McLarenblog

NOTE:  I am not a doctor.  The information I share with you is an honest explanation of my health situation which may be different than yours.  I only present my solution for you to examine in case any of my actions help you.  Take care and good luck.

Problem #1

I started to get some pretty sever foot pain.   My age?  I am in my late 70’s.  This foot pain came on rather quickly, within a few days. I could not figure out what may have caused it.  My wife said that I might have gout.  I also mentioned this problem to a good friend and he said I should watch Dr. Berg’s YouTube videos for this problem which I did.  

Dr Berg explains Gout Arthritis & Foods to Avoid for Gout

Please note that Dr. Berg has a number of YouTube videos covering gout.  I have never viewed any other videos than the one I am showing here.

At the very end of Dr. Berg’s video he states that cherries are really good for gout but no one knows why.  I immediately dashed over to my local Albertsons grocery store and purchased almost all of their tart cherry juice.  The label on this juice did list other ingredients, which I was not happy about.  I started drinking this tart cherry juice from Albertsons and the foot pain went away!  I was all in for drinking a lot of cherry juice every day.  I found a better cherry juice product, I believe, at Trader Joe’s because the ingredient label show noting else but cherry juice and looking at the glass bottle the juice comes in shows juice sediment at the bottom which really tells me this is a better product.  You have to remember to shake the bottle before use.  I now noticed that the foot pain completely disappeared from my right foot but my left foot would hurt if I failed to drink enough juice.  

I then texted my Kaiser primary care physician about having this problem and she scheduled a blood test to measure how much uric acid I have in my body.  I now realize that I failed to properly prepare for the test because I had my blood drawn when my feet were completely free from pain.  I should not have taken the tart cherry juice, for a few days so my feet reached a high pain level and then I would go in for the blood test.  It is my belief that drinking the juice my blood test came back normal.  My doctor then sent me this message:

“I will prescribe ibuprofen. I don’t think you have gout but it helps with gout and any inflammation on your foot.”

When I picked up my medication it showed:

“ibuprofen 600 mg tablet generic for Motrin.   You can take this tablet once every 8 hours.”

I found that this pill did work perfectly for about 2 to 3 hours or more when I go out for a 4 mile walk.  It is the long walking that causes the foot pain.  The short steps in the house does not seem to cause much pain so I only take the ibuprofen about a half hour before my morning walk and I am ok for the whole day.

Problem #2

When this foot problem started I started taking cherry juice as a solution.  I then began having intestinal gas which resulted in more frequent trips to the bathroom.  I had no idea why this started.  I sent my doctor that I now have this new problem.

My doctor sent me back this message to help get rid of my intestinal gas.  Look closely at the list below.  I darkened one item that was the actual cause of my gas problem.

 

“For gas, avoid the following foods:

Lactose rich foods: ice cream, milk, cottage cheese.

Avoid honey, bbq sauce, apple, pear, mango, cherries, watermelon papaya

Avoid wheat (white bread, pasta pastries cookies)

Avoid onion artichokes

Avoid soy beans chickpeas, black eye peas lentils broccoli cabbage brussel sprouts

Peaches, apricots, plums and berries.”

Please note that “cherries” was listed in the list from my doctor.  So, I quickly stopped drinking the tart cherry juice and relied only on the ibuprofen and all is good – finally.  So, I found out that both cherry juice and ibuprofen solve my foot pain.  I have the option to take one or the other but cherry juice causes intestinal gas.

Caution:

But, what to do with all that cherry juice?  A friend told me that you should not take any pain killers prior to getting you Covid-19 vaccine shot.  He then sent me this web site link to prove his point:

VERIFY: Ibuprofen/Acetaminophen should be avoided before getting vaccine, but OK afterward

Ok, prior to my receiving my Covid-19 shot I will NOT take any ibuprofen but drink my tart cherry juice.   I should then be ok for getting a much better immune response against Covid-19 for using my cherry juice and NOT take any of the following pain killers:

1. aspirin
2. ibuprofen (Motrin)
3. aspirinibuprofen (Advil)
4. acetaminophen (Tylenol)

 

My scheduled appointment with my medical group, to get my shot, is not for another 45 days.  A nurse called me to give me a tip to call every morning to see if anyone cancels their appointment.  She told me she had an appointment open today but the person needed to be at the clinic within 30 minutes.  I will call every day but that means I just might have to drink cherry juice for as many as 45 more days if I am not lucky to get a shot sooner.

Posted January 31, 2021
Updated February 1, 2021