Jeff V

Jeff’s first attack of gout occurred while he was abroad on holiday. He has had attacks in his foot and knee. Jeff takes 300mg allopurinol every day. He occasionally gets attacks, mainly when on holiday, and manages these by taking indometacin tablets.

In 1997, Jeff was on holiday in Sri Lanka when he woke up in the middle of the night with excruciating pain in his left foot. He was in so much pain that he strapped a cold, wet towel to his foot to try and relieve the pain. During the next day, other people Jeff met saw that he was limping, and after discussions with them, Jeff concluded that he might have gout. He spoke to a group of American acupuncturists who were staying at the same complex, and they did some acupuncture for Jeff which reduced the pain. However, within a day the pain came back. At the end of his holiday, Jeff had to fly back to the UK without his shoe on because the pain was so bad.

When Jeff got back to the UK, he went to see his GP who tested his levels of uric acid and prescribed indomethacin. The pain eventually went away, but Jeff then continued to get attacks of gout in his feet and his knee every few weeks. The GP suggested that Jeff took a daily tablet to prevent the attacks, and prescribed allopurionol. Following the GP’s advice, Jeff initially took 100mg, and then increased the dose to 200mg and then 300mg over a period of two or three months. During this time, the pain got worse, and Jeff felt very frustrated. He believes that if his GP had explained what would happen, he would have known what to expect and would have been less frustrated. After about three months, Jeff was able to stop taking painkillers, but continued to take allopurinol on a daily basis.

Jeff does not like taking tablets because he worries about the long-term damage that they might do, but he is willing to take medication that he believes is necessary. He has learnt that the best way of managing his attacks of gout is to take an indometacin tablet as soon as he feels a twinge, because it shortens the attack. Jeff’s attacks now generally last for about a day, compared to two or three days when he was first diagnosed. He has had two attacks in the last 12 months.

Jeff has not made any major changes to his lifestyle since he has been diagnosed with gout. He feels that the allopurinol keeps his gout under control, but he does occasionally get attacks often when he goes away on holiday. The attacks that Jeff now experiences are not as intense as when he was first diagnosed with gout, and the pain centres more around the arch of his foot rather than his big toe. He takes indomethacin tablets away with him on holiday in case he gets an attack.

Jeff feels that he knows how to cope with a flare up of gout, and keeps a supply of indometacin tablets so that he does not have to visit his GP if he gets an attack.

The people Jeff V worked with found his gout funny. He thinks this was because of historical pictures and ideas about gout.

Age at interview 68

Gender Male

And can you remember whether you will have told any of your employees or people you were working with about having gout?

Oh yes, they’d have a laugh, the boss having gout, yeah.

And is that how they – that’s how they reacted.

Yeah, it’s one of these old faux pas, isn’t it, where you see the picture off the picture postcard of the guy with his foot up in the air with a big bandage around it, throbbing. Yeah, so they I perhaps wasn’t as fat then.

Okay. And, and why do you think that gout is often sort of seen as a funny, a funny thing to have?

I think it’s just the history of it because they say it used to be the rich man’s disease they used to call it isn’t it – which isn’t funny.

Embed Print Transcript

Other people often told Jeff V stories about people they knew who also had gout. They thought his gout was caused by too much red meat and alcohol.

Age at interview 68

Gender Male

People would say, “Well, you’re drinking too much red wine, too much red meat.” And, you know, it used to be a sign of affluence, but we do eat healthily and don’t drink too much. I’ve not really changed my lifestyle over the number of years I’ve had gout, and it seems to be kept in check.

And what were the reactions of other people around you when you found out you’d got gout?

They’d all come up with their own stories, their fathers having their foot out and not getting anywhere near it – because it is one of those pains where you just can’t think about people coming anywhere near it. It’s very, very painful. But I know people just made the comments, “You’re drinking too much or this, that and the other.”

Embed Print Transcript

Jeff V found it frustrating that his attacks did not stop when he started taking allopurinol. He did not understand why this was happening.

Age at interview 68

Gender Male

I started on 100 milligrams first, and it didn’t improve. And I was taking the, the painkilling tablet at the same time. But when I was taking the 100 milligrams, your, your mind thinks that you’re Why am I taking – well, why is it – it started, it gets worse. Why is it getting worse? And it gets frustrating and you go to the doctors and he ups it to 200 and it still doesn’t go away and you’re still taking the painkiller. And he ups it again to 300 and it was still – it just seems like it gets a balance and it’s very difficult to, to understand why – what’s actually going on.

So you started taking that, the long-term one while you were having an attack of ?

Gout.

Yeah. And did your doctor say anything about why it might still be getting worse?

Not really, no. No. I went down there with being really frustrated, you know, I’m taking these tablets and it’s getting worse, as it did.

Embed Print Transcript