I don't know whether this is the right forum, but here goes.

I just discovered something that should have been obvious. But my guess is most people have not realized how this aspect of their physiology works. I didn't realize until my capacity to do something routine was almost taken away.

My entire family has a problem with uric acid generation and storage in our bodies. So we occasionally have bout of gout and tendinitis. We control the problem with medication, but I don't like using the prescription MEDs, so I had basically stopped using them for about a year. Then, out of the blue, I had a fierce attack that basically rendered my right knee useless. I am right-handed and pretty much all my attacks are on my rightside, so much so that I have learned to and even do some intimate things with my left hand, because I have learned that the left will always work in a difficult situation.

But this time the right knee was basically incapacitated for around four days. To make matters worse, I had not properly coordinated my Scripts with my new Doctor of about 6 months, an excellent Doctor. So I could not run to the pharmacy to get refills because I had no prescription. So, I was at home movement incapacitated, communicating as needed with key people by phone. I got my Script issue worked out by calling my Doctor's office and talking to his nurse.

What I learned other than that I was stupid not to use my Scipts the way they are intended to work, was that a person seem to start every thing from their dominate side. When I tried to walk I found that I could not easily do so because my right knee was rendered almost inoperable. What I saw is that to start a step process, I always had to move first with my right leg, then pull the left leg past and forward, I couldn't walk any other way. To me, it now seems that a right-handed person always lead with the right leg from a standing position, while a left-handed person leads with the left leg in a similar situation. Like I said, it all should have been obvious, but to me it was a revelation.

During my down time I read up in detail on nutrition, because I suspected that something that I recently ate put my uric acid levels over the critical threshold. I also read up on what I could do regularly to helpless knock the levels down, Vitamin C turns out to be a powerful aid, one can get that through drinking a glass of orange juice each day, or with supplements. What set off my attack? Surprisingly, I think that it was a large batch of "organic" apples that I consumed just before the attack. I don't eat beef regularly because it kicks up my uric acid levels. I think that maybe the organic fertilizer for the apples may have been cow manure, my best guess, and that purines from the cow manure transferred to the apples. Purines are the building blocks for uric acid. I also learned that I need to pay more attention to what I buy, even when the stuff is pricier "health food". I am ok now, I am on my MEDs and they have knocked my inflammation and uric acid levels way down, I can walk again, abeit gingerly, the arc is better though, so I should be fine in another day or so.