Gout Diet Blog

First of all, your physician. If he does not have gout he willprobably treat you from his text book and he probably has 10 to 100patients that suffer from time to time with it. His main objective isto get your pain relieved, with as little real effort as possible andalthough he may be genuinely sympathetic, he cannot understand thedetails of your symptom or for that matter really, what it was thatled to your last attack.

The cause of gout is well documented and clearly the people on thisforum understand that the culprit is Uric Acid. A metabolic endproduct that our bodies are not able to excrete as fast as we make.Specifically we are having uric acid percipitation, usually in ourbig toe area and it causes severe pain and discomforture when ithappens.

The clinical difficulty with gout and what causes it, is that theconcentration of uric acid in your serum blood level that exists whencrystals start to form for person A is often very different than itis for person B. Moreover, it can also be different for youpersonally in attack #1 and attack #2. I have good clinical data onme on this one. In other words, when you have an attack your level ofuric acid may or may not be the same as it was the last time. It isnot the concentration alone of uric acid in your system that causesthe crystals to form. By the way, if anyone disagrees with thepremises I intend to lay down, please correct me because it isimportant for all of us to really understand what is going on. Thisis not vodo and it is not even mysterious.

IT IS RELATIVELY SIMPLE CHEMISTRY BUT THAT CHEMISTRY IS TERRIBLYCOMPLICATED BY THE WAY EACH OF US LIVE OUR LIVES AND BY THE UNIQUEWAY EACH OF OUR BODIES REACTS TO AND WORKS ON AND EXCRETES THEMETABOLIC END PRODUCT, URIC ACID.

So far, all this is known stuff and not too important. I want to makea statement that you all need to think about relative to your diet,exercize and hydration levels.

The solubility of any substance in water, which is what our bodiesuse as a solvent, is dramatically affected by whatever else is therein solution with that substance. Gout attacks are, in allprobability, caused by something that affects the local solubility ofuric acid and probably not by total uric acid concentration alone. Inother words, if your contration of uric acid is at a fixed high leveland you eat something that, or do an activity that, makes the overallsolubility less, you can get an attack with out having an increase inuric acid level.

So I ask the following question which I do not know the answer to. Inthe middle of an attack is it better to drink lots of plane water orshould you have water and gatoraid. I can argue it both ways and I donot know which is right. With gator aid, you will be taking in moresalt. That increased salt will increase the ability of your tissue tohold water. You can prove this to yourself with your scales. Drinkexcessive pure tap water and then let your system come back tonormal, usually 4 to 6 trips to the bathroom, and then weighyourself. Then drink the same amount of gatoraid and let yourselfequilibrate. Weigh yourself again. You will find that you gained moreweight after the gatoraid because the increased salt will increasethe tissues ability to hold water. Perhaps more water in your systemwill allow uric acid to go back into solution, a good result, or, theincreased salt in your system may cause the uric acid to percipitateout, clearly a bad result…. That is a simple question that we canget a difinitive answer to and then when we have an attack we willknow what to do. I personally option for the gatoraid rout but I maybe completely wrong on this one.

A related thread I have picked up on here and something I am certainis very important to me, is that when I get dehydrated, I get twingesand sometimes little attacks in my toes. When you get dehydrated,there is less water and with less water the relative concentration ofuric acid will go up and percipitation will happen. When uric acidpercipitates, it does so because the concentration in the system isgreater than the water in your system can hold. But, you say, itdoesn’t always percipitate. Dehydration doesn’t always cause it.There is a complicating fact about dehydration which is that althoughyour system will have more uric acid concentration, it will also havea higher concentration of other things like salt.

I don’t know the answer but I think it is important for us to knowthat we should or should not add salt to the water we drink, i.e.gatoraid, when we drink water to help a gout attack.

Lets go back to pure uric acid in water and look at it from thatperspective. You may not have uric acid to do it with, but you cantake water and sugar or water and salt to understand it. You can putsugar into solution in hot water and then cool that sugar watersolution till the solution is a thick syrrup. No crystals will formif you just cool it. But, when you add one single tiny crystal tothat supersaturated solution, bingo, the whold area will formcrystals of sugar and they will form around that single crystal.Moreover, when that happens, the crystals will end up being large andit will be difficult to get them to go back into solution. Try it,you can pour out any water, or even add more water and you will seethat sugar crystals that have formed in a super saturated solutionare very difficult to redissolve. I think my three really bigattacks, like no sleep for two to three days, even a sheet over myleg was too painful to stand, I’m sure you real sufferers know what Iam talking about, all three of my bad attacks were when I had verylittle warning that it was coming from the twinges.

