Shirley x

Age at interview: 77

Brief Outline: Shirley has had gout for around fifteen years. She take allopurinol as a preventative medication, which keeps it under control. Gout is not a priority for Shirley as she has other health conditions.

Background: Shirley is married and lives with her husband. She has three children. She is retired, and previously worked as a teacher and social worker. Ethnic background/nationality: White English.

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Shirley’s gout began 15 years ago, with pains that she first thought were chilblains. She suspected it might be gout but thought it was a disease of old men. However, her GP diagnosed it as gout, when her foot had become very red and swollen. She was given medication that cleared up the attack and then now takes daily allopurinol as a long-term preventative.
 
She is happy to continue taking allopurinol, as it keeps the gout under control, apart from an occasional twinge in her toe. She feels that, since the first attack, her gout has not had much of an impact on her life. Shirley tries to drink plenty of water and avoids citrus fruits but is not sure whether this actually helps or not.
 
Shirley has other health problems. Last time she was in hospital she thinks that she wasn’t given her allopurinol and remembers getting some twinges in her toes, but this stopped once she re-started the allopurinol. Shirley trusts her doctor to check for any possible interactions between the different medications she is taking.
 
Shirley doesn’t see gout as being a big part of her life, preferring to just get on with things. She would want doctors to reassure other people that it is a condition that can be lived with.

Blood tests showed that Shirley had high levels of uric acid. She started taking allopurinol to keep her levels within the normal range.

Following that, she (GP) arranged blood tests, which showed, I think, uric acid was a very high level. So she put me on allopurinol for a, sort of, long-term medicine, and I had a number of follow-up blood tests, and because the uric acid didn’t subside, she upped the dose of allopurinol. So I’m now on 200mg a day, and I’ve been taking that ever since and that seems to have kept it under control. I’ve had no major outbursts. I still get a, the odd twinge in my big toe joint, just to remind me not to get complacent, but nothing I can’t live with. So that’s it, really.

Shirley has not been told whether her uric acid levels are being monitored. She thinks they are probably checked when she has regular blood tests for other conditions.

Are you aware of whether you’re having any regular monitoring in relation to your gout now?

I don’t know in relation to the gout, but I have very regular monitoring. So I think they would pick up anything untoward. I mean I do have six-monthly blood tests, which seem to pick up on just about anything, so...

So, do you know whether your uric acid levels are being, sort of…? 

I think occasionally they have looked at them. I don’t know whether they do it specifically. And I’ve just had a blood test, I ought to have said [laughs], “Check the uric acid while you’re about it”.

Shirley X had a gout attack when in hospital with a lung problem. She linked this to not being given her allopurinol tablets.

And so on any of those occasions when you were in hospital for various different things, did you ever – sometimes people find that their gout reoccurs when they’re in hospital?

I think it did, certainly on the last occasion, because I was in hospital for a long time. And, although I took my prescription thing in with me, so they knew what drugs I was on, I’ve a feeling they didn’t always give me the allopurinol for some reason best known to themselves. And I think it did recur slightly at that point, but once I came home and got back into my regime I was okay.

Shirley X thinks there are lots of incorrect stereotypes about gout. She feels this is a shame because it is a serious and very painful condition.

The stereotype is there, and it may be quite wrong. I mean, you, you never see pictures of elderly ladies with their feet up on stools and swathed in bandages. It’s always these portly gentlemen, isn’t it? It, it’s, it’s just the, sort of, tradition that’s been handed down, and it’s a pity because gout has become the butt of people’s humour, when really it is quite a serious and painful ailment. 

Other people have talked about how they find that quite frustrating, that people don’t really understand how painful it can be. Is that something that you’ve…?

Yes, I, I think so. I think it’s a pity that it has this stereotype, but, actually, you seem to hear more and more these days of people admitting they have gout. Perhaps they kept quiet in the past because it was laughed at and you became the butt of people’s humour.