Gout – It’s Not Just For The Elites Anymore.

I think it was sometime in 2010-2011 when I discovered Komboucha and other probiotic drinks. I was over in Hinsdale because I was taking a lady to see a doctor for what would eventually become a cochlear transplant, and near the Land Rover, Ferrari and other similar car dealerships was a Whole Foods (back before Bezos felt a twinge of WalMart Envy and bought the chain). I stepped in, saw the “Probiotic Drinks” cooler in front, and for some reason saw the salvation to problems I didn’t know I had at the time (probably because they didn’t exist, but who knows – sometimes you sense things before you know about them; I’ve done THAT enough times in my life to know that sometimes you have to trust those moments).

I soon found myself drinking Komboucha once or twice a week, partly because there were different flavors and types out there (hint: the flavors don’t necessarily vary by THAT much) and partly because I found that I had developed a habit for them. It almost became automatic.

I said “almost.”

One week I found myself having drunk three bottles of Komboucha. I didn’t think of it at the time, but a couple of days later my right foot suddenly hurt to a degree that I had never felt before. Day one of the pain and it hurt to walk, day two and I couldn’t stand on the foot.

Turned out that I had Gout.

Took the course of prescriptions for the gout, it disappeared. Suffered from Gout a couple more times, did the prescriptions for them. Once I got over my third bout with Gout, I went to the supplement store and looked for something else.

Luckily I had heard about various versions of cherry juice and how it was reputed to knock out joint pain, so when a supplement that included a couple of types of ground cherries was suggested I started taking it. It worked – a couple of flare-ups were knocked out by the supplement.

So I decided to take a prophylactic dose daily. The bottle suggested two pills a day, I figured that one a day should protect against flare up (or at least dull them down) and when the flare-ups came, a second pill a day would help knock it out. And while there have been a couple of times when the Gout flared up anyway (last two times: One day when I drank much more soda than usual, and during a course of Antibiotics before learning I had to get a tooth pulled), the course has held steady.

I presently take something daily. One a day for the basic stuff, two a day when my foot starts hurting.

Thankfully I haven’t noticed Gout in other joints.

(This is Volume 4 of “Supplements I’ve Found Worth Taking”)