Things have gone on from here. Unfortunately I've not been at home since the attack (my girlfriend lives in Sweden - me in the UK - and is expecting our baby so I've had to be there - serious hobbling around airports) and haven't been able to see my GP yet. After the three days on Colchicine things seemed to be getting a little bit better - though slowly - but then 7 days after I'd ceased the C/cine, the foot began to get a lot worse again. This worried me quite a lot, seeing as I was in Sweden. So I started with the C/cine again and, in combination with ibuprofen it seemed to get a little better - at least to the extent that I can hobble short distances. That worked for a couple of days but then yesterday it began to get much worse again, foot swelling up a lot and etc.
This morning it seems to have stabilised a bit but if I look back three weeks to the first signs of getting this disease it's considerably worse now than it was then.
Does this sound like a typical gout case? I'd expected it to be gone inside two weeks! The only small mercy is that it doesn't hurt when I'm not trying to walk. Occasionally it begins hurting on its own, but not often, and it's never been the total agony it was at that point after the first week.
I don't eat meat. I've had barely a drink for three weeks and was a moderate drinker before. I'm getting a bit fed up of being a partial cripple, especially with a baby arriving inside two weeks! I'd quite like to be able to move around by then.
Oh, I'm 45 too.
Does anyone have any thoughts? I'm due to see my Dr in the UK on Thursday - if I can get back .........
Bigtoe.
I've just joined this forum because, surprise surprise, I appear to have developed gout. It first began about three weeks ago when I woke up thinking I'd broken my big toe. As I now realise this is a text book gout entrance.
For the first six days it was merely bad, never terrible, so I managed to go about my daily business expecting all the while that it was going to get better. However, by the sixth day as well as being assailed by incredible pain from a shoulder problem (yes, more problems!) the toe was getting no better and I was starting to find it difficult to walk. I had googled the problem but seeing as the joint didn't feel hot and I didn't think the pain was amongst the worst I'd ever felt I thought it probably wasn't gout. But by the monday - the 7th day - the pain had increased enough for me to decide it was time to visit the doctor. By monday afternoon my foot had swollen up and it had become almost impossible to walk. The Doctor prescribed cochicine which I dully began taking late that afternoon.
The agony I experienced within 5 minutes of taking this medication is almost indescribable. It was so bad I started to think of amputation as being a welcome relief. Several frantic phone calls to first NHS direct (put on eternal hold) and then to friends who had doctor friends to find out if there was any pain relief I could take as well as colchicine finally revealed that I could take paracetamol/codeine or ibuprofen. I didn't have any ibuprofen but found some codeine which helped a lot with the pain. After about 16 hours the pain had subsided significantly but the first three times I took colchicine produced extreme agony.
So, has anyone else experienced this?
Things have gone on from here. Unfortunately I've not been at home since the attack (my girlfriend lives in Sweden - me in the UK - and is expecting our baby so I've had to be there - serious hobbling around airports) and haven't been able to see my GP yet. After the three days on Colchicine things seemed to be getting a little bit better - though slowly - but then 7 days after I'd ceased the C/cine, the foot began to get a lot worse again. This worried me quite a lot, seeing as I was in Sweden. So I started with the C/cine again and, in combination with ibuprofen it seemed to get a little better - at least to the extent that I can hobble short distances. That worked for a couple of days but then yesterday it began to get much worse again, foot swelling up a lot and etc.
This morning it seems to have stabilised a bit but if I look back three weeks to the first signs of getting this disease it's considerably worse now than it was then.
Does this sound like a typical gout case? I'd expected it to be gone inside two weeks! The only small mercy is that it doesn't hurt when I'm not trying to walk. Occasionally it begins hurting on its own, but not often, and it's never been the total agony it was at that point after the first week.
I don't eat meat. I've had barely a drink for three weeks and was a moderate drinker before. I'm getting a bit fed up of being a partial cripple, especially with a baby arriving inside two weeks! I'd quite like to be able to move around by then.
Oh, I'm 45 too.
Does anyone have any thoughts? I'm due to see my Dr in the UK on Thursday - if I can get back .........
Bigtoe.