Diet question
Im 57 years old, and Ive suffered from gout in my right foot forabout fifteen years. The only medication the doctor has prescribedis colchicine which I only take when I feel the tinged of pain comingon.
Ive noticed that my gout episodes have increased over the last year.In the last four months I am averaging about two a month. I alsonote that the medicine seems to have no effect.
My question relates to diet. I am desperately trying to determine ifthere is something in my diet that is triggering the attacks. I quitdrinking alcohol last July (non-alcoholic beer only) and havedrastically reduced my red meat intake. A couple of months ago Icut out shrimp, but my attacks are increasing in their number. Iquestion whether any of the following could be the culprit:
Coffee (two pots a day)
Beans- Im eating vegetarian chili I make and it is made out ofkidney and pinto beans. I eat this twice a week (big bowl eachtime) and often put kidney or garbanzo beans on my salad that I eattwo or three times a week.
Cheese- grilled cheese sandwiches, string cheese, and grated cheeseon my salad.
You can tell from my question that Im not that knowledgeable butany advice would be appreciated. As an aside, Im wondering if Ishould be taking a different medication.
Trisha Dulek on July 23rd, 2007
The conventional wisdom is that a strict no-purine diet can reduce uratelevel by up to 20% so for many people, no diet will work.
Go back to your doctor.
Mohamed Monden on July 25th, 2007
might want to check the beans out
Isabell Colvard on July 26th, 2007
From your diet I see that you are now havingNon-alcoholic beer. I read that beer has two problems: the first one is thatit contains purines, and the second one is that it contains alcohol, whichreduces the processing of purines by your body… so beer seems to be a nono.Beans are also bad.And coffee is a diuretic, so it can increase the concentration of uretes andhelp you in getting a gout attack. I have discovered that it is moredifficult to leave the cofee than beer. I still have about 3 to 4 cups ofcofee per day.
I had my first attack about 4 years ago (I am now 43). I had my last attackabout a year and a half ago, and since then I have reduced my intake ofalcoholic beverages to a glass of wine or two per week. I am not eating meator shrimps, and it seems to work.
I feel that gout is a “looping” condition because:- You get the symptoms, lots of pain, etc.- Get your pain killer and get rid of the inflamation- Swear to God that this will be the last time you have a beer (or shrimp,or beef, etc)- Start a diet, drink lots of water, decrease your purine intake (for purinecontent in food, just go to Google and type: “Purine content” Gout A Good site with this info is: http://www.pumpa.co.uk/pages/diet.htm- Your toe gets better- Keep your diet for a few months- You feel good- Start having extra drinks or extra pieces of meat, etc.- At the begining nothing happens- After a few weeks or months you are back at step one….
So, I think that the best solution is to modify one’s diet (which is veryhard..) and for some people that solves just part of the problem becausethey have a more serious condition.
Best regards,
Glen Piekarski on July 27th, 2007
That’s probably your culprit, then.
Beans I’ve been told are about equivalent to chicken. 1/2 cup cookeddried beans is about 1 oz of meat,