My doctor has said I'm allowed to eat as many blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cherries and grapes as I want. But then, I'm pre-diabetic, not diabetic. If I become fully diabetic, that may change, but it looks like as long as I behave, that is not likely to happen. This month was a lesson in consequences that accompany misbehaving.

That's one I haven't tried. I'll keep an eye out for it....once the gout attack is done.

This is a really thoughtful response. Thank you! I had my first gout attack over twenty years ago. I have mainly controlled it by diet. But I love fish and usually get in trouble by going overboard with it. But it is normally a mild attack and quickly resolved. This time fish was only one of the combined factors of stupid that have earned me the second worse attack I've ever had.

Maybe the concept of a "cheat month" was very poorly conceived....

Thank you! It's been a year I would wish to not repeat.

Like I said, it's been awhile since I had a gout attack. I had a mild one for a few days last year. Too much tuna. Not enough cherries. Easily fixed.

This is the first one since everything went sideways in the spring. And it was on the heels of eating so much more sugar, fish and beef than usual, and also no berries, cherries or grapes. I really was asking for it. Which is why I consider this to be a fuck up, and not just more of the bad health this year has seen. I did this. Beats head on wall.

Hm. Doc said "Pre-Diabetic", so I may have remembered the number from six months ago wrong. The 5.2 from this month is more certain. And much happier than six months ago, regardless the actual number.

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Thank you.

Yep. No more apple pie, lots of cherries and water. And absolutely no roast beef!

Oh. Yeah. I'll stick to the cherries. They really are the best thing I've found for it too. I'm just lucky they can be found year round now. Wasn't always the case!

The sunlight thing is unrelated to the gout. Just more of the practical joke that has been 2022. It's a form of eczema that I never heard of before where you suddenly become allergic to sunlight. 30 seconds of sunlight, three minutes of shade, five minutes of full moon light and I get hives and rashes that look just like Poison Oak. And that itch like crazy! Two days later, and the skin peels like a third degree sunburn. It's just not groovy. I get to wear full head-to-toe coverage anytime there is sun around.

LOL!

Gout is extremely painful. Cancer can be too, but normally takes a while to get there. Gout goes from a twinge in the ball of your foot to "PLEASE CUT MY FOOT OFF NOW!!!" in about a day.

Gout won't kill you. It just makes you wish you were dead. If you have any doubts, a Google image search for it should convince you otherwise.

I pray you never get to know how bad it can be and successfully avoid it your whole life.

I haven't tried that one. I'll give it a go. Cherries are the best thing I've found for it in the past.

If only....

Many of the specialties I had to pass on are only on offer around Christmas time. But I still thoroughly enjoyed my family and the their enjoyment of the gifts and food. And the apple pie was nice while it lasted.

I mean, hey: I'm still alive. That's worth more than a meal!

Thank you for the laughs!

I am seriously a certified creature of the dark, and one of the pills makes me belch oddly obnoxious noises, but it's closer to Rick (from Rick and Morty) then Gollum.

Just to add to the fun, my birthday is right before Christmas, and the first signs of the gout started that day, so... What have you got in your pockets?