Streets and sidewalks tiled with oddly shaped cobblestones, awkwardly tilted sidewalks, dodging bikes and cars coming from every direction, climbing five flights of narrow and crooked stairs to the apartment - these are all potential pitfalls for a gout suffer in Amsterdam. I won't lie. By the end of each day, my body hurt. It wasn't from gout, however, but more from having not experienced that type of prolonged walking for months and months. My left ankle, both achilles, both knees - particularly the left one, and my calves all suffered from the hours and hours of walking around the city. The muscle soreness I could deal with fairly well. The ankles and the knees? Those were giving me some real problems. I don't know if these pains are caused by damage from gout or just from beating the hell out of my body most of my life. Probably a bit of both. Whatever the cause, these aren't slight annoyances or something that I would term trifling, but are pretty serious and pretty damn painful. With time and more exercise, I'm hoping these things eventually will work themselves out.
Yesterday afternoon I was able to climb on my mountain bike for the first time in almost a year and go for a short ride with my brother. I wanted to see how my knees and ankles would feel while pedaling in various conditions. It is good to know that I can still bomb a rough downhill section of single track quite well, but even the most gradual of uphill climbs put a lot of strain on my left knee and caused a lot of pain. On the gout front, I was happy to find that I had no pain in my hands, wrists or elbows caused by riding. This is great! My ankles also faired quite well. As far as I can tell, I didn't experience any gout-type pain from biking. I'm very happy to report this. It's just the other aches and pains that are giving me problems now.
As anyone who has suffered from gout and who is now in the process of controlling it knows, the whole ordeal is one long, drawn out process. Patience is an absolute must along with diligently following a gout-healthy lifestyle. I'm fairly certain that I've weathered the worst of the attacks for the time being. Now, it's time to slowly (very slowly) rebuild my body and bring it back in to shape. I know it's still going to take a lot of time to get back to anywhere near where I was only a few years ago physically, but I am seeing the benefits from the sacrifices I've made. There were many times where it didn't seem worth it and I came close to bagging the whole thing, but this is where the patience paid off. That and having all too fresh memories of my last horrific gout attack.
I still don't think I'm out of the woods yet, but I am feeling much, much better. To others who are in my predicament or who may just be starting to take action to control their gout, stay with it. Be patient. Treat your body well. Listen to your body. It will make a difference in the long run.
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