I have got a good support system going here where I live, and everybody is aware about my conditions and aware that I have gout, so if they don’t see me, then they bob over and it’s like I’m usually on the sofa, and it’s – they’ll come in and they all see that I have cups of tea, see that somebody makes me a meal for the day, and just generally looks after me. But having gout, you can’t have anything on your feet because it’s painful, not even a little sheet cover, because it’s so painful when it’s on your feet. It also has gone – because I saw a doctor at [the hospital] a few months ago – into my hands now. That again is very disabling for me because I can’t undo jars. A typical day is maybe undoing a jar of beetroot or undoing a jar – or even a milk bottle, unscrewing the top off the milk bottle, I have no – I’m unable to undo anything in this house. I usually leave the things on the window and the guy next door will come and undo them for me because he sees them getting them lined up, and he knows it’s a sign that I’ve had a go, found it impossible, so, It’s waiting to be undone when you’ve got a moment please. So it’s just – I would say gout is very disabling to anyone.

Theres always somebody here that will, sort of, fetch and carry and do bits for me, and, sort of, get me the cold water or the warm water or the… I’ve got so many things to help with the arthritis that I, sort of, try anything for any pain I get [laughter].

So that was the…?

It does make a difference having people in the house, yes.

Did it affect your mood and how you were feeling at the time, when you were in pain?

I suppose I got fed up. I, sort of, thought, Well, it’s something else that I’ve got to put with, you know, but you get over it.

When you were feeling fed up and you were in pain, do you think it made a difference to your relationships with other people, so maybe other family members or…?

Not really, no. It wasn’t their fault, you know, they did all they could to help me, so…I was probably a bit more ratty, I don’t know. They wouldn’t tell me if I was [Laughter], but I was quite possibly a bit more ratty, I suppose [laughter].

For the person that you’re living with, it’s important for them to know that if you’re having gout, that it is not pleasant. And try to be a little more tolerant, if they can possibly be a little bit more tolerant towards you, when you’re going to fly off the handle for some reason or another. It’sit’s not the usual state of affairs, if it was the usual state of affairs they wouldn’t be living together anyway, or not for long [laughs]. It is a – in a way it’s a joint disease, if you pardon the pun, [laughs].

Because I live on my own, it’s, it’s stopped me doing things, but, other than that, I’ve managed in the main to sort of eat. Just, you know, just carry on. Or I’ve, you know, I haven’t gone out for a daily walk with the dogs or something like that. And I think I can remember an instance where a friend of mine brought me a dinner round on a plate once [laughter]. She doesn’t live too far away, and that just saved me going in the kitchen and cooking because, as I say, if it’s – if I’ve got it in my ankle, just even struggling into the kitchen to make a drink or cook something, it just hurts to get there and it hurts to get back again [laughter].

I went on a couple of forums on the Internet when I had the diagnosis, just to sort of see what other people are saying and what their experiences were. I did actually find that quite useful.

What did you find particularly useful about that?

The fact that it was all ages, you know, it wasn’t like I thought – just old men that get gout. People talking about their diets that they’d had to change, you know, what they’d done. And also, talking about the pain, because I did think that perhaps I was just a wus that it hurt so much, but from what I read of other peoples experiences they all said that thing about just a sheet on my foot being just agony. So I didn’t feel quite such a wus then [laughs].

So it was reassuring?

Yes, it was. To know that actually within the boundaries it was actually normal – what I’d experienced.

You can see what other people are taking and and it might help you, you’ve got people who understand what you’re going through, and you understand what they’re going through yes, it’s just nice and you feel for people who say, This is my first time, the first time I’ve got gout it’s so painful. And you feel for them and then they’ll probably get messages back, supporting them and then you get a little message back, Thank you. You know, so it must help somebody, it’s helped me I know and I’m sure it helps me, when I send messages to Americans, well never meet and well never know who we are, but it’s just nice to get a reassurance, Yes we know what you’re going through.

When you first found out, did you know anybody else who had gout at that point?

I’m not sure whether I was aware of anyone – I might have just heard it in passing, but it was only once I was diagnosed that I then discovered other people who had been diagnosed and then people really, you know, when they discover, “Oh, you’re a fellow gout sufferer. It’s sort of like join the club and let’s share stories.” A bit like war wounds, I guess, I don’t know. Yeah [laughs].

Is that because you were mentioning you had gout and then it came out in conversation? Or do you think you were just sort of more alert to the possibility of, you know, hearing other people mentioning it?

I think a combination of the two. I think that because I had heightened awareness one then sort of pricks up ones ears and, and sort of takes – or asks questions that you wouldn’t otherwise ask. But I think also that having struggled – I must have almost struggled for a month before it was diagnosed and I guess for some people that’s probably a very short time. I think it’s quite likely that some people might struggle a whole lot longer before it being diagnosed. But because of the struggle and the pain and here I was, a physically active person now limping, unable to wear closed shoes, you know, then probably people also noticed and asked questions. So I think it was a combination of both heightened awareness but also the experience, and then other people empathising and then one makes the connections, as it were.

I am very religious, quite religious shall we say. I go to church every Sunday and yes I do pray, you know when I get my gout, but I always think well gout, Lord you know I’m pretty low down in the pecking order, you know you’ve got a lot more serious things to worry about than my gout. But it does, I think it helps me when I say a prayer, you know, that I’ve got my gout that the good Lord knows I’ve got it and, no I think He helps me in my spiritual way. We have a very good church [where I live], you know it’s a village, we have a wonderful vicar [name] and [name] another vicar and it’s very close knit and you and yes when you talk to them you you feel safe in a way, it’s hard to explain. And, yes I think it helps, my religion, although I know as I say I’m low down in the pecking order, it does help me yes.