Stress induced ? No question.

by Martin
(UK)

Hello!

I stumbled across this wonderful site whilst searching for information on this awful affliction that I woke up with one morning. I had never experienced it in my life.
The topic is can stress bring Gout on, well perhaps this will help with the judgement.

I am a 60 year old male who in my youth was very fit and a good athlete and Rugby player. As I got older I had several illnesses including Cancer ( for which I have been in remission for many years ) and the dreaded kidney stones for which I went through the uncomfortable procedure of having them lasered. I also had several injuries which required surgery. This unfortunately caused me to develop anxiety , in particular medical anxiety.

I found myself in a loveless marriage; I was and still am very fond of my Wife but we grew apart and were more like house mates. Over the years this situation caused my anxiety to worsen. This Summer I made the huge decision to leave her. It was very upsetting and very difficult. We stayed in the house together whilst the sale went through. Although we were civil it was very difficult emotionally for us both, we wee both under enormous emotional strain.

I had decided to move away from the area, some 200 miles to Wales where I had family memories . I wanted to get away and start again.

On a very hot July morning I said a tearful goodbye to my Wife as she left for work. The removal men arrived and started to remove my share from my home of 19 years. My sadness was tangible. I thought my heart would explode out of my chest.

Some four hours later I found myself in rural Wales. The house I had rented was in the back of beyond. Deep in the Welsh countryside. My anxiety was rampant and over the subsequent days my loneliness and sense of isolation increased.

After about two weeks I felt a soreness in my left big toe. I thought that I must have knocked it and thought nothing more. I woke in the morning with a dreadful pain in my left foot. It was swollen and red. The veins and bones had vanished ! The following day I could hardly walk such was the pain. I Dr Googled and realised I had Gout. Not being one to visit the Dr unless absolutely necessary ( I believe more in natural and holistic medicine) I read up on natural remedies. I started drinking organic cherry juice. The swelling decreased but the pain was enormous. It is true even a bed sheet is painful.

As it didn’t seem to improve I eventually went to the local Dr. She was very sympathetic and once I had told her the full story she said she wasn t surprised I had developed Gout. She didn’t prescribe any drugs. She did however take fblood for all the tests. These included Liver Kidneys Thiroid Sugar and of course Ueric acid. The results all came back “satisfactory “ which pleased me but also surprised me.

Some six weeks later I am back in the security of my home town having incurred the most stress in my life by staying on in Wales Without going into detail the stress levels I incurred were massive. At one point I was almost homeless in a strange land. I felt isolated, vulnerable , insecure and miles from anywhere. In fact I was scared.

My gout has gone and come back several times since it’s initial flare. I am still determined to beat it using natural methods. My thoughts are that the tremendous strain emotionally I was under had to manifest itself in my body. It’s more than a coincidence that whilst undergoing that awful time it flared up having never had it before in my life. It is a viscous circle as it drags me down which depresses and frustrates me and causes more anxiety. I believe that once I settle it will settle.

I have and am taking Organic Cherry juice and ACV. I have Acupuncure, the comment from the Accupincturist when I told him my story was “ What do you expect? It had to come out somewhere !”

So there is my story. Apologies for going into details of my story but I thought it relevant. It’s my belief that the enormous stress I was under brought on the condition.

Thank you for the informative site and good luck to everyone. I am looking forward to walking a long distance again and getting on my bike !!