Posted by fiddlepogo on Thursday, January 22, 2009
When I started feeling the pain, I did some googling.
Even though it didn't look like it at first, I suspected gout because my dad had it, and I have a couple of other risk factors for it.
What I didn't see was redness and swelling at first, but that showed up the next day. I'd never had a gout attack before, so I wasn't that up on it.
Boy, did it hurt!
I took a couple of ibuprofen yesterday, and today the swelling is down, and most of the pain and tenderness is gone. The hand is still a bit red, and it's still a bit swollen since you can't see the veins near the wrist like you normally can.
I can type and play fiddle normally, though.
Good thing- I have a gig this afternoon, and I got really close to cancelling it!
However, I think I may stick to fiddle and banjo.
bj Says:
Thursday, January 22, 2009 @2:05:43 PM
I'd still take it easy for a couple few days. It's possible it's not gout. And if it's another sort of issue, and something else causing the inflammation, you need to deal with the underlying cause.
Rene Says:
Thursday, January 22, 2009 @4:04:56 PM
Gout usually hits the feet but certainly could be your problem. My daughter suffered something similar in a leg and, kept getting more painful, then swelled and was red, turned out they felt it was a blood clot. Don't mean to scare you but want to make you aware of a couple possibilities. If it's gout you need to start drinking cherry juice or eating cherries.
Hope all goes well.
fiddlepogo Says:
Thursday, January 22, 2009 @11:05:22 PM
Rene, I wish I could eat cherries. Allergies. Along with allergies to a bunch of other things.. that's one of the reasons my diet is so poor.
Yeah, I know it's supposed to start in the big toe.
But it's a form of arthritis, and arthritis is supposed to hit joints that have had a lot of stress, and what with playing fiddle or guitar for at least an hour most days, plus keyboard, it is a place that gets stressed.
Plus wrists are one of the sites on the body that it does hit.
BJ, I had 3 foods on the high risk list for gout the week before the attack,
and I had been getting dehydrated, another risk factor.
Plus I had been staying up too late posting here, and not getting nearly enough exercise- the spare tire has gotten too big, and yeah, excess weight
is another risk factor for gout.
Couldn't take it easy today- paying gig and a practice... and laundry.
I'm tired, but the hand behaved normally during all of that.
And the swelling has gone down further- I can see the veins in the back of the hand near the wrist again now.
And once the redness and swelling kicked in, the symptoms matched VERY well.
Another paying gig tomorrow (one hour), but maybe I'll skip the bluegrass jam Saturday...
Rene Says:
Friday, January 23, 2009 @4:41:15 AM
Lots of water...my brother-in-law is a truck driver and we went through this about a month ago with him. In looking for info on gout I did find that LOTS of water was a big one, also epsom salts in the bath (don't know why). This seemed to help to get him back on track. Good luck
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