Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hmm.. I read somewhere that while sleeping, the drop in our body temp and the slight increase in blood acidity both promote uric acid crystals to form which is the part of the reason “gout attacks” happen at night (https://www.arthritis-health.com/blog/gout-attacks-strike-mostly-night).
But to your point, my foot does look and feel more swelled in the middle of the night. At this point, I don’t know how to quantify how much more or even if it is serious. Presumably, any swelling is serious but there isn’t much I can do about it until I finish my current course of prednisone (3 more days). I’ll take your advice though and bring it up with my doc.
Sorry to bombard with questions but I am doing my best to learn from other’s experiences so one more thing regarding activity during the day – in your experience / to your knowledge, does the foot swell more at night if the person is more active and gutting it out during the day? Also, icing my foot when it is more swollen a good idea?
Thanks for the reply.
Is there a reason that the pain is so pronounced at night? Is it the timing of the medication or is it something else? Right now (3pm), I don’t feel anything wrong with my foot at all when I am sitting down. Yet at 3am, it feels like someone took a hammer to my toe.
Thanks for the reply. By taking charge, what I mean is being more insistent in certain things such as seeing a rheumatologist or insisting on a test that gives more definitive answers.
Thanks for your reply.
As to #1, its not a deal breaker but if the forum has the feature, I want to take advantage. I’m sure this isn’t going to be the last time I post here (sadly). If you have other useful tips, please go ahead.
I have been to a GP (family medicine person so not a specialist). My diagnosis was “clinical” which I suppose means based on what they saw and what I told them during my visit. They did do a blood draw but I am not sure if those results definitively point to gout, only that the uric acid levels are higher than the “standard” range. Blood test results showed 7.5 mg/dL uric acid levels.
I’m kind of used to taking charge of these chronic issues – family doctors carry huge case loads so I can’t imagine they want to do more than get patients in and out. Is what I have from my family doctor sufficient or do I need to ask them to stick a needle in the joint for a more definitive diagnosis?
Also, what is this thing about East Asians and allopurinol? I am Filipino. Do I need to do some extra due-diligence before going with allopurinol? My dad has gout and says he was prescribed allopurinol without too much fuss.
As someone who is new to gout, I am having difficulty differentiating the positions of each person on this thread. So far as I can tell, both are advocating drinking lots of water (and perhaps doing way with alcohol, drinks that are diuretics and drinks that are sweetened with fructose). Is the point of contention about whether to start uric acid treatment sooner vs. later? If so, what is the “medical standard of care”?