[WideRight05]

This first happened to me recently. I hired a trainer to work out with and he had me doing a lot of jumping, etc. to try to get back in shape. The next day my ankle hurt like crazy - I thought I just sprained it, but by the middle of the day I thought I had potentially broke it. I went to get it checked out, and the X-rays showed no signs of a crack. The doctor thought it might have been gout and he tested my uric acid levels, and sure enough they were up. He gave me some medication to reduce the inflammation and told me that if it were gout, it would likely heal up pretty quick.

By the time I got home, that was when it was at its worst. I could not even touch my foot to the ground. I laid down and propped it up and took my medication. Within a couple of hours, I was back to limping. By the end of the night, it still hurt but I was able to walk decent. By the next morning, I could have jumped on it had I wanted to. That is what is so weird about this - you feel like your ankle is sprained real bad but it usually heals quickly once treatment is applied.

I was always bad to eat red meat - which contributed to this, although my doctor believes it was probably inherited (although my eating did not help). I still fell back earlier and the year and this summer, even having foods like spaghetti, steak, etc. a few times and it did not cause another flare-up. I didn't even work out a great deal during that time. Recently a friend and I started lifting again (although I haven't lifted with my legs much or ran as a precaution because of gout), and I decided to go ahead and make a serious change to my eating habits. Gout will flare up if you do a crash diet like a low carb diet, but I have not done that - I have been eating sensibly. However, it has flared up multiple times since I started working out. Of course, some of them could have been me just being overly cautious when my foot starts feeling tight. However, a couple of the recent flares have caused me to limp.

I do wish I could do what WideStardust mentioned, tell the gout to "get out" and it would obey...wishful thinking.

This isn't a deadly disease or anything, by the way assuming it's treated properly. It is just annoying.