🕖Latest Change: June 21, 2023 – ⎙Published: May 17, 2010.
-
Posts
-
Just when I thought I would never have anything new of interest to add to this site- Lo and behold, up pops another unknown!
I've recently got over a minor flare in left L. toe joint that barely troubled me as I backed off all stress activity and cancelled a 5 mile walk etc. Irritating but , so long as No Gout – fine. We've all been there..
3 days ago I was striking down an awning in my garden when I got a bite in my L Calf from, 'who knows what' that left a little bubble of blood under the skin and didn't look quite right even in the first few seconds. It soon spread to 1/4″ under the skin lesion that reminded me of a similar bite 10 years ago that I suspected to have been Lyme disease and reqd Anti Biotics after 3 weeks to clear.
[Edit: Original bite site is red blotch on left- centred in abt 5sq” inflamed firm tissue]
This was different though- the next day my knee started to seize up and I assumed it was a twist from working in a confined space as is often done ( getting on a bit now) but by the evening I was starting to get gout like pain and up to my hip ,too. The swelling on the bite was starting to weep too.
That was a gout like Hell night that induced a loss of nearly all sleep- and left me dozing in a chair with leg straight. If I didn't know gout- I would have been pretty alarmed – but the pain was bad as any attack from urates. Curiously the old flare twinges from the previous few days had gone!
I won't go into first line medical help as though free the NHS is not exactly user responsive and it took many hours before I spoke to the most basic medical advice. . Luckily my local surgery fitted a nurse appt. in quickly yesterday -and I got immed. antibios and a swab taken.
My knee was getting quite big – but not in the pain area, but above a few inches. I could stand on the knee- in fact take full body weight with care- so it was not like gout in this respect either.
After a day on anti Bios- things are settling out though knee still quite bad. Hip settled and bite swelling reducing.
This has surprised me in similarity to gout- but I know after some years and a reading of 7.4mg the day before, after gout flare, that I was not in deep water from SUA level and my history.
As we all know here, one soon gets a sixth sense about these things, esp. if not on Gout meds.
So- still in some pain , but already recovering- something that would never happen with this amount of pain with gout.
I'm adding the pics- not great, and taken under stress, to show this bad episode.
Com[parison between knees …
it does make a change from the old ,old story though… and can act as a reminder that there are many side issues around joint pain and immune response that jut don't get aired overmuch.
Veg Guys' long struggle comes to mind!
I hope to get results back, if any on the swab and update this.
This type of incident has way too many variables, if I was you, I would've went straight to a gout specialist (rheumatologist).
Wow! Sounds like a generalised gout immune response that was triggered by the insect bite. As you were in the red zone (7.4), it seems your immune systyem was just looking for any excuse to go to war. Are the swellings in joints that you've never previously had attacks or old sites?
I wonder if the culprit might have been a horse fly? – attack from behind is their speciality and the bites are always nasty. Mind you, worst reaction I ever had was from a gnat bite. Hope you're on the road to recovery. Must be a seasonal thing going on – I've just had a flare up and having a couple of days off my feet. I'll post something when I get a moment.
Fair comment Monaco, but the one thing that isn't too variable in the equation was me!
I know I have gout and how it behaves- this event is different, though I suspect there are co factors between this sudden infection and gout behaviour.
The knee and hip pain were just to soon after the bite and the course of the event is somewhat different to gout. No gout joint in a main attack has ever taken body load for me- and even though the twisting & bending movement on the knee is still limited in a day or so it is quiet when not worked and takes a good walking weight without pain. This is not gout, as such. More a mimic due to inflammation.
Now it has settled quite a lot- the old gout minor twinges from the actual gout flare earlier are back on board and quite welcome by comparison. These are actually nearer the bite site !
Due to being only too aware of the medical system ,I got what I needed in hours- an antibiotic for a week , a free sticking plaster -and another experience to add to the list.
Don't forget the swab report is yet to produce…
Odo – Just saw your post come in after posting  to Monaco … Yes, a general response, I agree.
Never ever had a  gout problem in my hip or knee – in fact the pain area was slightly down from the joint and in the thighbone- tendon or muscle attachment point. The knee swelling has only just covered the pain areas after 2 days and wasn’t the same routine as gout.
I think the immune system kicked in where existing crystals might be- but unable to tell. It is already easing, anyway.