IT IS POSSIBLE THAT WHEN WE ARE HAVING THE LITTLE TWINGES, WE AREOPERATING AT SATURATION BUT WE DON’T GET TO SUPERSATURATION BECAUSETHE CRYSTALS KEEP US WARNED AND THEREFORE CAREFUL OF WHAT WE AREEATING. ONCE TRAINED BY THIS AFFLICTION TO NOT PIG OUT ON A LOBSTERMEAL, WE ABSOLUTELY RESPECT THOSE TWINGES AND EAT CAREFULLY.

So, I’ll end this too long post, with anobservation and theory that I have developed from what data I thinkis real data. The issue is fat and oil. Fact– when your weight ishigher than normal, you are more succeptible to gout attacks. Themost effective treatment for gout is loose weight. Why? There is nouric acid in fat at all. None, absolutely no uric acid is in fat andyour body cannot make uric acid from it. But, your body can maketriglycerides from fat, and it does, and triglycerides can affect theoverall solubility of uric acid. So the statement in one of the listabout fats and oils being OK may be completely wrong. I personallybelieve that it is. I think that fats and oils in our diet are aperscrption for an attack for us. It’s not my idea here either but Ibelieve it because it best fits the facts I have seen. Low body fatand low fat in the diet will keep the gout attacks away.I think ithas to do with overall solubility of uric acid in the system that ishigh in triglycerieds.

At least in the regulation of my own life I intend to lower my weightby about 25 lbs out of 205. I went gout free, twinge free, for abouttwo years when my weight was down to about 190-195. As my weeightdrifts up, so do my attacks. I’m just recovering from one that lasted6 weeks and it has given me the impetus to get rteally serious aboutits treatment. I don’t now about the rest of you but I am nearlyuseless when the pain is really bad.

So, I say we have to track both the total purene intake but also thefrequency and quantity of some ofhte things that we consume, likefats and oils, salt intake, etc. etc.More later on things likeMuscle fatigue aroung gouty area.Muscle fatigue may be part of pre-gout symptomDissolving crystalsAllopurinolCulcicine(great at spelling)One last observation-With each of my bad attacks, the end of the attacks were at the sametime as pretty heavy dihrreah. I think the gut may be a good uricacid extractor and I want to explore that concept more in the future.

I happened to arrive at my destination a half hourearly and in my pre-gout days I would automaticallyhave gone across the street to the deli and had asandwitch. Now if I had stopped to think, I might haveselected some different place but I was in a familiararea and it was luch time so I just reverted to oldhabits: Krakower sandwitch and some German potatosalad.

Its strange, particularly when one reflects on howlittle luncheon meat is actually in one tiny littlesandwitch, but toes and knuckles have been acting upagain. It not the utterly devestating pain of thefull-blown gout that I had suffered earlier, but itsure is a noticeable sensation.

Seems I’ve really got to keep this dietary stuff inmind constantly. The last urate test showed I was atthe high end anyway and it seems it doesn’t take muchto start feeling joint pain again.

Is it alright to drink decafe coke?

Any effect on gout?

What about chocolate bars?

Started allopurinol on the 11th and have taken 100mgs daily. Veryparanoid when I first took and had my wife stay with me all day incase something happened as far as an allergic type reaction. Iknow,I know, give me a break though, you cannot ignore the fact thatso many scary things are said to be possible although slim…kindalike winning the lottery..hahaha… So far so good! See nephrologiston the 20th to check kidney function and will follow up in 1 monthfor complete work-up (CBC,liver,kidney,uric acid,and urine). Docsays to start slow at 100mg for a month due to concern with kidneys,not many previous attacks, and the slow buildup of allopurinol willhelp control the possibility of bringing on an attack (along withibuprofen as prophalaxis).I have noticed painful twinges that comeand go quickly in the areas of my last attack(ankle,instep,achilles). Anyone else with similar experiences? Alsohave felt a bit tired but that is probably from lack of sleep. MaybeI am just being my hypochondriac self.

