Losing a part of me

Category: Gout

  • Day 1025

    I messed up the numbers yesterday and posted my second Day 1023 in a row. I have gone back and corrected that.

    My weight is up again this morning, and it is above that terrible mark. I am beginning to think that there is no way for me to stay below it without intense exercise. No matter what pain I may be in, this afternoon after I have lunch with my son I will be brushing off the old treadmill. It is chilly and rainy outside today, and I think an indoor workout is the right way to go.

    My knee has been in pain all week and I am almost angry because I take meds for gout every day… so how can gout keep flaring up? It is not as if my diet is so rich that it should be an issue… but it is. Thanks Dad… this is the genetic legacy I get from you. At least I also have the low blood pressure, which means I should live a longer life… the downside is that I will spend a lot of it in discomfort.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 933

    I did not realize that my ‘joining people for meals to celebrate’ obligations were starting last night. We went to the pub and I had fish and chips… a bad choice, but certainly not the worst thing I could have ordered. I paid for it this morning… but not as bad as it could have been. Without being able to move my bowels, my weight was back up to exactly that terrible number. This weekend will be difficult but hopefully tomorrow afternoon I’ll be able to get back on track.

    My doctor confirmed the pain in my knee is indeed caused by gout, and we adjusted my meds accordingly. I am crossing my fingers that by next week my knee will be fully healed and I will be able to do some exercise. In the meantime, yesterday was the first day in a few weeks that my step count exceeded 9,500.

    I knew that I would not sleep well or much last night. My sleep score is an abysmal 33. I was both too excited to sleep well, and also kept waking up afraid I might oversleep. I left the house before 5:00am today, already in a suit and tie. As I type this I am at the airport waiting for my friend. It will be great to see him!

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 76

    The pains in my foot are worse than they were, and I am worried that when I tell that to my doctor tomorrow, he is going to start considering alternatives… like arthritis. In truth, it could be that I have not been taking the medications as prescribed – I have been taking it once per day, rather than twice. I have vowed that starting yesterday, I am taking it twice. Hopefully that will fix me up.

    Speaking of tomorrow’s doctor visit: while I am certainly weighing less than I did when I was last there two weeks ago, I am not going to achieve my goal of being weighed comfortably on the primary scale. As long as I keep up the pace I am at (and do not have any more trips to Montreal where I take a giant step backwards in my progress) that will be on my next visit, two weeks from tomorrow. I know that these things will not happen overnight, and small incremental steps forward add up, which is why I have lost about forty pounds in the last month and a half. It may be hard to fathom why eating as well as I am right now, I am not losing weight faster… but it is not that hard to remember that eating the way I was eating before had me looking and feeling terrible. Yes, my foot is in pain, but it is an isolated pain. The rest of my body is feeling the relief of carrying 40lbs less than I was carrying just ten short weeks ago.

    Incidentally, I am now back at the weight I was at before I went to Montreal… so I have finally reclaimed that lost progress and can start heading into new territory. I hope that over the next couple of days my weight drops below that terrible milestone, and I can breathe a sigh of relief. Unless I really fall off the program, that will happen during Leslie’s visit. She loves being here to celebrate those milestones with me, and I love having her here for them!

    With all that said, I know I have to put my dreams of 5-10km walks on hold for at least a few days, if not longer. We will see what the doctor has to say about my foot tomorrow. I suspect he is going to ask why I did not get my bloodwork done, so that at least he can check my uric acid levels. I promise, I will do that in the next few weeks. I was just hoping to lose some of the weight before having it done. I do not even want to know what my levels were at when I weighed my heaviest.

    I am so looking forward to Leslie’s visit. She is coming in tomorrow evening, and it has been far too long since I have been able to hold her in my arms. We are now inside 48 hours, and the anticipation is maddening. I go to sleep one more time, and the next time I wake up will be the day that I pick her up from the airport! Granted, her flight comes in late at night, but that does not change the fact that it is tomorrow. I told my students last night that tomorrow’s class would be adjourning a little earlier than usual, which will suit many of them just fine, as the students who are paying attention and doing their labs have a lot of work left to do on the labs… and the students who are not will be glad that they can sign off earlier than normal.

    The cleaning lady is coming soon, and I will split my time between some work at the computer and sitting on the patio. It will not be a very busy day, but I do have things I have to get done. Before my class starts this evening.

    Have a great day!

  • Day 49 Part 1

    In a few minutes I am off to the doctor’s appointment to get weighed, and hopefully get meds for my gout. I am disappointed that I have not lost more weight; in fact, I suspect that my weight will register the same today as it did two weeks ago. That’s what happens when you fall off a cliff. Fortunately, I do not expect to weigh more than I did then… after the crap that went on in my head this past weekend, it could have been much worse than status quo.

    My diet buddy moved up our meeting from tomorrow (our regular Thursday meeting) to today. She is a teacher, and she is going away tomorrow for Spring Break. Originally, her plan was to go to Florida, and she wanted to lose as much weight as possible so that she might not be the fattest person on the beach (her words, not mine). She changed her mind and is going to Yukon. She assures me that it is to see her ex-wife, and not commentary on her weight-loss failures.

