First attack of gout at 35,000 feet
 

I have flat feet and a bit of a bunion. When I walk a lot my feet hurt (particularly my right foot) and I will limp a little. This has been going on for years.

Last week I took my son and a friend of his to Europe for a week. By the end of the week my right foot was hurting and I was doing my usual limp. However, my foot hurt only while I was walking, and it was no big deal.

On the 10-hour flight home, my "bunion" started hurting, and I do mean hurt. I didn't know my foot had a nerve that was capable of hurting that much. The bunion area swelled up, but so did much of my whole foot. I managed to hop off the plane, with no shoe, and was offered a wheelchair, which I accepted. The guy wheeled me all the way to the Chicago airport Hilton, where I paid a fortune for two rooms. I did not care.

I posted a photo of my "bunion" on Facebook and within 10 minutes a doctor friend of mine said "that looks like gout." Several other people agreed, as did my doctor. I'm currently on steroids, anti-inflammatories, and a fairly strong pain pill for night. It really hurt.

Is it common for a flight to trigger a gout attack? My wife's feet tend to swell during flights, but I've never had that problem; however, my "gout" foot is still swollen. I can walk on it a little bit, but I wouldn't dare try to put a shoe on it, and this is two days later.

I drank more beer in Europe than I usually do, and ate more meat, too (I'm usually not much of a meat eater). Also, I usually drink six to eight cans of seltzer water every day, which keeps me hydrated and presumably flushes my system. I drank very little water in Europe, as it's just hard to get water in Europe.

Any thoughts of how to prevent another attack, particularly one while in the air. I've already said it hurt, but it like really hurt, as in as bad as anything has ever hurt, with no stopping.

Don't you have to be on anti-gout medicine pretty much forever once you've had the disease?

Pretty sure it's this:
Not the flight as such. For flights, no booze, plenty of water, no other-gout-inducing food or drink. Ibuprofen helps; doctors can prescribe other meds.

Be very careful with gout. You could kill your kidneys. The crystals make your toe hurt but, worse yet, they damage your kidneys.

Some people with mild gout become vegetarians. Also no beer, no oatmeal. They are trying to save their kidneys. Then take medicine if the gout is worse than the diet can help.

Good luck!

geez that sounds awful! hope you feel better!!

Be careful...I am a vegetarian and have experienced gout.....

Gout used to be called a Royal Disease simply because it was caused by very rich foods and only Royalty could afford such diets !

Proteins and fats etc of some kinds are responsible for gout. Amount of Uric acid shoots up in your blood and crystallizes and pokes "thru" the skin.

Not a doctor here but been there and know a couple of chronic sufferer.

Having suffered w/ it once when traveling, my Dr. wrote a Rx for me and told me to keep the pills in my suitcase. Thankfully, I haven't had to crack into it...yet.

Am I the only one who clicked on the title of this post expecting to read about someone getting their foot walloped by another passenger?�� I clicked the link entitled: 'This Mid-Flight Attack On My Foot Came Out Of Nowhere' ... lots of scenarios played out in my mind but not one of them concerning gout.

Wishing you a very speedy recovery!

LOL. Wut?

What part of Europe were you in that you couldn't find water easily? It's not the Sahara.

I just find it harder to stay hydrated in Europe. I know they have water, and I drink it, just not as much.

As for the gout, I'm taking a medication which may have greatly contributed to the problem. I don't really need to take it, and so I'm going to phase it out. Hopefully that will solve any future problem.

Eat cherries. It will clear the gout.

In most of Western Europe, bottled water (at very reasonable prices) is consumed at a higher rate than in the USA (since tap water is not as easy to find).

What's this about a goat attack on an airplane? I'll bet it was one of those fake service animals. This is really getting out of hand. What if other passengers were allergic to goats? Or to chevre?

...Oh....never mind.

RIP Emily Litella.

Double LOL!

Beer, bad for gout
 

Beer is very bad for gout. Coffee surprisingly good. See Mayo Clinic website.