gout

2/6/10 room, almost noon- Last night I read in my bed and stayed up pretty late. When I did finally turn off the heater and the lights with the remote controls and tried to sleep, I had a little difficulty.

I kept waking up because my leg and pelvic bones and joints were hurting, A LOT. My first thought was, “Great, just what I need, now I’ve got gout.” Gout was on my mind because it was mentioned in Curiosi-tea. Tea is good at relieving the symptoms of gout. It was the last chapter I read and maybe it was the power of suggestion. Of course it is almost impossible for me to have gout because my current diet and lifestyle are totally opposite of the kind that is conducive to it. If you eat too much red meat and drink too much alcohol and aren’t active enough you MIGHT get gout. I barely eat red meat here and I do not drink and my commute alone makes me active enough. Plus I drink so much tea here, which prevents gout.

Gout is an interesting disease. Back in the 1600s and 1700s in Europe it was called the “disease of Kings” because royalty often suffered from gout. They were the only ones whose lifestyle fit the cause for it; meat, booze, and sitting on your butt all day. When all that happens there is an enzyme in the liver that starts producing too much uric acid, which causes your bones and joints to ache. Tea can inhibit the enzyme that produces the uric acid. Of course you’re still a fat drunken lump but if you drink enough tea at least your bones won’t hurt. :P

Whatever was afflicting my bones last night, (and I don’t really think it was gout) as soon as I took many deep breathes of the cold air outside my blankets the pain was alleviated. This fascinated me, and I intend to research it at my next opportunity.

After a night like that I slept in and went down to breakfast at 9ish. I did souji and sentaku (cleaning and laundry). While I was hanging my laundry it started flurrying. I thought, “Hmm, how’s this going to work?” My host mom said the laundry could stay up but that I should not air out my futon and bedding.

At 12:30 we are going to the university where my host mom helps a professor teach computers (it’s the same professor who visited us a few days ago). I will bring homework to do but I will force myself to leave Curiosi-tea home. (11:58)