My bout with Gout

by jose valero
(Dublin, California, USA)

I do not know how my gout started. I just felt my 2nd toe on the right foot is becoming reddish and swollen. As days wore on, the swelling became red with yellow mark with a red ring around it. More swelling as days passed until I decided to see a doctor at our local Minor Injury Clinic. The doctor said my toe is already infected. My foot is already reddish and swollen She injected an anaesthesia in between my second toe to relieve me of the pain of draining the pus which spread all over my toe by cutting the red ring around with a scalpel. Then she told me she will have a routine bacterial cultured on the pus that has been building around my toe. The final report result was no growth for 72 hours meaning there was no organism that grew on the culture. This is a confirmation that the drainage was from gout (tophi). After the pus was drained, the foot doctor injected an antibiotic and gave me tablets of sulfamethoxazl/tmp**ds800-160 mg to be taken 1 tablet orally 2 times a day for 10 days. After my initial appointment with the doctor, she arranged for me to see a foot specialist or DPM who asked me if there is still a drainage on the blister that has been drained with pus. Since there was none, he bandaged it with an antibiotic and instructed me to soak my right foot on Providone Iodine 10% solution for 10 minutes 2 times a day. He told me to go back to the MIC, who informed me the blister is getting better and there is no need to continue taking the sulfametoxazl/tmp. So I stop taking the said medication after having them for ten days.
Up to this writing, after more than a month my toe is still having some pain and a little bit swollen, but I can already walk without too much pain unlike before when a touch of blanket on my 2nd toe is like a blade cutting my skin.
My primary doctor ordered a lab test for my uric acid and prescribed me an allupurinol for preventive measure taken 2 times a day. By the way, this is my third bout with gout before taking allupurinol, which was the most serious. My lab test for uric acid indicate that I am still in the standard range.