New to gout, with major left ankle and foot pain

[TONY C]

I had a gout attack now into my 5th day, left ankle, and foot, streaming to my small two outer toes. Cannot really walk. I’m assuming this is gout, haven’t been to a doctor.

Fasted for 2 days, am drinking apple cider vinegar, lots of water, hot baths, cold ice press, yoga asanas, pain has gone down a bit, but basically the same.

Do I need to see a doctor? I don’t have one I can trust. In this case, should I go to ER, where there is more quality input and evaluation?

I live a natural lifestyle but have been drinking wine and beer lately, going to sauna daily. I may have had a gout attack about a year ago, with periodic sharp pains in my toes, and upper foot, but didn’t make the connection until this happened so severely, and since I came upon your Site.

I hate meds, and mostly like natural remedies because of the absence of side effects, and mostly have healed issues without meds in the past.

Advise please, spread the wisdom.

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You need more than good shoes to walk with gout

[nobody]

Prolonged fasting is not recommended if you have gout. You want to be careful what you eat but you need to eat. Else you’ll effectively be eating an unbalanced diet consisting of animal fat (yours).

I guess ERs might be set up differently where you live but here they aren’t set up to deal with chronic conditions. And they’re very expensive (even if you’re not paying, someone is). They can give you meds for pain (not natural ones) and test you for injuries and infection. That’s about it. While they are unlikely to find anything, it’s of course safer to go to the ER than not to see any doctor.
They can of course also test your blood. And if you suspect gout you shoul get a blood test. It’s very important. You don’t have to get it right now (the result may be more accurate if you waited until the pain has gone away) and it would probably be cheaper if you got that test done outside of an ER.

Any doctor’s office can do a blood test or tell you where you can get one.
But the medical specialty dealing with gout is called rheumatology.
And if the diagnosis is uncertain, when you are having an attack you might want to see a specialized radiologist for an ultrasound and (if possible) joint fluid test. Rheumatologists know who the skilled radiologists are when it comes to gout.
None of this will force you to take meds, only help you understand what’s going on which would allow you to change your diet and pick the right natural remedies.
I have to say the meds work very well though. You could test small doses for side effects before writing them off.

Even if you’re only willing to take natural remedies, there are natural anti-inflammatories you could use to get relief. Be careful about the dosing though! Effective natural remedies have side effects and can potentially be deadly.

If you had many painful episodes you think might have been gout, not getting treatment for the root cause would be massively unwise.
Sure, the pain eventually goes away on its own. But it also comes back. It slowly destroys your joints while the underlying problem is more likely than not to get worse over time. And it might be damaging more than just your joints.

[TONY C]

Thank you for your reply. Is it advisable to attempt to walk on my ankle when I am experiencing pain. I am in my 6th day of the attack, and when I put shoes on, it assists nominally. I want to make sure I am not compounding the issue. Much appreciated for any advise.

[Keith Taylor]

If your only pain is inflammation from gout, then it will resolve quicker with gentle exercise.

As far as your main topic goes, I can’t help much without knowing your uric acid level. Do you have any recent blood test results?

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Let’s learn about your gout together. Then I can help you control it.

[Frank Huang]

Hi Tony,

This morning I still read your thread while I’m very worried my situation of the first gout attack. At that time, my joint just a little bit behind my first toe on the right foot was swelled too bigger and it was my 5th day under attack.But now the swelled has disappear dramatically and I can begin to walk as normal. May be it’s time to be like that. May be it is because of that I have admitted Black Cherry Concentrate Capsules 3 times and Ibuprofen as pain and inflammation killer. I don’t know what your situation now, but I think if you still suffer painful of gout attacks may be you’d like to know what was happening in my situation and find it helpful. And don’t try to walk normally while you joint is swelled and do as what the signal of body tell you. You could make the situation worse.

Sorry for poor English, I’m not native English speaker.

Best Regards,
Frank Huang

[TONY C]

Thank you Frank. I appreciate your advice and concern.

[TONY C]

Keith, I have not had a blood test done recently, so I have no manner in which to know of my uric acid levels. I will endeavor in the next couple weeks to go to a doctor. My insurance plan here in LA has put me with a horrible doctor, so I actually don’t even want to see him. I’m working to navigate around that. I started doing yoga asanas on the roof at my building in the sun, and massaging the ankle, hot baths, and I’m now into my 10th day and its making a bit of progress. Thank you for your response. Much appreciated.

[Keith Taylor]

Well, Tony, there are things you can do to relieve gout pain. But, it will resolve naturally anyway, as I think you are experiencing now.

The biggest problem is that it will keep coming back until you can control uric acid down to a safe level. Also, it gets worse each time. Because uric acid crystals are forming even on days that you feel no pain. So, we really need uric acid test results to start. Are walk-in labs a possibility? Sorry, but you’ll have to explain the cost implications to me, as I’m UK-based.

[Author]

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