[volleyball]

Originally Posted by Chollyred

Thanks for the welcome and replies.

I really haven't had a gout attack in years, but it's like diabetes, once you have it, you're always at risk of an attack.

At my first follow up with the doc, he was very pleased with my progress so far. I'm not due for more lab work for about another month or so. Hopefully, the results will be even better.

He feels that if I can lose enough weight, and get my numbers under control enough, he'll be able to take me off the blood pressure, triglyceride, and diabetes meds. I'll likely be on the gout meds for life.

Have any of you been able to be drug free? Is there such a thing as a drug-free diabetic? I'm hoping that's a realistic goal.

I have been drug free for years. I only took meds for weeks to get me back into range and I took it from there.
As for the gout, it has been gone for years. It is salt in your joints. You improve circulation and reduce salt and no more gout. It was a rich man disease as you had to be sedentary enough and eat rich enough food to get it.
The pills made me nauseous and so I learned that celery seed and cherries helped it. I was cured in a week. Got it a second time exactly a year later and found it was the holiday ham that I was eating all the leftovers and I rarely ate ham. A second round of cherries and a few days later it was gone. My doctor recommended it to several of his patients who had trouble being cured and it helped most of them. This works.
Keeping hydrated helps a lot too. I occasionally can feel the swelling if it's hot out and I am working hard physically and don't drink enough. A quart of water an hour may not be enough.

[Janlaton]

Hi, welcome, we are not a bad group it is not coming out of the closet or saying I am an alcoholic or something like that just because a part of our bodies no longer works the way it was intended.

You have diabetes. It does not have YOU.

After 40 years, I can honestly say I talk about the problem where ever I am because I am always running into others who are diabetic and are scared to say they are or who are scared to take their meds. I have been trying to find a new one posted yesterday who mentioned being afraid she would become dependant on the medication. It is not a pain pill. Diabetic meds help out bodies properly function. I have an alcoholic in my family that seriously says I am as bad as he is because I am a "drug addict" because of my diabetic meds that I take as directed. THis is a bunch of poop. So if the other newbe is reading(or any one else who feels this way) there I said it again take the med as directed get under control and stick to it.

Best of luck & prayers.

[Hammer]

It seems a lot of people don't understand drugs, and most likely they don't take any. They think that all drugs are addictive and if you take one long enough, you'll be an addict. They are probably afraid to take aspirin more than once a day because they are afraid that they'll become addicted to it.

The problem is the commercials you see on TV. There's not enough education to the masses to educate them to drugs and drug addiction. If they see a drug addict on TV, they don't know how he got to be an addict, they only know he's addicted to drugs. Aspirin is a drug, insulin is a drug, so if it's a drug, you can become addicted to it. They can't distinguish between what drugs are good to take and what drugs are bad to take. Drugs are drugs to them. Remember the slogan, "Just Say No To Drugs"? Well these people take it to mean all drugs.