Living with Alcohol Abuse

My father lived through years of gout pain in one foot which greatly interfered with his quality of life and ability to get around easily. He was not overweight but he ate a very rich diet (cream sauces, gravies, red meat), as did most of us in our culture. He always said that his doctor told him to cut back on those rich foods and I think he tried sometimes and it helped a little off and on. But what he didn’t mention to us (most likely on purpose) was that drinking alcohol was also a major factor for causing gout.

Looking back, I realize that when he quit drinking to save his liver, after many years of daily beer drinking, he stopped complaining about the gout pain even though he kept eating much of the same rich food. He had also developed diabetes shortly before that, but the gout had come first. Now I think that the alcohol had much more to do with it for him than all the rich food.

Quitting those few beers he used to have everyday made a huge difference in his life. The liver cirrhosis, the adult-onset diabetes the hypertension and the gout all stopped being problems, and he even had a long-term relationship for the first time in his life.

Ironically, his renewed health was cut short by an unrelated brain infection (CJD) but the fact that his life was shortened makes me all the more glad he had those very healthy six years inbetween.

Thanks for reading my story.