When in Doubt and You Think It Might Be Gout, See Your Primary Care Doc

Drink wine and have the gout, drink none, and have the gout.

Doctor Thomas Cogan (1545-1607), the Haven of Health (1584)

August 5, 2012

My right middle finger joint

Was the painful  flash point

It turned fiery red

It sent me to bed

It hurt like hell

I watched it swell

To three times its normal size

The pain knew no compromise

It pulsated and throbbed

Three nights’ sleep it robbed

I tried the anti-inflammatories

I stopped short of suppositories

I learned the old story

So old now it’s hoary

He who treats himself makes this admission

He has nothing but  a fool for a physician

Finally I went to the wise old doc

He asked if in the past I had gout

Yes, I said, in the toe but not the finger

Well, he said you’ve got it in the digit now

Stay off wine and meat from bull and cow

If those are not the problem, relax
Here are  a few simple hard  facts.

When you' ve got the gout,

The gout will always be about

It is a sleeping metabolic giant,
\
That  may awake in an articular riot

For distal joints it has s proclivity

To show it's capable of more activity

Stay on your uric acid lowering allopurinol

But it won’t help this bout of gout at all

The doc did not let the pain of this fool linger

In that misshapen, swollen,  throbbing finger

He presribed a six day course of prednisone

The pain, redness, and swelling have flown

In the future, Oh Gout, leave my joints alone

Tweet:  Gout is a painful,  persistent life-long condition that can crop up in unexpected places.