Gout Diet Blog

Chocolate is also an “evil doer” for me…It seems that anythingthat takes away water from my blood stream also triggers my gout. Ijust need to keep my body very hydraded (sorry for spelling) at alltimes. Is there a direct connection with chocolate, teas, coffee, orcarbonation? I find that the more soda pop I drink, the worst itgets too? Any insite is helpful.

Is it common to get attacks in 2 (or more) joints? My GP says thatgout is usually in one joint and Rheumatoid Arthritis can start outin one joint and then spread to two symmetrical locations (ie bothleft and right wrists).

First, the fact that there are some things that I know that I cannoteat and i also know that these things are not high in salt contentnor are they high in purenes so why do they induce an attack?

One of the things that i am sure induces an attack in me, shrimp,happens to be high in purenes and therefore I didn’t make theconnection thinking that it was the purene content in the shrimp. Ican eat as few as two shrimp and I get an attack.

Others have posted things recently on here that induce attacks and Iknow I get an attack when I eat Mangos, Pinapple and Guava.

I know from past experience, from way back in my childhood, that Ihave always been alergic to certain foods. For example I stay awayfrom shrimp because it makes my mouth break out in small sore’s in mymouth. Mangos, particularly if they are a little bit too green, makeme get hives and pineapple gives me a rash.

Allergic reactions all.

Now lets think about this.

Allergic reaction.

What happens when you have an allergic reaction. What happens is thatyour body generates inflamation of some kind somewhere.

Now, lets say that you are coasting along in life, and your uratecrystals are jsut in equilibrium with your white blood cells and yourgout reaction is essentially dormant. But reality is that your goutis just barely not erupting, no pain at all but at the present levelof inflamation of the area, you are not having a problem. Maybe atwinge or three but no real gout reaction. But the crystalks arethere.

What happends when you eat something that you are alergic to. Yourbody says, there is something that is invading me and I, your body,need to go and get it. But, if your bodies defenses get alerted, theydo indeed go out and make sores in your mouth, or generate hives onyour skin, but it will also go after the urate crustals that arestill there but which were at such a level that your body didn’t needto respond. Now that it has beedn alerted, now that the alergicreaction has heightened, your body goes after anything that it viewsas an alien substance and the urate fits that criterion.

I am saying that gout must have some components of straitforwardalergic reactions.

I banged “Japanese Gout Drug” into yahoo search engine.Japanese researchers were working on a plant called “chiso”..theyidentified 4 very strong and similar ingredients in this plant towhat were in allopurinol.These were xanthine oxidase inhibitors.Theyhave so far really only been found in this plant.This works at thevery heart of controlling uric acid production at the source..where85 to 95 % of the uric acid comes from.DO NOT confuse this withcherries..snake oils..or Devils Claw..ALL claiming to lower uric acidlevels..the latter ONLY work on the dietary uric acid..5 to 15 %.

This drug..can’t remember the name..it is there..is in phase 3testingt..might be out this year/next.Febuxurant of something close.

Hit the FDA news/testing site.

There are a few more gout drugs on the horizon..

I don’t know if cherry extract pills will prevent goutattacks. They certainly will not hurt and would be asensible dietary modification, but many tablets forvitamins and the like are poorly absorbed and may notoffer sufficient quantity to do much good.

I would consider them to be an interesting andflavorful “adjunct” that at the very least do no harm.

Since I am often busy and often irrisponsible, I sometimes forget totake my 300 Mg of Allopurinol. Not often but, it happens and I knowit is a bad thing to allow myself to do.

I got to thinking that when I actually take the allopurinol, that isthe time of day, is probably an important factor in how well it canwork for me.

If you read the article posted at —http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/allopur_cp.htm

and don’t be put off by the big words, you will find that allopurinolreaches its maximum serum levels after about 1.5 hours and itsdecomposition product, oxypurinol-which also inhibits the formationof uric acid, reaches its peak levels at 4 hours. Moving alongthrough the article it says that allopurinol has a half life ofapproximately 2 hours in your system and oxypurinol has a half lifeof about 15 hours. The article says that therefore you have effectiveoxyxanthase protection for 24 hours with a pill once a day—

OK but effective, and “maximum” protection are not the same thing. Ifyou look at what is going on here, if you take your allopurinol at,say 6 am, when you wake up, and you eat your dinner at 6 PM, a likelyset of events for most of us, by the time your food from dinner isbeing processed and the extra purene load is being dumped onto yoursystem- that is assuming that your main meal is in the evening, itwill be about 15 hours after you take your allopurinol if you take itin the morning. Half life means that half of the drug will be gonefrom your system so, after 15 hours there will be essentially noallopurinol in your system-2 hours 300->150; 4 hours 150->75; 6 hours75->37.5; 8 hours 37.5->18.7; 10 hours 18.7->9.4; 12 hours->4.7;

In other words, if you take your pill in the morning, there will notbe any allopurinol in your system when it most needs it, which isabout two to three hours after your big meal. Although the oxypurinolwill still be there, it too will have been reduced to a dosage ofabout half of what you took in the morning.

