What Can Happen If Gout Is Not Treated?

Hi Bert,

Thank you for all your emails and advice.  I refer to the correspondence we had from August last year and would like to continue telling you about my awful experience. I hope you can use it to tell other people to take very seriously as clearly I have not.

As mentioned below I eventually had gout surgery on my left foot to remove 3 tophi, as I could barely wear running shoes.  The tophi on my 4th toe had broken through the skin and the wound would not heal.

As I mentioned my gout was really bad so I had decided to have these tophi removed and get on a plan with the doctor, as well as use your diet and other advices to get my life back.

So I had the tophi removed in day surgery in March this year.  Yes as you mentioned it was pretty painful.  It seemed to be taking a bit longer than suggested to heal but I thought that was normal.  One part of the wound kept weeping a bit of uric acid but I thought it would heal slowly.

I had reduced my beer intake, improved my diet - neither to a great extent but it was a start - and got an Allipurinol etc plan from my rheumatologist.  I knew it may give me a gout attack at the start.  In May I started taking 100mg daily.  After 6 days I started getting a gout attack so I took all the usual pills to keep it at bay but it just got worse and worse even after doubling and tripling the intake of indocid, prednisone and colgout.  My foot just swelled and swelled and the wound was weeping more.  So after 3 days of suffering I went to the doctor who said my foot looked infected.  The next day I went to the emergency department at my local hospital where it was confirmed that I had an infection there.  Wow no wonder I felt so bad.

The hospital confirmed I had a massive golden staff infection and need urgent surgery and intravenous antibiotics.  

Well, by tomorrow that was 3 weeks ago.  I have now had 5 surgeries to remove all the infection and uric acid build up in my foot and have been on a drip all this time. I now have a big hole in my foot where the gout had eaten away part of my foot.  I now require plastic surgery to fill the hole.  I am not sure how much longer I will be in hospital but it will be a long while before my foot is healed.  I hope my health fund covers most of this.

I know this is a bit gruesome but I just wanted to share this with you and any of your potential clients so that they will take this disease very seriously.  I almost lost my foot.  This is as low as I want to go so a big change is required.  I have to do it.

Thanks for listening.

Mark

Mark