Officially Old!

Published on December 2, 2007 By Gideon MacLeish In Current Events

This weekend I unwittingly got a glimpse of my future, and it ain't pretty.

It started Friday morning, when I had a tightness in my right knee. My right knee is arthritic to begin with, and rain was in the forecast, so I just chalked it up to life's aches and pains.

By Saturday morning, it was clear that it was more than that. The knee had swollen somewhat, and I limped through the day with an Ace bandage wrapped joint. When I came home at night, the pain had worsened, and I could not bear much weight on the knee. I took a hot bath, which restored a little bit of flexibility, and borrowed a cane from my elderly neighbour, figuring I'd limp through as best I could.

This morning, though, that thought was out of my head as I was unable to bear ANY weight on the knee, and it was swollen to the point that it was locked in position. I called my neighbour, who gave me a ride to the ER.

The doctor drained the fluid off of the knee (which restored flexibility, but the knee was more tender once the fluid had drained away) and had it tested. The verdict? Gout. A disease usually associated with older people. I'm not older people yet, am I? I guess so.

So after a trip to WalMart to fetch pills (yeah, I used one of those powered carts...no WAY I was walking through the store in the pain I was in), I'm home and resting. I've done a fair bit of research, and the bummer is, preventing future attacks of gout will mean some fairly big lifestyle changes, but I really don't want to wake up another morning when I can't walk to the bathroom, so...you do what you gotta.

Comments (Page 2)

danielost

on Dec 03, 2007

sorry if that make me think i am better than you. it was not my intention

Gideon MacLeish

on Dec 03, 2007

sorry if that make me think i am better than you. it was not my intention

lol, no...I know what you're saying.

It's just that gout is usually considered an old person's disease. I've had arthritis for many years now, but nothing has ever come close to being crippled up by gout. It's probably made a lifetime vegetarian out of me (meat is one of the biggest triggers for gout), because I'd really, really like my first attack of gout to be my last!

MasonM

on Dec 03, 2007

I've heard good things about glucosamine and chondroiton,

They do help for normal joint problems. I take them for my bum hip and they do really help. I doubt they'd help for gout though as it's a different issue.

I'm seriously wondering if this wasn't my major problem for awhile and it just took this long to build to this point.

Probably. Gout is a type of arthritis.

It's just that gout is usually considered an old person's disease.

Nonsense. It has nothing to do with age and more to do with poor diet.

It's probably made a lifetime vegetarian out of me

There are worse things one could be.

I still eat meat but it is much less a part of my diet these days.

Hang in there and do what you know you should. I feel for ya as the arthritis is getting a better and better hold on me every damn day. Sucks really.

KFC Kickin For Christ

on Dec 03, 2007

Nonsense. It has nothing to do with age and more to do with poor diet.

ya Gid, if I remember correctly it used to be called a rich man's disease in the old days...and it was attributed to diet. The rich man could afford the rich diet and was more prone to gout as a result.

Adventure-Dude

on Dec 04, 2007

I've tried tart cherry juice for inflammation, and it does seem to offer some relief. Don't just eat cherries, though, you won't get enough in your gut to make a difference and they can cause other problems like horrible farting, diarheah, and indigestion.

LOL! that reminds me of Dehydrated apricots. Bad news for the britches!

Gid sorry to hear about that. Sounds like many have given you some good advice and you are on the road to recovery.

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