Therefore, I am suggesting that we need to take our allopurinoleither at dinner or sometime just before dinner by a few hours. Bydoing that, we will have a maximum effect on inhibiting the formationof uric acid, and the difference can be as mush as the difference oftaking 300 mg of allopurinol versus about 75 mg.

I’ll try to say the same thing a different way.

You would probably get as much protection from 100 mg taken before orat dinner time as you get from 300 taken in the morning.

Can tophi form inside the mouth?

Its not just ‘low carb’ but whether there is highprotein or high fat to replace the carbohydrates.

I imagine more damage would be likely in the highprotein diet than the high fat, but there does notseem to be any studies on the issue.

There is some “evidence” presented but it is offeredby a very politically active pro-vegan group thatopposes the Atkins diet for more political thanmedical reasons.

I was on a extremely low carbohydrate diet with mostof my diet consisting of sausages, pot roasts, steaks.I had my first attack about a week after ending thediet (and the high water intake).

Most often recommended are dark cherries. Farless often strawberries are recommended. Thereseems to be a difference of opinion as tocranberries.

Usually these are recommended as some sort ofanciliary measures that you can take in additionto whatever other measures you take to lower youruric acid levels or lessen the pain of goutflareups caused by continued high levels.

Occasionally, these anciliary measures provesufficient on their own and only an occasionaluric acid test is needed to monitor thesituation.

To the extent that some researchers think gout isreally caused by an infectious agent, thecherry/strawberry routing would proveparticularly interesting.

Masking? Well, alot of pain relievers work bycausing pain. So all they really do is ‘mask’ themore severe pain by causing a milder pain thatthe body reacts to.

VERY FEW! people are as pro exercise/fitness/health as I am..andjust as few get as much as I do..I am 100% for almost anyone gettingmore exercise!!.it is REALLY GREAT!! and I MEAN IT!!! to see otherscoming back from the “land of gout”..I certainlly have..been crippeldby it..

But you know..people are going to read this..and they’re gonnatry it..and you know what’s going to happen?I do.’Cause I’ve studiedthis long enough.They’re going to get gout attacks..and end up worseoff then before.This is NOT anecdotal.There is a lot of clinicalevidence..as well as anecdotal..that exercise..hard work..causes goutattacks.Period.If you are predisposed to gout..this is s SERIOUS!!trigger..it raises the uric acid level in the blood..because of thecell death/breakdown..plus if you are changing your diet..burning offfat..this only adds to the problem..

Many,many people have been turned off exercise..and worsened bygout because of this.DO NOT!!! let this happen to you.

There is NOT ONE SHRED of evidence ANYWHERE that exercise is goodfor gout..exercise that is that causes cell death..and most evenlight exercsie can cause this..AND plenty of evidence to the contrary.

We get right back to basic blood uric acid levels..AND we gottalower them..diet can have a very minor effect on them..NOTexercise!!..exercise can cause the bodies natural production level ofuric acid to rise substantially..and then you end up with even moreof the stuff in your blood..AND joints..

It is entirely possible that someone could work out to the pointwhere they lowerred their uric acid level and defeated gout.It couldbe done..eventually..MAYBE..a great amount of weight losss..drasticdiet/lifestyle change..I doubt it..and have NEVER heard of it..readof it. For almost ALL of the rest of us poor gout sufferers..no matterwhat else we do..it all ends up to LOWERRING uric acid levels.

Allopurinol will make them plunge..and for all intents andpurposes fix the gout.The allopurinol will deal with the increasedlevels of uric acid being produced.Allopurinol and exercise..GREAT!!GREAT!! combo.Exercise and no allopurinol..

I’ve read/heard simply too many SAD,SAD stories aboutpeople..athletic..active..fit..weight lifters..etc.,etc., people thatI could not reach..they were NEVER going to take drugs(allopurinol)EVERY day..they were going to beat it this way..they simply gotbeaten,broken down so many times that they simply gave up.

ANY expert on gout will say that DO NOT upset the balance of uricacid..either lowerring it..raising it too fast.Lower it slowly..ANDkeep doing it..keeping it low!

As for even moderate exercise in a gout sufferer..I’ld say..ifyou’re NOT on allopurinol..again..head to the Dr..monitor your blooduric acid levels..regularly

Gout is a MEAN,CRUEL disease..people can..and do..head down theroad to meet this monster head on.Diet,exercise..they feelGREAT!..more dieting.MORE!! exercise..all the while..sneakily..theevil is being done..the uric acid level in the blood is rising..moreand more is being deposited in the joints..maybe they are close..theblood uric acid levels have not been monitored..it can now actuallyat some point being artificially low..the body being unable toeliminate the excess..the excess NOW being in the joints..WHAMMO!gout attack..the now lower uric acid levels baffle physician andpatient..

The attack goes..and as always returns..WORSE!