High Protein Diet and Gout
I woke up on 8/12/16 with a sore foot at the base of my second toe but it wasn't too bad and I could walk on it without too much discomfort, it just felt like I had bruised it somehow.
Fast forward 3 sleepless days/nights of elevating it, icing it, taking Aleve and Tylenol. Foot so swollen now up to the ankle that I can't wear a shoe on it, can't hardly stand to touch it much less trying to walk on it. Foot has changed color to a deep reddish purple and feels hot on the inside though the skin feels normal temperature and there are pulses present and strong (so unlikely a blood clot).
After 3 days of pretty significant pain, I gave up trying to diagnose and treat myself and went to my local ER last night. (I am a retired RN with past experience in Med/Surg and ER.) I didn't want to be "one of those patients" who run to ER every time they get a hangnail and scream for narcotic pain meds because their pain level is a "10". By the time I hobbled around getting a shower, getting dressed and walking what seemed like 5 miles from the ER parking lot to the ER, I was struggling to hold back the tears that wanted to spill forth.After discussing my discharge instructions to follow a "gout diet", most of the items it says I am to avoid are the very things that I should be eating to follow the low-carb, high protein diet I started on when I began this journey. (I don't have a surgery date and have been denied by the Bariatric Center after my psych evaluation).
Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this and what dietary changes you were able to make and still stay on your diet plan.
How did the ER come to the conclusion it is the gout? Did they check your uric acid level? Deep reddish purple seems strange for the gout.
My husband has the gout and even with his worst episode his entire foot never swelled or turned reddish purple. His big toe would swell and turn red and he has had it for almost 10 years. He hasn't had a flare up in a few years and he eats a high protein diet.