1. No coffee at all when the pain is bad2. No salt in my food, usually only brown rice but stay away fromchinese sauces-MSG particularly sets me off.3. Carry water with you and drink it to excess. People will think youhave a kidney problem but double your water intake.4. Walk, carefully and walk in a way that you keep from injuring thearea but walk, for at least 45 minutes. If you can only go 25 minutesbecause of the pain, then stop, your not ready. If you do get to 45minutes, and I’m not talking about a fast walk, just keep moving, andyou make it the whole 45 minutes, then after you get back and cooldown, massage the toe area and keep it warm the rest of the day andnight. I keep two pairs of socks on that foot.

5. This is the critical part, walk the next day and the day afterthat. Don’t break the routine until after the 6th day and then goback to walking after only one day rest. By the third day you willstart to wonder what all this gout pain was anyway because your painwill be gone. But, if you stop and don’t go on your walk, for saythree days,you betcha, you will get the pain back. Not worse thanever but it will be back. How lond do you have to keep up theexercize. I really don’t know. I now stop on the weekends, say 3 daysand it doesn’t seem to hurt me.

A complicating fact is that I am on alloppurinol and it may now bekicking in but I suspect that you are like a person who has juststarted alloppurinol in that your excretion is notmal but youoverloaded your system with uric acid in the weight loss. Mildexercize in the affected area, followed with heat, should help you.

exercize will raise BP in the area, in your total system and it willagitate the area. More water will help to remove the urate and heatafter the walk, extra socks will keep it from repercipitating.