Gout
 

Man, that's a BAD word. I think I had a case of it this year. it wasn't bad, It never stopped me from refereeing, but it was uncomfortable.

It has flaired up twice on me this season.

Here's what I know, if you know more, help out other officials before they get it.

Avoid organ meats, like Liver, I am one of those guys who love liver....no more.

Avoid soy beans and high protein meats, spinach, mushrooms, cauliflower, dried beans, anchovies, sardines, roe (fish eggs), herring, mussels, codfish, scallops, trout, haddock and gravy.
Oh and many of you are going to hate this one, BEER. Funny, I have never had a beer. Never drank any beer at all. I know that makes me a freak, but it's true.

Part of the problem with gout is that I have stage 3 kidney disease. I am 6'2" 215 pounds. I am 54 years old, healthy as an ox. I climb a ladder almost every day for my job. I am never sick.

I don't feel bad at all. But things happen for a reason. I accept this. Maybe this is God's way of telling me something, but what I am telling you all is see a doctor if you feel bad. I had a very good friend die at the age of 56 from colon cancer.

I have had 2 colon exams, they suck, but I am clean. Get your test done, they call it the silent killer for a reason. My friend was never sick either, until he was almost dead. Once he was diagnosed, he lived less than 6 months.

This may not be a pleasant thread, but it could save your life and give you more time with your family.

Are you certain it was gout? I believe I had it a couple of times, but never went to the doctor to confirm. I could walk, carefully, but could not put any weight on the ball of my foot. No way could I have officiated, but as long as I sat still I was ok. On the other hand, I've talked to others who had it, and said it hurt BAD ALL THE TIME. One guy said he could not stand for the sheet on his bed to touch his foot.

also on those things to avoid. Some of them are good for you with Vitamin D and K.
high protein meats, spinach, mushrooms, cauliflower, dried beans, anchovies, sardines, roe (fish eggs), herring, mussels, codfish, scallops, trout, haddock and gravy.

I think that how bad it is depends on your Uric acid levels. Mine have not been that elevated. The better I eat ( avoiding those foods ) the better my feet feel. Having the gaot, has told me that I have the stage 3 kidney disease, that's my point here, if you have a symptom, see a doctor, it could be worse than you think, and you are not less of a man for going to a doctor when you feel bad.

Over 50, A Colonoscopy Every Ten Years ...
 

Now lets not go scaring people. I don't think that they use a vacuum to suck out the polyps. I believe that they snip them and pull them out with a snare device attached to the scope.

My ex and I use to have our colonoscopies done at the same time. What fun date. I carry wallet sized photos of my polyps to show all my friends. If you guys want, I can scan them, flickr them, and post them on the Forum. I've been told that I have a very handsome colon. It will just take me a few minutes. No problem. Any takers?

I've had 3 colonoscopies. GI issues accompanied with polyps in the first one put me on the "every 5 years" path. Until this time, now I was told that based on this past one, I can wait until I'm 50. So when I'm 50, I'll have my 4th one.

Not a bad procedure unless they don't give you enough of the "make you forget" drug and you remember every little turn of the scope, as happened to me. Last time, I had them put me out.

For gout, I keep a supply of Indocin handy. I get probably an attack a year. It will take you from being able to run with 18 year olds to practically speaking, crippled.

Beer can be a contributor to higher levels of uric acid so you have to watch what you mix. Avoid certain types of seafood (google it). It's taken me a while but I have been able to track back eating X and then having a few brews to attacks. It can come on that quick.

I also got Pseudogout in the knee once. Had to get it drained / get a cort shot to get past it.

Gout is no joke.

I had some foot issues last year that resembled gout. I was really concerned about this, as I know that gout is no joke. Turns out, I was merely suffering from what my doctor described as "clutch toe/foot" -- I had just bought a stick shift car with a heavy clutch pedal and since I hadn't driven a stick shift in a few years, my foot was unaccustomed to that pressure. It was serious pain, though -- I couldn't put a sheet over my foot for a week or two and really thought it was gout -- my doctor was pretty darned sure it wasn't, although from what he said, no test really eliminates it.

I have a friend with gout and I truly sympathize. I can tell the pain he's in and when he has an attack, he can't referee.

Is That Anything Like Clutch Cargo ???
 

http://thm-a01.yimg.com/nimage/b6e23dd77fd7c092

Hey. If I didn't do it, you know that Mark Padgett would have done it. I'm pretty sure that he's old enough to remember the show.

Is that Paddlefoot on the left?

I have a friend who cannot resist venison. With deer season right before basketball season, he often got off to a late start to his season due to gout brought on by eating too much deer meat.

I have had gout since I was about 25. I’m now 47. I used to get debilitating pain in my big toe mostly, but also in other joints… knee, elbow, wrist, and fingers. The pain was incredible and basically prevented me from doing anything athletic when I had attacks. About 5 years ago I went to the doc and he diagnosed me with gout and gave me allopurinol. It took about 6 months before it finally started working, but I haven’t had an attack since.
Also, I eat a very high protein diet and a ton of vegetables. The doc told me that diet doesn’t affect gout really very much at all. He said it is mostly hereditary. I do have gout in my family.

If you do have gout, go to the doc. Don’t put it off like I did. I don’t know if allopurinol is for everyone, but it changed my life.

asparagus is a guaranteed bad couple of days for me.

I had my first attack back in the fall of 2007, went to the doctor after a couple of days of being crippled. I laughed in a co-worker's face when she suggested it might be gout; I thought I'd broken my toe somehow.
I had to go back and tell her she was right.

I've had about three or four attacks since then, and have learned to recognize the symptoms before they get too bad. I'm a steak guy, so I have to be careful not to eat it too often. My attacks have been brought on by physical trauma to the foot, though. Sudden sprints for example.

The other thing is, and this is going to sound crazy to some of you but it works like medicine for me. If I feel the symptoms coming, I eat dark cherries and it works in the same time frame as the medicine I was prescribed on my first attack.

A year and a half ago we were in CA and I had an attack the day we went to Disneyland. We stopped and bought some dark cherries on the way into DL and I ate about half a pound of them. By mid-afternoon, after having walked for a few hours, I was fine. As I noted though, I've learned to recognize the stiffness that hits the night before, and if I have a couple servings of cherries I have avoided the attacks.

I had heard cherry juice was good for treatment. Tried it and it didn't work for me. Tasted so nasty I said I'd almost rather have gout. I read specifically that one shouldn't take medication (I assume it was that drug someone mentioned earlier) only during an outbreak, but I bummed a couple and did it anyway and it worked like a charm. Pain went away totally.