Turf toe or Gout?

[aharmer]

I've had pain in the large first joint of my left big toe for months. Don't know what it is, but has to be one or the other. It hurts more on the top of the joint, and hurts more when I flea my toe up than when I flex it down. Pain comes and goes but I can never really pin down what's causing it to come and go. Except erging, which seems to definitely make it worse. No swelling though, just pain.

Are there any other methods of determining if I've sprained the joint, or could it be Gout? Thanks in advance.

[Ombrax]

Back when I was overdoing the protein supplements in my diet I had a few bouts of what I"m 99.99% sure was gout. It was worse at night or in the early morning just as I woke up, especially when I was dehydrated (at night, not dehydrated due to cycling). In my case I don't think it was ever exercise-induced.

If you think it might be gout and you're eating a fair amount of rich food, or food high in purine (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purine ) back off on that stuff for a few months and see if things improve.

Good Luck

[Oldcolonial]

A simple blood test should tell you if its gout or not. Paid does sound enough like gout to get the blood test. Treatment for gout is straightforward; take meds and or modify you diet. If it is gout, the pain you are feeling is you feeling the joint damage, so get it looked after.

[mdpfirrman]

This thread peaked my curiosity. I used to have gout really bad. I don't any longer at all and haven't for years. I've often wondered why it went away. Part of it was (I think) I cleaned up my diet quite a bit - less corn syrup and less sugar, less grains. I lost 60 lbs too (I'm sure that didn't hurt). It's painful as anything. I have read that tart cherry juice is really great for gout, so are berries. Something about tart juices reducing the acid in your body that causes gout. There are also some herbal treatments too. Good luck. I hope it gets better soon for you.

[jimmy1]

From those that I know who've had the pain, it is intense. So much so that I'm thinking if in any doubt, it's probably not gout. It also seems to flare up intensely and subsequently go away.... but I'm no expert, perhaps the mild cases just don't get attention.

[aharmer]

Ty for the replies. I don't think it's Gout then because even the worst of the pain I wouldn't describe as intense. More likely turf toe I believe, will probably LT see a podiatrist soon to figure it out.

[aharmer]

Ty for the replies. I don't think it's Gout then because even the worst of the pain I wouldn't describe as intense. More likely turf toe I believe, will probably LT see a podiatrist soon to figure it out.

Finally got around to seeing a specialist and it's not Gout as expected. Gave me a steroid shot and asked me to start wearing supportive soul shoes, which I hate, but agreed. Toe feels 90% better after one week. I don't know if a steroid injection is expected to work long term, but this one was really expensive. Next step is some platelet therapy I didn't pay attention to. Hit the erg today for 2k slow and easy, then a few hard efforts for 30 seconds. Seems to have held up well. Will get back into it slowly.

My doc said unless you have extreme pain, redness and swelling for at least some period of time it's not Gout. FYI

[strider]

Gout responds to cherry juice to reduce pain.
There are a dozen foods or so that aggravate it.