    Okay, I’m off to see the doctor. Wish me luck!

  • Day 44

    I am rather looking forward to seeing my doctor on Tuesday and asking him – at gunpoint if need be – to prescribe me Colchicine. In the meantime, I continue taking Naproxen, Aspirin, and Tylenol thrice daily. I have to wonder if over the years I have developed a resistance to Naproxen, having taken it for so many things. I know that my left foot is swollen terribly and is in a lot of pain, despite the anti-inflamatories and other pain relievers I am taking. I have (and am still refusing to use) the narcotic pain killers I have left over from my root canal last autumn. I do not think it will get quite so bad as to have me taking that. The good news is that when I am not moving, I am not in a lot of pain. In other words, unlike my knee (which was much more painful, but is no longer bothering me), it is not impeding my sleep.

    I have a couple of meetings today: one for a customer, and one with my American accountant to do my taxes. I put that meeting off a few weeks ago, not because I am afraid to speak with her, but rather because the appointment conflicted with a dentist appointment. When things fall out of your mouth, it is best to have them fixed at the dentist’s convenience… tax season or not.

    I have been working over the last few days (nearly a week by this point) on booking a trip to Cuba with Leslie, and a couple who are friends from California. I am hoping that today I will be able to get that done; I am looking forward to spending a few days on the beach, and if possible, a few days in Havana as well.

    I indulged yesterday. I do not care a whit about the second salad that I made myself after lunch because I was still hungry. Once that was done, I sat eating pumpkin seeds for a few minutes. I probably had 250 calories worth of them. Again, not the worst thing in the world… but I have to be able to rein myself in! Today will be better.

    The bathroom scale situation is frustrating. I have always been able to hold myself better accountable when I weigh myself and see that the weight is not coming off. I have always rejoiced in being able to track definite downward trends on a daily basis. Not being able to do that because of the inaccuracy of the scale is maddening. I know, I will go to the doctor’s office every two weeks and get weighed there… but being able to see daily progress has always been helpful. No, I am not going to move to an apartment with a more solid floor in the bathroom… but I might start exploring the floor in the bedroom to see if I can get a consistently accurate reading there.

    Tomorrow I am going to see my god kids, and I am looking forward to seeing them… but not to seeing the foods their mother will be putting out for me! Willpower is the word of the weekend!

  • Day 42

    Whatever discomfort I felt in my foot yesterday was multiplied exponentially this morning. As I can think of no injury or event that might have caused this agony, I must assume it to be a flareup of gout. I have been having issues with gout in my right (and recently injured) foot of late, but this is the first time that the pain is so strong in the left foot. I will survive – it’s painful, but not the worst thing in the world. I’ll take Naproxen twice daily for the next few days and it will clear up.

    Yesterday was another ‘I ate too much’ day. I have to remember that eating too many meal replacements is not much better than eating too much anything else. At least I know that I am not going to the starches and carbs. Today will be a better day!

    My weight-loss advice post from Day 40 got a lot of traction. Until now, my best day on the blog had 42 hits, and it was not uncommon for there to be days with fewer than 5 hits. Yesterday, after I shared the article about unsolicited weight loss advice, those hits shot up… 116 hits yesterday, and 54 hits today (so far). This will be a blip and not a trend I am sure, unless my vitriol encouraged scores of new people to follow my otherwise pretty boring blog daily… and to tell their friends to do that same. Not a worry, I do not plan to try to monetize the blog; I use it to try to stay accountable for my actions and choices.

    I looked up the causes of gout, and came up with the following list, some of which I knew about, others I did not:

    The risk factors which cause excess uric acid include:

    • Excess consumption of meat and seafood
    • Obesity
    • Certain conditions like heart disease, kidney disease
    • Family history
    • Certain medications
    • Age – It usually affects between the ages of 30 and 50
    • Sex – Men are more likely to develop gout

    Let’s review: I am not excessively consuming anything these days, but I am obese. I have no heart or kidney issues (that I know of, although I will have a full physical from my doctor in a couple of months). I do have the family history (my father suffered from gout, and I think my grandfather as well). I am about to hit 50, although I remember gout flareups going back 25 years. I am not on any medications, but I am definitely a man.

    All in all, I have 4/7 of these risk factors. I’ll suck it up, and hopefully as I lose the weight, I will be able to shed one of them. No, I do not plan to cut meat out of my diet, but I will cut my intake of it going forward. Growing old sucks.**

    My game plan for today is to try to limit my intake. I had my breakfast shake, I will have my lunch (chicken and salad) and then my dinner (fish and salad), and then an evening meal replacement bar. If you are wondering why I have two meals planned, I was not paying attention and I defrosted both.

    Have a great day folks!

    **The last time I posted that something sucks, it was dieting. This resulted in the comments that led me to write my ‘screw you and your unsolicited advice’ post. Please do not tell me to not grow old, as the alternative is not a pleasant one.