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Archives for September 2013

Maybe I’ll Get Back To Normal

09.29.2013 by Ray Niekamp // Leave a Comment

After my trip to the doctor Wednesday to attend to my gout, I was looking forward to a quick reversal of my condition. But these things don’t happen overnight.

I continued to limp around Thursday and Friday, and still had trouble walking the dogs around the block. The saving grace was my biking. As reported, I can ride with a gouty toe, because it doesn’t move when I pedal. After a morning of meetings, I was anxious to get back on the bike Friday afternoon.

I set out on my usual Friday evening jaunt, a neighborhood ride that includes a couple of laps on the Veloway. It’s been a good starter for my weekend rides, because I can stomp on it over a few stretches, and take it easy on some downhills. It’s not all that long, but does keep me out for more than an hour, so it works for me.

Except this time. A frontal system was heading through the area, and the skies opened up on me. Since I was at the farthest point away from home when the rain hit, I figured I’d be wise to cut the ride short and head home. I’ve alluded to my dislike of riding in the rain, but maybe all that public concern helped. Anyway, I didn’t feel skittish as I have in the past, and kind of enjoyed the ride home in the wet. Still, at only 11 miles, it wasn’t much of a ride.

Saturday went better. Pat wanted to ride our Mopac loop, which is about 13 miles, mostly along a busy highway. But the traffic wasn’t so bad this morning, and we moved along nicely. Until we got close to the turnaround. There, the scudding clouds passing overhead decided to let loose, and we found ourselves in a summer shower again. But this was one of those freakish things were the delineation between the wet and the dry is a sharp line — drenched on one side, bone dry on the other. I knew when we turned around that we would be in the wet for only a quarter mile or so.

When we got home, I continued on for my Saturday trip up Convict Hill. I hadn’t been there for several weeks, and wanted to see how much uphill ability I’d lost going up the hill. Yep, it was a downer. I can do it in about 2 minutes, 30 seconds — sometimes a little better. But today I took 2:55. Not my worst of the year, but a definite decline in performance. I chalked it up to the weight I’d gained because of the enforced inactivity due to my gout. I’ll do better next week.

Today, we were making plans to travel south and ride along the Guadalupe River. But that was nonsense even during our planning. Weather radar showed another frontal system — this one huge — moving in from the west. I ended our email exchange with the caveat that if it was raining in the morning, I wouldn’t ride. About midnight, the torrent hit.

It rained hard for over an hour, and lightly for another hour or so after that. My little chihuahua mix is terrified of thunder and lightning, and sat shivering in my lap until 2:30 a.m. We woke up to no rain, but drenched streets, and canceled our riding plans.

By this afternoon, things had mostly dried out. I was busy working on some things for my wife, and running errands. Finally, I got out this afternoon for a little over an hour. It was a modified version of the ride I’d done Friday — a little longer, but nowhere near what I normally do on Sundays. The result was that I ended September with my lowest monthly total since February. September in Austin is a summer month. I should have had 150 miles more.

But today, my foot is almost all better. A twinge of an ache in the toe joint still, and I expect that will be gone in the next day or two. The rain is past, the weather will be milder, and I’ll try to get back to normal soon.

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Categories // Odds 'n ends Tags // gout, Rides

Biking — But Not Better

09.25.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 3 Comments

After riding last Sunday and feeling much better, I hoped exercise would help my current gout flare up. So, on Tuesday, I got home a little earlier than usual and took the bike out for another quick ride. I felt better after an hour’s pedal, but my foot was still sore. However, two hours later, when I went to take the dogs for a walk, I was walking almost normally.

I felt good going to bed Tuesday night, but when the dogs got me up Wednesday morning, I could barely make it to back door. The gout pain had come back with a vengeance. To get to the class I teach in the afternoon, I have a quarter-mile walk across campus. It felt like an expedition. I couldn’t wait to sit when I got to the classroom.

So, I bit the bullet and called the doctor. He didn’t have any slots open, but he’s part of a physician’s group with offices across the metro area, and one of his colleagues could see me this evening.

