Gout?!
So Sunday morning I woke up with a sharp pain in the joint connecting my big toe with my ankle. I haven't been doing any heavy lifting or hard exercise, just walking around as usual. This is the second time this has happened. Last semester I had a similar pain and the doctor said "it's probably just tendonitis". I spent about a week in a big plastic walking boot. This time I KNOW I didn't pull a tendon. I went to sleep fine and woke up in agony. My dad started getting gout attacks when he was in his mid-forties and had to walk with a cane the first time he got it. I'm only in my mid-twenties--NOT a good sign--and I WISH I had a cane. Limping around is not comfortable. I was trying to figure out what I had eaten to have caused it--I don't eat much red meat, which is the usual culprit--but then I read that chickpeas (and most legumes, for that matter) are high in purines and can cause gout. Oh dear...I refer to my post on April 22:
So after ditching the panel my colleague and I had lunch at a nearby falafel restaurant that I have become increasingly addicted to. Seriously, I think that my chickpea consumption has spiked like 500% since this restaurant opened. I've probably eaten more chickpeas in the form of falafel and hummus in the past month than I did all last semester. I was very sad to learn that falafels are not very healthy, but I have contented myself with their vegetarian plate of hummus, baba ghanouj, pita, and salad, with two falafel balls thrown in for good measure. Yummy!
So much for my feeble attempt at healthy eating. I've heard that eating cherries is good to reduce the inflammation but unfortunately I am allergic to raw cherries. Cherry juice is ok, on the other hand, so I guess tomorrow I will have to limp down to the grocery store and get some.
6 comments:
That sounds terrible! At least when people as you why you are limping you can tell them an interesting story. Well, it sounds interesting to me anyway, I love hearing about weird quirks of the human body.
I thought people normally don't get gout until 70s or so unless you are an alcoholic.
Has grad school driven you to hit the bottle hard?!? Just kidding. Very sorry to hear this, I also have acid reflux, another old person problem.
Take care of yourself.
Haha! I WISH it had been because I had hit the bottle hard, since practically the only thing I drink with any degree of enjoyment is cognac (which, for obvious reasons, is about twice a year). Nope, unfortunately it seems that it's legumes overload. Fortunately things are a lot better now and I'm not limping around so much. Thanks for the concern :-)
If you're prepared to try some alternative remedies, celery seed and devils claw, both herbs, are particularly good for any joint pain. I have suffered joint issues on and off since childhood, as a side-effect of other medication I have been on for years, and this combination is super! Another possibility is stinging nettles, either as tea, or cooked like a vegetable (don't worry, they only sting when fresh). Suplementing with omega 3 and 6 essential fatty acids also helps.
Good Luck finding something that works. I know how debilitating long-term pain can be, but the good news is, the sooner you do something about this, the better it will get.
Tendonitis isn't necessarily the result of a torn tendon...it's an inflamation of the tendon(s), which can be the result of all kinds of things, including repetitive motion, aging, and on-and-off or seasonal exercise regimens.
I've got it in a shoulder, largely from constant use of cross-training cardio equipment intended for people somewhat taller than I am, which apparently caused an "unnatural" and repetitive aggravation of the tendons in my shoulder despite never actually having torn or even pulled them in any noticeable way.
I also got my first gout attack in my twenties although I did not figure that out till I was in my thirties. It is very painful. I have found that cherry juice is good for it. Researching the internet yields some contradictory answers to dealing with this condition but the common threads most of the time is avoid eating shell fish, organ meats (such as hot dogs, baloney, ...) and legumes including chickpeas. As I look back at my eating habits I find that not counting chocolate these are all my favorite foods and I use to eat almost exclusively off that list. I believe that is why my gout problem started so young.
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