My Gout Story?
"Where Did This Come From?"

This Is How My Gout Story Sounded From Inside My Head:

"Did I twist my ankle at work? . . . I must have. I don't remember doing it but why else would this hurt so bad? It'll be better tomorrow."

Then the pain woke me up and kept me up. Then my right ankle swelled even more and then it got really red and hot and unbearably painful. If I'd had a gun I would've shot myself. I was out of town and the ride home was hell. A half a bottle of Ibuprofen and a massive amount of ice later, I landed in the Emergency Room.

Hello . . . I'm Bert Middleton. Former Gout Sufferer.

I'm 51 and I've been very active and athletic all my life.

Skiing and mountain biking is an everyday thing here in Colorado . . . gout doesn't fit in very well.

From both sides of my family, my grandfathers had gout. Way back then, there was of course some drinking going on, but I also wonder if how much beans and rice they ate had anything to do with it.

Something else that may have had something to do with it could have been how much good clean water they had and how much really good food they got to eat and how often.

It was back around the Depression. But what is more important to note, there did seem to be some sort of hereditary predisposition.

Is there a history of gout in your family?

Maybe it was injuries and over-exertion in my younger years that brought on the curse but I think it has more to do with the habits I formed along the way.

Skiing, biking, hiking, swimming, running, jumping and who knows what all, everyday, all day long, not drinking enough water, forgetting to eat and what I did eat was probably not always real good for me. Day in and day out. These were the habits I formed. Sound familiar?

Only now there was alcohol and parties and staying up all night, running myself ragged.

Soon it was "ski all day", work in the restaurants at night, and construction work in the summers. And more bad habits. Lots of rich food and wine at night and beer drinking in-between. No breakfast, no lunch, huge dinners and alcohol. Get the picture?

Also a quick note on construction work.

Most construction workers rarely pay attention to the warnings on the labels of paints, glues, sealers, etc. Those things are brain damaging free radical toxins! Just think what a few years (or a lifetime) of that kind of work can do for you . . .

In the beginning the gout attacks didn't happen that often and I was able to knock them down with Ibuprofen. But when I turned 40 and got my first yearly physical, (an annual ritual now), we discovered that I had several problems: an under-active Thyroid, a poorly functioning liver, only one Kidney (we suspect Aliens got it) and . . . Gout.

Interesting huh? All those other things and gout. Is there a connection?

My doctor set out to get me back on track with several medications, among them were Alopurinol and Colchicine for the gout.

How does my gout story compare to yours so far?

High protein and low carbohydrates. My doctor had warned me off of eating a lot of beef and shellfish but since I had worked in a lot of nice restaurants, I was in the habit of eating really well.

So an inconsistent diet of high proteins, no medication, lots of cherry juice and a very active social life (I have been in sales and marketing for a long time now, taking clients out to lunches and dinners all the time), mysteriously these "lumps" appeared on my toes and fingers. Tophi. Are you scared yet?

A few surgeries later I was back on the medications and off to the nutritionist.

At the direction of the clinical nutritionist I got several hundred dollars worth of blood tests done, urine analysis, and a 14 page questionnaire, all of which he ran through a state of the art piece of software that told us what foods were "therapeutic" for me, which ones were "neutral" and what foods I should "avoid". There was very little that I could actually eat according to this program but it was like a whole new career trying to stick with it . . . and any kind of beans were off limits.

But that was not the most enlightening part of the whole exercise. The program also told me what quantities of food I should eat and also how often.

Then it struck me and it was soon confirmed by my rheumatologist: it's not only what you eat, but how much and how often. And that brings us back to . . . Habits.

What did I do? I started changing my habits. And you know what they say about habits? They die hard and mine are no different.

Maybe your gout story and my gout story have a lot in common or maybe they don't, but the one thing I'm pretty sure of, you want to steer clear of that intense pain you and I both know so well.

This is what I wanted you to know about:

My biggest break-through came when I accidentally learned about free radicals and how antioxidants prevent and repair them. There is a lot more more to it but it has everything to do with eliminating gout . . . Your Gout. Let me tell you more about it.

. . . That's My Gout Story
And I'm Stickin' To It . . .

What about you? How did Gout start happening in your life? What's it like when you start to feel it come on? What goes through your head?

What have you done about it? What are you going to do about it?

Check Out All The Other Stories . . . .

Click below to see what everyone else has had to say . . .

Top of My Gout Story

Back to HomePage