Gout activated from stubbing toe

by Varun Kochhar
(Canada)

On two occasions I have stubbed the second toe (it is longer than the big toe). One was five years back, x-ray revealed nothing, I could not walk. Eventually it went away and all was well. This week Monday I stubbed my toe, it was not so bad so did not give it a thought - I did not even swear :-). Tuesday morning at work I started to limp slightly. I had difficulty on placing weight on the ball of my foot particularly the second toe. Wednesday I went to the physiotherapist. Thursday I was on my feet the whole day. I went to the doctor he got me to x-ray which was clean. Friday the physiotherapist who also does acupuncture stuck needles into my foot. Went to the doctor who felt my foot warm and red, marked the foot with a pen and gave me antibiotics for cellulitis, which I did not take. I realized that the pain now is not the base of the 2nd toe but the big toe joint. It was swollen and painful to touch and worst is when getting up from lying down. Putting my foot on the floor after resting sends blood rushing down and unbearable pain. Another thing I noticed was an uneasy tingle that would come and go in the left kidney area. So I read up on the net that the toe stub could have set off the gout by releasing the crystals from its protein shell. I am now taking ibuprofen, baking powder and lots of water to get rid of the pain. The 2nd toe is a bit purple at the base also has the nice itchy feeling - meaning it may be getting better but the big toe still feels painful. The night before I started to feel a cramp in the left calf muscle. I prayed hard because the only way to get rid of my cramp in this area is to pull on the big toe. LOL. Today is Saturday and I am hoping it is gone by Monday!