OK, I asked before and I'm gonna ask again, which of you has the Voodoo doll and is torturing me?
After last weeks, back, neck, and hip issues I awoke nice and early this moring to throbbing pain in both big toes and all along the insides of both feet. Never had gout before, but that it what it seems to act like. Ibuprofen has helped a little. I hope this is not yet another ailement that is going to inflict pain for the rest of my days.
Get it checked and assessed asap Buck.
If it's gout, it can be treated, but will re-occur. If it's worse, it could be the beginning of Rheumatoid Arthritis, which makes gout look like a friendly cousin!
Despite claims of a cure for RA being close, and a number of very expensive 'wonder drugs' being developed in recent years, there is no known, full cure, for RA at the moment. It's effects are horrendous, painful to the extreme, mainly 24 hours per day, ten days per week (lack of sleep due to pain and discomfort extend things to a 10-day week!), it's on-going and progressive - the latter meaning it gets worse with time.
I used to be extremely fit and healthy,
much more so than the average 46 year old, when first diagnosed with possible gout. It was then found that it was actually RA, which has spread over the years until now, at 62 years old, both knees are totally locked and swollen, giving a very bent legged stance, my ankles are totally shot, my left hand is like a stiff claw, and I have only about 60 to 70% use of some fingers on the right hand.
This means that day to day activities are extremely restricted, including walking and even standing, both of which are painful, and things like playing the guitar, skiing, parachuting or even working on the car, are just memories.
I now have to take painkillers regularly each day, and two different 'control' drugs, one weekly, as tablets, the other every two weeks as an injection, and have a monthly blood test to monitor the effects of these.
So, from an extremely fit individual, I have now gone to a virtual cripple, all due to a stupid immune system disease that is not yet fully understood.
Bottom line - get it checked out NOW!
The sooner it's caught, the sooner the right medication (for life) can be introduced. The disease will probably still win in the end, but at least you'll have a better quality of life, and less pain, before reaching your abbreviated dottage.