The Results

Tuesday, September 25, 2007; 11:41 pm by Not Suzi.

Well, I went back to the doctor last Friday for my test results and to review my medication. Everything came back normal except my uric acids were high. So, the diagnosis is gout. What is so strange is that I didn’t have the main symptom (achy big toe) and it is a disease that is usually found in older men, typically of African-American decent. Gout is a form of arthritis that is hereditary (my grandma had it) where your body produces too much uric acid breaking down the purines in food. Alcohol and animal protein seems to aggravate the condition.

I decided I didn’t want any more medications (other than an anti-inflammatory for pain) and I would try to manage it with dietary changes. This means cutting down the amount of meat I consume, especially red meat, and very little alcohol. I hardly drink anyway, maybe a beer or two a month, because I always felt so badly from it. Terrible body aches the next day from just a drink or two. So I guess having gout makes sense if I react this way to alcohol. I always thought it was due to the metabolizing of the alcohol and the insulin release. But, according to the bloodwork, all that is fine.

I get re-evaluated in 3 months and if my uric acid levels have not gone down then I will consider a short-term dose of allopurinol. He did up the intake of my fibromyalgia med (the anti-depressant) to twice a day. So far, I’ve been lucky that I’ve not had any side effects from that. I am still tired off and on throughout the day but I’m not surprised since both my medications can cause drowsiness. I’m slowly getting used to it and it doesn’t bother me quite as much as it did last week. However, one strange side effect I have noticed is that my left pinky finger and part of my ring finger feels kinda numb and tingly. I’m not sure if this is from the medicine or because I’ve spent so much time on the computer due to my classwork, and I now have a nerve impingement in my neck/shoulder that is causing this feeling. I keep hoping it will get better on its own but I plan on getting a deep tissue massage to try to help it along and maybe visit a chiropractor as well. Otherwise, it’s back to my doc who I don’t think can really do much except run more tests.

Because I’ve been eating better these last two weeks I have lost about 10 lbs. I’ve given up sugar and the foods I know I’m sensitive to as well as reduced my simple carb intake. Since it now looks like I’m having to limit my meat as well, I’ve added in a lot more veggies and some complex carbs. Lomee introduced me to Tofutti “cream cheese” and I love it on rye crackers with cucumber slices and dill. It’s my new lunchtime meal. So yummy, and it really does taste like cream cheese.

I need to investigate sources of vegetable protein and increase my intake of that since animal protein is limited to 1-2x’s a week. I’ve looked into eating raw foods but I don’t think I’d like the effort and commitment it would take to maintain that lifestyle. I am reading about eating whole foods and it is much of what I do now and how I enjoy eating anyway. It fits in well with my life and food limitations and is very simple to follow. Not to mention that it is very nutritious as well. Lomee also eats this way much of the time too. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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