My Biggest Problem

I stubbed my toe tonight sliding into second base at our softball game.  As of right now, my foot really hurts.  This is a normal occurrence for me.  Even though I'm only 24 years old(25 in 2 months woo woo), I am an over producer of uric acid.  What does this mean you might ask?  Well...it means I have gout.  I was diagnosed at age 16 on this very day 8 years ago.  I was told by Dr. Rufaa Almhisky after 3 hours of pain and bloodwork that I had the gout.  Her reaction when the blood work and test results finally came back, "You're not going to believe this, but you have gout.  You're the youngest person ever diagnosed in this hospital with it."  My reaction: "What is gout?"  Well as I said earlier I am a over producer of uric acid.(the build up of gout)  What happens, is when I eat too many foods that are high in purines/uric acid it adds to what I've already produced and then crystalizes in my joints(usually in big toe and around the ankle) leaving no room for my bones or muscles to move.  To say its painful is an understatement.  I was told by my pediatrician(my favorite doctor) Dr. Frank Wilburn that the three most painful things a human being can go through are in order Child Birth, Appendicitis(Had it on Spring Break of 06') and Gout.(Thank the good lord that I won't have to do number 1) It is a weird pain though.  For instance: I would rather drop a book on my foot when I have gout than drag a sheet across it.  To explain what the regular pain is: It feels like when you get one of your limbs slammed in a car door...except the pain is constant.  This has drastically hampered my athletic career.  The worst foods that are the highest in purines/uric acid are: Alcohol, Pork and other red meats and proteins.  But there are weird things on the list of stuff I need to be careful with too such as: coconut, asparagus and black olives.  KNOCK ON WOOD...I haven't had a major gout flareup in over a year and a half.  I've been on a new preventative medicine for 2 years now and it seems to work good.  2 horse pills every morning though.  Also folks, don't be just too comfortable eating whatever you want.  Anyone can have an acute flareup of gout.  I dare you to drink 3 beers, eat 5 pieces of pork tenderloin, a helping of asparagus and put italian dressing all over it for dinner.  I bet you'd be stove up(great phrase old people use) the following morning.  No Good, Bad and Ugly or link tonight cause this was just kind of a story I thought about when I sat down at the computer.

Thanks for reading and watch what you eat...you'll never know if the gout might get you.
McKinley