Gout

Dusty01

Hi When I woke up I found I had a dreadful pain in my achillies tendon and was unable to put my foot to the floor. I had to rest because it was so painful but the next day it had gone although you could see that it had left a bruise and red mark.
On Sunday the same thing happened but the pain was worse. I managed to hobble around all day but by evening my friend took me to the local minors injury department. The nurse could see that the achillies was red and swollen but she was not able to say what was wrong she thought I might have tendonitus. Today I woke up with no pain and heel back to normal a part from the red mark and rash where I had itched it the week before.
Do you think it could be Gout? If so how can I prevent it from happening again?
Thanks

helpline_team

Dear Dusty01,

Thank you for your post to Helplines. Here's a link on tendonitis. If you would like some more information just email us your name and address to Helplines@arthritiscare.org.uk and we can send you an information pack. http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Tendonitis/Pages/Introduction.aspx

If you thought that gout were a possiblity that's a condition associated with high urate levels in blood and that condition can be managed by long term drug treatment to reduce urate levels (and some people may need to lose weight also).

If you would like to talk over your situation for some support, please give us a ring. We are not medically qualified, so we cannot give individual advice.

I hope that is helpful

Guy