The gout is finally subsiding. I know I keep going on about it, but it's a pretty big part of my life when it hits. It means that every waking minute is acute agony, right in the one place on my body where it's least tolerable - my ankle or toe.

So, I've spent three days scoffing Keral, by far my favourite Anti-inflammable. It takes a while to start working, and it's better if you eat at about the same time - better as in if you don't eat, it doesn't work.

Once the Keral's done its' job, I can go onto a preventative tablet - Allopurinol - one a night eevry day for the rest of my life. Is it worth it? A lifetime of popping pills for the reassurance that you won't wake up in screaming agony unable to walk even into the kitchen or to the loo?

It's a question I've been asking myself for a year, since I was first offered the preventative option. I don't want to be a pill-popper. I don't want to fill out the "Are you on any long-term medication" section on application forms and insurance documents. But I can't take the agony anymore. I seriously suggested amputation yesterday - by design or accident.

So yes, it's worth it. Yes it's a compromise and yes I'm glad to think I'll never worry about it again.