30 year old suffering Gout

by northernguitar

I got my first gout attack at 30 years of age. Thought I hurt myself mountain biking and in the middle of the night severe pain. Went to the doctor, had x-rays, ultra-sound, blood tests and then got sent to a sports injury specialist. Here in Canada it's all free. The specialist took one look and said "Gout". I thought that was rich man's disease or old man's disease I said and the doctor explained that it is a metabolism imbalance inherited and that alcohol, rich foods, shellfish, mushrooms, asparagus, oatmeal etc....you all know the story.
I've always drank beer, but I always ate an almost vegetarian diet, (fish twice a week) Since then I've had about 30 more attacks, (I'm now 50) each time after the attack was over I'd be good and no beer or beer only on weekends for a few months but as a very active athlete I'd always be hanging with other guys after a mountain bike ride or cross country ski and put down a few with the predictable result. I've finally reached a stage where if I have one day of beer drinking (two beers) I've got gout the next few days. I'm completely vegan now. A lot of the things I used to enjoy consuming in life are gone now. Still the attacks come. This is an awful disease and I find the worst thing is not just the pain and not being able to get around but the attitude of people who you tell. They either laugh about it thinking you've just had too good a life or they think you're a substance abuser and loser.
This gout thing sucks but there's always something worse.