Very active but residual pain

[M. franklin]

I’m under 40, drink too much but exercise regularly. I had one bad attack a year ago. My first one. Since then my toe has been very mildly sore. I play basketball, lift, run, etc. But I’m worried why the mild pain doesn’t go away completely. I’ve heard of crystals getting stuck in the joints. Any ideas to get the residual pain to go away. It’s tolerable, obviously since I am still very active. But it does impede my full speed abilities in Bball. Any help is appreciated.

[Keith Taylor]

My first reaction is: Why do you think it’s gout?

Have you definitely had a gout diagnosis? If so, your uric acid level is vital to understanding if gout is the cause of your recent pain.

I strongly recommend you login before you post. If you have difficulty doing so, please drop me a line in the Using GoutPal forum – https://gout-pal.com/gout-pal-forum/gouty/tech-stuff/#new-post – or open a support ticket at https://goutpal.freshdesk.com/support/tickets/new
When you login, you get a welcome page that contains your Personal Gout Profile. That’s the place to store all your personal gout facts, and important questions. Use it to record your uric acid test results. They are vital to understanding your gout symptoms before, during, and after treatment.

I’ve put complete explanations of all aspects of gout pain in my Gout Guidelines. The trouble is, there are hundreds of different factors that affect gout pain. If you can explain more about your gout history, including any treatment, I’ll be able to give you the personal help you need.

This might take a bit of effort, as we have 2 other things to consider here.

I’ve noticed that when I drink too much, I get stiff and sore. This also happens to a friend who doesn’t have gout. We worked out that it is frequency related. If we drank too much every day, we got sore. However, if we had days off, the pain and stiffness went. I’ve now applied this to my life, and I never drink on more than 2 consecutive days.

Your other potential complication is exercise. Exercise is good for gout, but stress is bad for joints and ligaments that have been weakened by uric acid crystals. We really need that uric acid test result history to assess how likely it is that the stress of basketball might be causing your current discomfort.

Please keep logging in and posting, M. franklin. Together, we will get to the bottom of this.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by Keith Taylor (GoutPal Admin). Reason: Helpdesk moved from Keith Taylor to GoutPal

[M. Franklin]

Hello,

I didn’t realize I wasn’t logged in. And now I am locked out after activating. I’ll try tomorrow.

So my first experience with what my doc said was gout happened in a way that isn’t what everyone describes. My left big toe was sore during the day. I went to eat with my wife and it was just a sore feeling. I massaged it that night and woke up more sore. I had therapy for a hamstring issue (Bball injury) and the therapist massaged it as well. Never before that was it red or swollen. After her massage work it was red and swollen. I went to the doc and got a uric acid test. It was considered at risk. I got x Rays to be sure it wasn’t a fracture. It was fine and went away on its own. Since then I’ve had some extra soreness, but nothing like waking up and it was flared up. Just sore to walk, had to walk on the side of my foot. After a day or two it was gone. I play basketball and run. There is still soreness there, I can just feel something at wrong angles. But it’s not so much that I can’t be active. I just got another test this week and it came back 7.4. I drank heavy the day before. I wanted to see it at its highest and then have a goal to reduce drinking to a couple nights per week. I love bourbon, and I’m a very good drinker. That is, I don’t get trashed, I can sustain drinking over long periods without overdoing it in a short time. Probably not a good trait for uric acid levels. I plan to see if reducing intake to a couple nights and drinking wine one of the nights will help. I’m not obese. I can stand to lose some weight. I lost 30 lbs a couple years ago and have kept it off. It was gradually done, not a crash diet. I have never had a fluid sample taken. I did have bad pain in the top of my foot Friday. It was gone by late Saturday.

So what confuses me is the pain areas are consistent with gout. The uric acid seems high. It not going away completely seems like gout. Just how the pain starts and feels doesn’t seem consistent with descriptions I’ve read about gout. Thoughts?

Thanks

[Keith Taylor]

Sorry you are having problems logging in. It’s because you used your email rather than your user name. Your username is mcarey1 and I’m pleased to see you’ve started your Gout Profile at @mcarey1. I notice you use a Google email address, so you should be able to login by clicking the Google icon instead of typing in username and password. I’m really sorry to you and anyone else who is having trouble with logging in. I’ve added a little Support tab which I hope will help anyone who is stuck with technical issues, though I’m still perfecting it.

Thanks for the extra information.

The main thing about gout pain, is it’s different for everybody. Sure, there are some common symptoms, but they might not affect you. For instance, I’ve never had gout in my big toe.

Gout pain is a reaction to uric acid crystals. These have built up over many years. They were growing before you had your first attack last year, but it takes a while to notice them. Some people go for many years without noticing gout. Eventually, huge lumps of uric acid crystals make their presence felt in other ways. I’ve referred to this as painless gout, and it can get quite horrific.

You have your own reaction to the crystals. Because you are active, it is likely that the dead immune cells that mask uric acid crystals are constantly shedding. Coupled with new crystals growing, you’ve probably got enough inflammation to maintain continuous low-level residual pain.

I hope this explanation is clear? If it isn’t, please ask.

If it sounds like a reasonable explanation, the next question is what do you want to do about it?

If you want lifestyle changes, I need to know much more detail about your height, weight, and food intake, as well as the alcohol. Managing gout through lifestyle changes is all about healthy balance of everything you eat and drink, compared to your activity levels. Just like gout pain, diet is personal. There are a few common rules, but your plan has to be built around you.

If you want meds, then I can help you get the right treatment plan from your doctor. Again, it has to be what suits you, within the rules.

Whatever questions you have, please feel free to post them anytime. Once your first post as a logged in member is approved, all your posts will get accepted immediately. Contributing to other threads, with questions, opinions, or experiences, is a great way to learn what is most important to you – then we can start putting it right. 🙂

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