All along I have had a sneaking suspicion that the "gout" I am currently
suffering from originated with the Acyclovir I had to take for my recent
bout of shingles. I say "had to" because the consequences of not taking
it would likely have been far worse than this gout pain. Anyway, it seemed
more than a little coincidental to me that *right after* taking the last
of the Acyclovir anti-viral medication, which I took every 4 hrs. or so, or
5 per day,
my right foot began to hurt at the little toe joint, and looked red and
swollen. I waited about 10 days or so and it was still painful and swollen.
I next went to see my primary care provider (I know, I know) and he dismissed
it, telling me to just take Tylenol for the pain if it kept me up at night
(which it had been doing). Well, it still hurt the following week so I
got a referral to a podiatrist, who told me I had arthritis. That didn't
seem right to me, as my other joints are just fine. He did take an x-ray
and showed me where the joint on that particular toe was thinner than
those on my other toes on that foot. I thought, OK, whatever. The pain
sort of disappeared for the time I went on vacaction, thankfully, but
reappeared a few days into my current juice fast (am on day 9). Last Friday
it was so bad I was hobbling and having pain in other areas of my foot from
walking so unnaturally. Well, today I had the bright idea to call the
pharmacist where I'd gotten the prescription for Acyclovir to see what the
list of side effects are. She put me on hold for a long time and when she
came back, she said she did not see gout listed, but saw that the medication
is termed a "purine analog." Bingo! I thought--on all the websites that I
looked at, it was advised to stay away from foods which produce purines,
two of which are red meat and turkey. I thought, this is getting interesting--
I have not been much of a meat eater since I was 27 (for 17 years, age 27-44,
I was vegan)--I rarely eat it now, though I do consume turkey. They also
caution staying away from red wine, something I never drank very much of;
I stopped drinking alcohol altogether around 26 years ago (I used
to have the very occasional beer; never was much of a wine drinker, red or
white). So, while gout is not listed as one of the possible side effects,
I think they may have missed the boat here! (the manufacturers of this
drug). I knew my diet could not be bringing it on--it just did not make
any sense. Of all the people I know I am probably THE most conscious of
my diet and nutritional intake (my sister refers to my dietary habits as
"eating rituals."). So there you have it--if you get shingles and take
that medication for it, you may end up with gout or something very much
like it. Now I just have to hope that I can get rid of it. It's possible that
now I'm fasting, I'm dumping more of it (although this DID begin well before
my fast). I know there is a test I can get to determine for a certainty if
I have it or not.