Thanks to everyone for posting.  Now I know that Usenet News is still
where it's at.  I've done Internet searches and posted to some
site-specific message boards.  But you simply can't beat the sheer
volume of posts and the quality of informed suggestions Usenet offers.
This is still the fount of Useful information, excuse the
alliterations.

When I woke up this morning, the pain was moderate.  While going
through my medicine drawer for more aspirin, I found a vial of 500mg
Naproxen which was prescribed to me last year for a fracture of my
right foot.  I took a tablet of that and went to the City to take care
of some business.  About 2 hours later, I could walk very slowly
without much pain.  Still painful to go up or down the stairs or put
much weight on the right foot.  Went to the supermarket and bought
some concentrated cherry juice.  Also got a jar of generic Ibuprofen
from CVS.

As I write this, 8 hours after having taken my first Naproxen tablet,
there is almost no pain!  This is incredible.  There is still
considerable swelling around the achilles tendon.  In fact,  the
swelling seems to have increased -- that is, away from the tendon and
towards and around the ankle bone.  But it doens't emit as much heat
and my fever seems to have gone away as well.  Two days ago, I could
not sleep because of my foot and now I'm almost pain free!

I'm so glad I was able to self-diagnose and medicate myself.  If it
weren't for the Internet and this newsgroup, I would still be limping
around or walking with a cane, wondering what had stricken me. Now
that I'm more informed about gout and what precipitates it, let me
share my story on how exactly I developed this painful condition.

About 18 months ago, I fractured my tibial sesamoid in my right foot.
For 3 months, I used a cane and wore a post-op flat-sole shoe.  Then
began rehabilitation with a pair of orthotics.  Sesamoid fractures
take notoriously long to heal, if at all, due to the lack of blood
flow and the difficulty of effectively immobilizing an area that's
essential for walking.

Well, after 7 months, I felt it had healed completely.  So I decided
to prune some tree branches which were leaning against my aunt's
garage.  I was on a ladder while doing this and since the branches
were perched rather high, leaned on my toes to get to them.  I never
felt any pain but the next day, I could not move my foot and the pain
was excruciating.  Went back to the doctor, took the x-ray and,
surprisingly, no fracture was seen.  In fact, the doctor detected a
bit of "erosion" and "edoma" in the metatarsal above the sesamoid, but
no damage at all to the sesamoid.

This relieved me greatly because I was convinced that I had
refractured my sesamoid.  Indeed,  within 5 days, the pain completely
subsided and I was able to move around.  3 months later, I stopped
wearing orthotics, and now, 9 months later, I consider myself
completely healed, exactly 15 months after the original fracture of
the sesamoid.

I lost my job while recovering, so without much to do during the day
and unable to walk freely or run, I began putting on weight.  And when
I moved to another part of the town, my diet was very poor:  canned
meats like Libbey's corned beef; Chicken of the Sea solid chunk white
tuna; sardines; kidney beans; peanut butter sandwiches; Little Debby
treats and cakes; ice cream.  Plus I consumed about a liter of soft
drinks per day or two.  

Early summer, I found another job and began dining at my corporate
cafeteria regularly.  Indeed, I never lost the weight I gained and
began to put on even more weight eating high-protein fare:  BBQ
brisquets, roast beef, meatloaf, sirloin steak, ribs, roast pork.  I
also love eating high caloric vegetables -- kidney and lima beans;
black eyed peas; fried okra; asparagus; artichoke hearts; lentils;
mushrooms, both dry and sauteed; broccoli; cauliflower; spinach.  I
also eat everything very salty and spicy.

My eyes were bugging out like Rodney Dangerfield's when I saw my
favorite menu paraded as potential culprits for precipitating gout.
I'm now about 210 (5-10) and this is the heaviest I ever weighed and
the lack of exercise probably did me in.

In any case, my diagnosis now is that this was not the first attack of
gout.  It was my second (or third, if I count the inexplicable pain in
my left knee about 2 weeks ago).  The first one disguised itself as a
refracture of my sesamoid.  When it was proven not to be broken, I
dismissed it as a bruise or tendonitis.  But it was actually gout
attacking my toe joint.  I always remembered how painful it was; the
pain was actually worse than when my sesamoid was broken.  The pain I
experienced 2 nights ago equaled or exceeded that pain.  If it weren't
for the lack of any preceding event, I would have guessed that a bone
or a ligament was completely broken or torn.  In fact, I was in the
middle of my shift at my desk job when my ankle started throbbing and
hurting.

My best case scenario:  with treatment and diet, this is the last time
I'll experience gout.

My worst case scenario:  the onset of gout may have dietary and
biochemical origins -- I better follow up on the latter and see a
urologist to see if my kidneys are in good condition, as once they
were not.  This scares me a bit as I don't have the best liver (fatty
liver) either, but I have no choice but to confront this possibly
debilitating condition.

Thanks, everyone for contributing their stories.  This was mine.