Lead has always been a factor in gout. It is usuallyignored by doctors treating gout however.

Most blood and urine tests for heavy metals reallyonly detect recent exposure; a lead burden test is farmore time consuming and expensive but reveals the leadcontent of an adult whose exposure was quite some timeago.

This Three attacks prior to going on allopurinoldoctor should read more recently developed guidelines.

I think the optimal treatment is no NSAIDS,allopurinol right away at 300-400mg with a maintenancedose later of 100mg. This brings uric acid levels downand in the one study of this not one subject hadanother gout attack. There have been very few studiesthat have tried to determine just how low your uricacid levels have to go to avoid future gout attacks.

I just had my first experience taking Colchicine to relief a case ofgout. The bottle said to take one pill every hour until I began tofeel relief so I took one every hour for six hours and still didn’tfeel any relief when I went to bed. The next morning most of thepain was gone except for a small sore spot that soon went away.

My problem was thatfor the rest of the day I was bothered withintense nausea and diarrhea which didn’t go away until the next day.

My question is: Has anyone else had the same experience taking sixtabs (0.6 milligrams) and if so did they find by reducing the dosagethat they still found relief without the side effects?

I really don’t know much about this..but I did read an article ina newspaper about how Devils’Claw was much more effective thanallopurinol at lowerring uric acid levels. At the time I was doing a lot of research on gout..and found noevidence of this. However it has come up now and again.

2 hrs ago I was actually in the pharmacy.. a huge one.. getting myallopurinol..I almost bumped into a guy in the aisle where all theherbal medicine etc.was.He asked me if there was anything he couldhelp me with.Coincidentally I asked him if he knew about DevilsClaw.He then introduced himself as the rep. for a very large herbalmedicine company.And sort of very politely said yes he did know aboutDevils Claw and what would I like to know..how could he help me.

I asked about Devils Claw for gout.He said that Devils Claw was anexcellent anti-inflammatory!..with very few side effects..andexcellent for gout attacks..had I tried it?I should.BUT he added..itdoes not cure gout.It does almost nothing for the real problem withgout..the individuals already too high uric acid level.He said thatonly 1 drug to his knowledge dealt with that..I said I know I takeit..allopurinol. I said I remembered reading an article on how Devils Claw wasmore effective at reducing uric acid levels than allopurinol. He said that a lot of companies..even individuals make theseclaims and these claims need to be examined VERY carefully.he saidthat sure..you can drink a gallon of water with your big steak..andkeep drinking..this will help somewhat..in lowerring your uric acidlevels..as you digest the steak.And so will a lot of other things youcan take/eat..but this reduction in the uric acid levels from thepurine breakdown of food going in was pretty small compared to thebodies own production of uric acid.He said that his companyhasn’t/wouldn’t make claims about lowerring uric acid levels.BUTpromoted the anti-inflammatory aspect! He said the actual ingredient(active) of Devils Claw..varied frombrand to brand/source to source..BUT the component that you arelooking for is actually in the plant itself,(the component active inthe anti-inflammatory aspect)It is called harpagoside..and should bepresent around 3% to 5%..in the brand. He said that alfalfa,bilberry,and juniper all are said to be goodfor gout..and did add that some say that they too reduce uric acidlevels..BUT he said if they did..it would only be on the purines youactually eat.

Anyway..thought I’ld pass this along..

 I just started taking allopurinol 300mg at a cost of USD$ 19.68. for a quantity of 30 pills. It is the generic form called mylan. Is this to expensive?  I saw  some at costco for much cheaper like around $9.00.

I’m a 21 year old female. I realize how rare this is but i wasdiagnosed with gout a few days ago. I was just wondering if anyonecould give me some information about gout in laymans terms so that Imight have a clue about what is going on.

My 50 year old partner has suffered from Gout for anumber of years, but has been fairly good atcontrolling it using a combination of diet andgout-maintenance pills.

However, a few weeks ago he was in hospital due to anarythmic heart, and they stuffed him full of a drugcalled flacconide (or something similar) and gave himsome to take for a further 6 weeks. He has been inconstant pain ever since!

I’m convinced that this is due to the drug - hasanybody else had any such expereince?