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.

Husband and Gout and RA

 My husband has real bad gout. He also has Rheumatoid Arthritis. His gout flares up throughout his elbows, wrist, hands, knees, feet and occasionally the ribs. It just now recently spread to his feet and his toes are no longer curled like they use to be. 

He also gets knots on his feet and ankles when it starts and then he has the pain and swelling. When his elbow starts it gets hard and turns red. 

It apparently is straightening them out but his other toes on the other foot is curled still. The RA is not good either because it makes it hard for him to move and just overall is not pleasurable and I honestly hate to watch him suffer and he cannot do anything and I cannot
do anything to help him until it goes down. 

He learned that his shoes where one of the causes. He was told he wore 13s but he got to looking and he realized that they were to big and his foot had to much room and was bouncing around the shoe and causing ungodly amount of pain. 

He ended up going to Walmart and finding out he is a 10.5 however, he only wears high-tops because it supports his ankle and hamstring especially when he flares but. He also learned that the 10.5 is hurting him a little because his feet
swells and he needs something a little wider and we finally got him some wide and he is doing a lot better.

I also got him a cane. Well two canes. One has a arms rest like thing to help him get up and use the cane as support. The other cane has springs on the bottom and it helps him move around since it recoils back to him. 

He also uses a walker when he cannot walk as good with the cane. 

He has an armrest well two armrest for his computer because he works from home and his elbow swells out to the point he cannot lay it anywhere but the armrest helps because he can lay it on there and it helps so he is still able to use his arm. 

He highly recommends getting lightweight shoes so they are not heavy on the foot and get shoes that allows your feet to breathe in. He also suggests heating pads because it can help it also. Lots to rest and hydration and be sure to know what causes your flare ups. There are foods that are suppose to be avoided. 

His flare ups are sugary drinks, seafood. He also does have random flare ups.

We do use roll on the Nervive pain relief and that works better with RA flare ups.

Sometimes his gout flare ups and Rheumatoid flare ups look the same and it often time is hard to distinguish it so we treat both the same.

There was also this foot rub salve cayenne pepper that works great on it but we unfortunately can no longer find it.

Here is the gout diet.

Get the cane here!

Arm braces here for Desks

Wide toe box shoes here