My husbands gout, Rheumatoid arthritis and kidney disease photos included

My husband Grizzly lives every day with severe gout, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic kidney disease from having only one kidney. Even simple daily tasks can become a struggle, yet he still pushes himself to work because bills don’t stop and disability can take months to start. Some days he can barely move, but he keeps going.

He currently has a tophus on his toe that popped, became infected, and started draining. Tophi don’t truly heal once they open — they may scab, but the scab often lifts off with medical honey, leaving the wound exposed again. Wound care was supposed to see him, but that never happened, so we’ve been cleaning it ourselves. It looks better than when he was hospitalized, when it was purple and black, but it’s still a constant concern.

Because his kidney can’t filter uric acid properly, the crystals build up in his body. When there’s enough, they rise through the skin and form visible white bumps. They can appear on toes, fingers, elbows, knees — anywhere gout decides to attack. And when they pop, they drain and can easily get infected.

Gout is brutal. One day he’s okay, and the next he’s in so much pain he can’t walk, move, or even get out of bed. It can hit any joint — toes, knees, ankles, hands, ribs, back, shoulders — and when it flares, it puts him down for days or even weeks. His flare‑ups come every month or two, and when they hit, he needs help with everything: eating, getting up, using a urinal, cleaning wounds, and managing pain.

Medications barely help. They increased his allopurinol to 300 mg and it made everything worse. He’s on daily colchicine, prednisone, and other meds, but the relief is limited. The only treatment that could truly change his life is Krystexxa, an infusion that breaks down uric acid — but insurance keeps denying it. Every approval attempt is a fight.

We’ve learned what triggers him: fish, seafood, and certain foods. Tart cherry helps some people, and black walnut or cayenne tinctures may offer relief. A heating pad, elevation, wide‑toe shoes, easy‑on footwear, and staying hydrated all help him get through flare days. Ice makes the pain worse.

Gout is not “just joint pain.” It’s life‑altering, exhausting, and unpredictable. Watching him suffer through it is heartbreaking, but he keeps fighting, and I keep supporting him however I can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GOUT with one kidney

If you do not know, my husband only has one kidney which puts him around stage 2-3 kidney disease and let me tell you what. Gout is no joke. If you do not know what gout is, it is where your uric acid and crystals cannot escape the body because your body cannot get rid of it and it attacks your joints causing you pain the the point you cannot even more or anything.


Everything hurts and it makes life difficult. It can attack the hands, knees, ankles, toes, fingers, knuckles, elbows, ribs, back, arms, legs, pretty much anywhere it can get into and it will put you down.

With gout, you get these things called Tophi's which are the gout crystals coming to the surface of your skin and
you can see them. They look like white blisters however, they can pop randomly if you knock it onto something and the one thing they are prone to doing is becoming infected and draining.


Gout is nothing to play with. One day you are feeling fine and able to move and walk, the next, you are down in so much pain you cannot handle it begging for relief.

They switched my husband's Allopurinol and it made everything worst. They bumped him up to 300 and his flare ups have been much worst but once he stopped taking them it got a little bit better. He is also on Colchicine everyday because nothing is helping it. He is also on prednisone daily and a few other medications but none of it is really helping.

They are trying to get him approved for Krystexxa through insurance which is an infusion that helps break down and clear out the uric acid but it is a major fight with them and keep getting denied.

This pretty much will give his life back but the thing is with this is that they give you a steroid and allergy medications every treatment to help your body fight it. Not only that it is every two weeks you have to go through it.

We have learned that fish and seafood is not your friend along with a lot of other foods. Tart of Cherry can help with it also and that black walnut can help it also. Be sure to keep things like Nerve which is a roll on tincture oh an supposedly anything with cayenne pepper tincture can help also.

Heating pad is your friend so is elevation. Ice can cause a lot more pain and be sure take it easy and rest. Oh and things that support you such as a a bed rail that can help you sit up, some kind of urinal because getting up to go to the bathroom is sometimes difficult some kind of wide toed shoe, and a shoe that is easy to get on and off.

Be sure to stay hydrated because uric acid leaves through peeing so body armors and water and green tea is good for this.

You also may need help so be sure to reach out when you need it and make sure you have a good support system.

I'm always have to be the runner to help because he can't do it and he needs to eat and he needs his urinal cleaned. His flare ups last a few days to a week or two and then he is good for a while and then he is back down about a month or 2 later.

Flare ups are nothing to play with and they can put a person down for days at a time.

Also let me say, disability is hard to get but he qualifies for it but he is still working trying to make ends meet since bills never stops because it takes up to 3 months for him to start receiving.

Worrisome: RA, Gout, Kidney disease

With recent events happening in the world it has became kind of worrisome with everything. My family is a low income family with three kids. My husband is on Humira for his rheumatoid arthritis and he has been diagnosed with gout. 

My husband also has to go back to the rheumatologist every two to three month to make sure his labs are good and everything is functioning okay.  

 He also was only born with one kidney and he hangs out between stage 2 and stage 3 kidney disease in which his body cannot process everything correctly and it gets to the point sometimes he has to go to the hospital to get treatment and fluids to help his kidney filter things out and raise his GFR levels in which this is kind of scary sometimes. He is currently on Medicaid and because of this we do not have to worry about his medications.

 It is hard on him somedays and he struggles a lot but that does not stop him. He hurts all over his body and his arms, elbows, knees, feet and hands swell up to the point he cannot move it and it is a challenge for him some days but sometimes he goes weeks without swelling but it depends on what he does and if he stands or walks for long periods of time.

He also works full time but he is trying to find a part time job that allows him to take days off or is just flexible with him and that is hard to do. The insurance his company offers is not the greatest not just that, he oftentimes have to switch companies because his contracts ends or they end up laying off because they do not need everyone that they hired. 

He also cannot get disability even though we filled it out and even sent everything they wanted and needed along with signing medical release forms and they still denied him because they would never come around and accept it and it was a long hassle with it. No one can just go without the money and funding they need to make sure ends are met and the bills are paid. The way they have the disability set up is horrible because it takes years for them to ever get back to you and approve or deny you and you can end up loosing everything just waiting on a response and often times they end up denying you and you end up having to find a lawyer to get help with it so that they will approve it and this also becomes a prolonged process. 

My hope and dream is to be able to make enough money to help him the best that I can so that he does not have to worry about bills or anything else. I want him to be able to take breaks and time for himself instead of forcing himself to work for a company that is just going to replace him when something happens. 

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