I am 33, have had gout for about 3.5 years that I know of. Might of had it for 5-6 years if I think back to times when my feet / toes were sore after long days on them.


1st let me say that doctors are tools. The 1st time I was diagnosed with this the doctor printed something directly off of the internet for me to read. Simple, here ya go, have a nice day, take this medicine kind of answer. The next doctor saw that there was something more here and sent me for therapy in thought that it may have been an injury that never healed properly. Next I went through a chain of specialists including a podiotrist and ruematologist (sp?). I was diagnosed for several things that never stuck. The only real one that they all concluded on was gout but could never explain the constant pain that I had even with treatment. Had an mri and several blood tests but never a test of the fluid in the joint affected (my right ankle). Ua levels in blood always come back elevated but in the normal range. I don't remember the numbers but that is what I was told. I think that it is gout and maybe something else. Maybe even damage to the joint though xrays and the mri have showed up fine except for the excessive fluid that forms in my ankle.


Took colchicine for 1 year. Seemed to help out but I always have a soreness / off pain in my right ankle. It is more of an uncomfortable annoying pain than a painful one if that makes any sense. I take indocin for attacks but probably don't take it long enough. As soon as I feel it gone I stop and I hear that you should go 7-10 days no matter what. Same with colchicine I take it when I feal an attack coming on (3 on day 1, 2 on day 2, and 1 a day for a couple of weeks). I have been trying the bs but have not been measuring any ua levels and don't know that I have been taking it steadily enough. I was doing 1/2 teaspoon in the am and very rarely 1/2 in the afternoon. I still need to try this more and keep up with it for a better assesment.


Now for my question. Can gout be initiated by activity or heavy use of the joint that later is affected? My experience is yes but is this really 100% gout since I have soreness and discomfort in that joint even when I don't feal an attack? Could an attack untreated have caused much bigger damage to this joint? Has anyone ever had surgery to correct this?


Lastly, is is possible that I have crystals that have found a nice home to live in my ankle and can I evict them? :? If so how? I understand that alklizing the blood will help this but is there a faster way?


This really stinks that medical science can do all that it can in certain areas and yet some diseases and problems are so low on the radar screen of interest to fix them. Makes sense though as they can make more money off of drugs and doctor visits for ilnesses that are not life threatening.


I wanted to punch the ruematologist square in the face when he said it was not about fixing the problem rather it was about managing the pain. I was very ready to give him some pain to manage. Sorry for the violent outbreak there, I just want the pain to stop - it is not manageable until it is gone.


Brian