Now, in the last year, I had a motorcycle accident that very nearly paralyzed me and instead left me in dire pain for two months, my left knee is twice the size of the right one and has been so for months, and now I have, of all things, gout in my right foot.
Admittedly, I have not been a good steward of my body historically and I am not at all in good shape now, but every day starts with pain and ends with more pain accumulated over the rest of the day. When did I get old? This stuff happens to old people like my parents, not young people like myself. What’s that you say? I’m 46? Christ, I AM my parents.
I’m about to cut my foot off so I can sleep. Not that I ever really sleep, but waking up every two hours in pain makes it worse than usual.
I’m a living Shel Silverstein poem. How are you doing?
I can’t help you with that other stuff but gout can be treated with diet and drugs. Go to your doctor. In the meantime look up ‘purines’ and quit eating foods with lots of purines in them.
Good luck.
I remember the feeling, and telling my gf that I could imagine using a hacksaw to remove my big toe. Then it gets better. I’ve kept my gout at bay for years now, just by drinking lots of water. I still drink beer and eat all the “NEVER EAT” foods, don’t take any medication, I just drink gallons of water every day.
I’m sorry this is happening to you, Airman_Doors_USAF. Good luck on the gout, my husband had that and he said it was some of the worst pain he ever experienced. It eventually went away, though.
I don’t have anything dire wrong with me, but I’m 65. I am actually starting a sort of spreadsheet so I can keep up with all the picky stuff that bedevils me and stay on top of the necessary regime(s) to deal with them all.
Gout is horrible Airman. I’m '61 and have been in all types of jobs or projects where injury is common.
But none of those injuries compared to gout. I woke up one morning and wondered how I broke my big toe in the middle of the night. The best way to describe the pain is imagine ground glass in your joint.
A grizzled old cowboy finally decided to get life insurance and had to have a physical. The doctor is filling out the questionnaire as he undresses, “Any accidents?”
“Nope.”
The doctor looks up and the cowboy’s torso is one big collection of knots and scars “Good God! What happened to you?”
“Well, here’s where a horse kicked me and here’s where I got gored by a bull, then this here’s where I got bit by a rattlesnake–”
“–You said you’d hadn’t any accidents!”
“Oh, those were all done on purpose.”
There’s also potassium but you’d know if you were low on that – you’d literally be twitchy. Plus there’s magnesium but I’m a little vague on what that’s for. All three are in the horse salt I bring to Burning Man.
it doesn’t take much. My recommendation in the camp is 1/4 tsp per liter of water, and even then, one liter out of three.
Same thing happened to me. One day it was sore and by the time I tried to go back to sleep I was in such pain that it was impossible. I fought through it for one day and had enough. That’s when they drove the pipe with a bigger diameter than the one Arnie threw through Bennett in Commando into my foot.
Right now the flare-up is subsiding a bit, but every hour or so it feels like someone is stabbing me.
They call gout the “rich man’s disease”. That’s the closest I’ll ever get to the word rich associated with me.
Aw man, Airman, gout is excruciating. My dad would get flare-ups that laid him out flat.
As for me, I get bouts of migratory arthritis. I’m fine, and then bam! Some random joint will freeze up and be agonizing if I try to use it. Not a big deal if it’s an elbow, but a knee can make walking a torment, and wrists or finger joints can make working at a keyboard a cause for tears. Nothing eases it but time, usually a few days.
Sorry about your accident Airman. Glad you’re still with us though.
I have a bunion. I never noticed until my mom asked why my feet weren’t the same shape. One one side the big-toe knuckle is like a golf ball, on the other it’s the size of a racquet ball. I’m just glad it hasn’t given me any pain.
My hip is going bad. I’m starting to walk with a club foot always pointing outward.
Yeah, the accident sucked. I was fortunately wearing an armored riding jacket, but nevertheless I landed on my back about halfway down and less than an inch left of my spine and I was hurt so severely that for two weeks if I had to get up my son had to pull me up.
And then I had to go right back to work, so for the next two months I suffered through a day and then did PT for an hour 3-5 times a week after work for an injury that was supposed to keep me out for that entire time.
This feels like that, but that was worse because if I moved anything at all it would cause screaming pain. Here it’s walking and standing that cause the pain. Last week I fought through 60 hours of walking and standing, so I probably put myself back at the beginning. Remember when you were a kid and you’d knock yourself unconscious, wake up, and keep playing? Those days are long over for me, likely because those days existed to begin with.
Gout is the worst pain I have ever had so far, I can relate. It gets better after some time, usually less than a week, I hope this time is as short as possible. It still feels longer than can be bearable but in the end it is not letal.
Small comfort, I know.
Arthritic pain in my left knee, my back and my right thumb. Lesser pain in the right knee and left thumb. And I have trigger finger in my right thumb also, and have been wearing a finger splint for the last month. The therapist said it was probably triggered (ha!) by me compensating for the arthritic pain in the thumb joint and overexerting the tendons. Any exertion (such as normal living) involving back muscles means I have to sit down periodically to wait for the pain to ebb. I’m 75 this year.