The diagnosis and treatment is straightforward. First, the aim is to control the pain. He prescribed the “fire extinguisher” — prednisone. (Luckily, I haven’t had the side effects of Prednisone others have had.) Then, there’s Colcrys. That will lower the uric acid levels in my blood. I’ll be on it for about four months. When I see my regular doc next month for my annual physical, we will be talking about long-term treatments to keep the uric acid level low. That will probably involve a drug like allopurinol or Uloric, but once that’s established, my gout should be under control.

I explained to the doctor about the beneficial effects of cycling on my gout. He was interested, but didn’t give it much credence. He was glad I’m still able to cycle, because it turns out he’s a cyclist, too. I had seen a cycling helmet under a chair in the examination room, and he pulled it out.

“This is what I use to explain to people why they should always wear helmets,” he said, handing it to me.

It had been in a big crash at some point, and had a large crack on its side.

“The helmet broke, but my head didn’t,” he said.

We chatted a bit more about cycling, and I got the impression that he travels at about the same average speed I do. But I had to get moving and pick up my prescriptions. My foot still hurts as I write this, but I’m hoping I’m finally on my way to controlling it. And maybe I’ll run into the doctor on the road sometime, too.

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Categories // Injury Tags // gout

Cycling With Gout

09.22.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 7 Comments

I am proud to note that once again, I am suffering from the “Disease of Kings.” Yep, I have another gout flare up.

I have had them before, but this time, it’s different. This is my third attack in about four weeks. The first one lasted only 24 hours. The second one was with me a full week. This one got me on Friday, and we’ll see how long it lasts.

Gout is the crystallization of uric acid around a joint — often the big toe. That’s what I’ve been dealing with. It swells the joint, inflames it, hurts when it’s touched, and makes walking difficult. It’s accompanied by quite a lot of pain.

Walking the dogs around the block this evening was agony. I’m not looking forward to going in to work Monday — I’ll have to connive to stay parked at my desk, rather than walk around the building. Thank goodness I don’t have to move between buildings on Mondays.

A shot of my two feet shows right away which one is afflicted. The left foot is swollen around the joint, and the swelling has moved up the instep a bit, too. (I stood on the sides of my feet a little to show off the problem better.)

gout

But there’s one activity that isn’t adversely affected by gout: cycling. I did a short ride with my wife Saturday morning, and was looking forward to getting out again Sunday. I was even able to cut the grass, wearing fairly stiff-soled hiking shoes. But inactivity makes the pain worse, and when I got up Sunday morning, I could hardly move. I made an excuse to skip the club ride, but pledged that when I had medicated myself and had a decent breakfast, I would ride.

I decided to stay relatively close to home, in case things didn’t work out as I’d hoped. I needn’t have worried. The rigid soles of cycling shoes are great for gout sufferers, because they inhibit the toe joint from hinging. I did a couple of quick laps around the Veloway, attacked a hill going back into the neighborhood, and racked up a nice 26-mile ride before calling it quits.

After showering and getting dressed, I found that I could walk more easily than I could earlier. The increased circulation of blood from the cycling must have had a salubrious effect. It was only after several hours parked in front of the TV watching football that I reverted to the agony of Saturday night. I limped around the block with the pooches, and downed some Ibuprofen for the third time when I got home.

When you get a gout attack, odds are good that you’ll get more. Now, my job is to control the level of uric acid in my blood. Cherries are supposed to help. There are some foods I should minimize. One of the worst things for uric acid turns out to be beer. Cutting beer — even temporarily — will be my biggest adjustment (I really enjoy drinking craft beers!).

Various cycling forums are loaded with posts from gout-suffering cyclists, so I know I’m by no means alone. I’ve taken heed of some of their tips, and will be checking with my physician at my annual physical in a few weeks to see what else he might recommend — there are some effective pharmaceuticals for the treatment of gout.

In the meantime, I’ll stick to a more-or-less regular cycling schedule. Maybe that will speed up my recovery.

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Categories // fitness, Injury Tags // gout

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