On the culprit front- a few days before I swept another insect of my arm that was just preparing to have a feed on me- the needle puncture  effect actually woke me up from a doze and I just caught a glimpse of a little weevil thing that had probably got me from a local copse I’d walked through earlier.
I swept it instantly to the floor- never found it. No reaction, that time- which surprised me a bit.
This later event could well have been a horse fly- but I never see them around, usually.
Trev I hope you are feeling bit better now? I agree with what Odo said.
Also because I care about you I would say that you seem to be taking your 7.4mg/dl SUA reading too lightly
You know that you need to bring it down!Sorry if I don't remember but do you have any blood sugar issues?
Thanks, VGuy- one day on anti bios was enough to start the cure, but the bite site is still growing…the
swelling is down, but not so much at the knee.
I know my SUA is not low enough to protect me from these excursions- but this is the first real problem in a year! No meds. and I think it was just a misfortune [like gout itself].
Within a day I was getting back on track- with an attack proper, a week is usual.
I'm on a BP med that can affect Blood sugar regulation but the test was missed off the list last time..What a struggle, sometimes just to get work done..
I did get 2 low blood sugar ones with my Kernel checker- but tbh, fed up with worrying about' this and that' overmuch. I had hoped to compare results [as previously borderline pre-diabetic].
Meds seem to knock me out quite easily- so I wouldn't be surprised about the Blood Sugar bit.
PS: On the Lyme tick issue..you would not believe this- today coming back through the copse a few hundred yards from home a large deer ran by- followed by a spaniel I'd seen chasing around before. This was indeed a surprise- as it is adjacent to a busy main road and doesn't lead anywhere. Mmmm…
PS Rest assured I don't take SUA issues lightly, but as Gout was triggered by BP meds [ a strong indicator] I have lost confidence in the ready use of drugs- though still take 4 for BP.
[NO diuretics , now]
Antibiotics ASAP…but it sounds like that;s what you are doing.
The usually horror is for an annoying insect bite to push in staph, always present on the skin, into the body. The infection rages quiickly and can be life threatening.
I was badly bitten on an ankle by a blackfly or two at a picnic. Next day I went to work with a sore foot. By 11 AM my SHOE had to be cut off and blue lines extened up my extremely swollen calf to the knee. Hospital by 11:30 AM and IV penicillin given in large dose. Better by the next day.
Doctor said a few more hours and septicemia would have been likely: he said most likely from staphlococcus.
I don't think gout is involved here, trev. (But DO tend to those readings over 7.0)
Dang, Trev! I hope you're feeling better!! I've never had that type of reaction to any kind of bite (knock on wood…)
Thanks Guys, for your heartfelts!
A few points to update:
Swab was clear.
This is not the first time I've had a bad SITE reaction to a bite or needed Anti-bios to treat – but the first time such a thing has triggered joint flare elsewhere [a' la Gout].
I did over a mile in the hills yesterday, over keen to get some 'fresh', and also a 'friend' to entertain.
Of course, my same side kneecap is complaining badly today!! Don't say gouties wuss out
Hopefully this will settle soon, as before- but the thing is [and thanks for the chin up Zip !] that I think these sensitive new areas ARE due to urate deposits. I hate to admit to it!
This is going into the notebook as a possible reason to try AlloP – IF, and only if, I can't maintain the good years' progress to date. That is still open to proving.
I'm not calling this last lot of pain 'attacks' or even 'flares' as they had big external assistance , in the reaction to the bite- and settled out extremely quickly, to be normal gouty behaviour.
When the swelling actually moved to my left foot yesterday AM- it did not trigger more than very minimally, old [and markedly, very recent] flare sites there.
My SUA readings have been around the upper 6's of late. If they'd been towards 8 [as when on diuretics] I don't think things this time would have been helped to the good in any way.
To people unaware of gout and the sheer pain- these notes may seem somewhat obscure , but to the cogniscenti – all grist to the mill.
It highlights the extreme sensitivity of the immune system, once 'gouted' , very clearly.
PS: To prove that the trip was worthwhile , here's a shot of them thar' hills..
This is going into the notebook as a possible reason to try – IF, and only if, I can't maintain the good years' progress to date. That is still open to proving.AlloP
Yes, we are all biding our time hoping another will see the light.
It's just a matter of time before everyone with gout will start to take the meds. Gouties are divided into two groups:
1. those taking allopurinol, uloric or probenecid,
2. those who have not yet started their eventual meds.
This discussion is closed. If you want to ask about any gout issues, please join the new gout forum.