what are you eating? how much water are you drinking? do you have a lot of stress?

I haven't been perfect diet wise but I am trying to stay away from potential triggers, or things that will make things worse. Little if any diet sodas. One cup max of coffee per day. Trying to stay away from red meat, etc.

I do better drinking water during the week while I am at work then during the weekends while at home. I try to drink at least 100 oz of water per day.

I would say stress at this point is medium, but its been that way for a while.

There's been a slow improvement each day, it just seems to be taking much longer than I'd expected. Things were going good and then I had an acute soreness near my two small toes that crept up out of nowhere. Now that is subsiding as well but there is still an ache and pain if I try to put full weight on my foot.

I'm totally new at this online interaction so bear with me. I was just diagnosed today with gout. To be honest, this pain, burning, swelling, needles, began about 5 or 6 weeks ago. I noticed it, then I NOTICED it, then I REALLY NOTICED IT! I was just bearing it, having no clue what it was but noticing it was getting worse and worse and was continuous.

Today I had to go to the doctor for my normal 3 month checkup and prescription refills so I asked him about this pain in my right toe that extends down into my arch and even sometimes into my ankle. He gently squeezed that joint on my toe and I yelled out loud. I was so embarrassed. He told me I had gout. Gout? What the hell it gout? At first he was going to give me a script for something for the gout but then as I was leaving, he just said to try 800 mg. of ibuprofen.

Tonight, because this pain has been so extended and so severe, I decided to do some research on my own. That's when I found all of you on this site. I also read some other information on Gout.com. I was shocked to find out how serious this is and can be. I mean, my doctor just acted like all I had was a headache or a cold. He didn't tell me how to help ease the pain or how it can cause permanent joint damage. He didn't explain to me that there were such things as "attacks." I thought that this pain just is always going to be there and all I can do is relieve the pain (hopefully). I'm also confused because I don't eat or drink any of the things mentioned that can trigger these attacks. I have been having some severe pain in my pancreas for years but because I no longer have insurance, I couldn't pursue further investigation into its cause. All they said was that they had found an abnormality in one of the bile ducts. So I just eat only certain things that are really light like cereal, toast, yogurt (occasionally), and once in a while something for dinner which usually consists of chicken, potatoes or cheese and fruit. I have been going through menopause for the past 5 years and wondering if its ever going to end and I'm about 30 pounds overweight. I don't drink alcohol, smoke, or do drugs. Yet here I am feeling like I went from not having gout right to severe and frequent attacks. Two weeks ago, even though it hurt a lot, I could still wear high heels but today, no way! It's just gotten worse over the past 6 weeks. Is it going to subside?

I just feel blind sided by this and dropped off by the side of the road by my doctor. I would appreciate any input and how this gout thing works.