Gout Diet Blog

This gout is a strange, peculiar type of ailment. I’m 60 yrs old, male, andhave had gout since I was 28. I’ve tried a number of medicines, done a lotof reading, and feel today I know about as little about it as I did beforemy first attack. I take allopurinol, and can woof down all foods exceptliver (I get a moon shot if I eat liver). I can swill booze with no problem(goutwise).

The one certain thing is there are many manifestations of gout, manytriggers, and a number of things that help some individuals. Some peopleare very diet sensitive, others are not. Some people can tolerate certainpreventatives and pain reliefs, some cannot. Certain medicines work wellfor some people, while others aren’t as effective with them.

Gout can hit us just about all over the body. I’ve had attacks in the jointat the base of the big toes in both feet, both ankles, both knees, bothhips, and my lower back. Recently, I read about someone who had it inhis/her wrist. I’ve also had what I thought were gout attacks in mytendon/heel area on my feet. Some reports tell me this is more likelypseudogout. I don’t know.

Gout seems to occur because of uric acid crystal concentration between thelinings of impacted joints. This causes intense pain, some swelling, andinflammation (that’s those hot, pink skin areas where the pain is). The onething I haven’t found explanation of is why, in gout sufferrers, our bodssuddenly begin a runaway overproduction of uric acid. Maybe the why of thisis unimportant. I don’t know.

Now, if you look closely at the timing/sequence of events in a gout attack,you’ll see why, in many people, lab tests of blood drawn during a goutattack can come back normal in uric acid levels. What happens is that, inmany of us, the attack develops so quickly that the spike of uric acid haspeaked and subsided very quickly, and is back to normal while the crystalsprecipitate and gravitate to the joint area they will eventually inflame.By the time you start agonizing, and someone draws blood,voila—-everything’s back to normal. In others, things progress moreslowly.

What pharmacology will help us prevent gout? There is one drug (I’veforgotten the name and need help here) that helps our bods not produce anoversupply of uric acid. Then, there’s allopurinol, which helps our bodseliminate over productions of uric acid. Allopurinol, incidentally, seemsto be tolerated well by most, and has few adverse side effects.

Then there’s the pain of gout attacks. Pain relief falls into three maincategories. One is non-specific analgesics (NSAIDS) [[[can’t remember whatthe full accronym stands for; need help here, too]]]. These includeaspirin, tylenol, etc. DO NOT take aspirin or aspirin based compounds forgout pain relief. The aspirin base fights with the inflammation from gout,and makes the pain worse. I can get fair relief by gobbling lots oftylenol. Others say tylenol doesn’t help them one bit. Another of thesecommonly used is Indomethicin. Indo is very effective in most people, butgives rather pronounced indigestion and tummy upset.

Another category of gout pain reliever are steroids. Steroids, as a class,are pretty good pain relievers. Be aware of prolonged use, though, becausethey tend to have adverse side effects, such as bone marrow attacks, waterretention, etc.

Then there are narcotics. Narcotics are very effective at knocking down thepain, but we all know what trails those can too easily lead down. Narcoticsare rarely prescribed for gout pain.

One of the things that tends to pop up recurringly is the thing aboutcranberry juice. The role of cranberry juice is interesting, but doesn’ttie directly in with gout. What happens is that cranberry juice relieveskidney discomfort in many people. We can get kidney discomfort from manycauses, including gout.

The high uric acid levels during/preceding gout attacks have to be dispensedwith somehow. Well, that overload gets filtered out through the oldkidneys. Is some cases, this causes discomfort to the kidneys. Thus,cranberry juice can help relieve that discomfort in some people. But, ithas nothing per se to do with gout, only indirectly.

I had my first attack nearly six weeks ago. The severe drugtreatment was effective but lots of side affects. Does it attack thecrystals or lower the swelling only?

I think I had gout because I drank wine and beer (with food) everyevening for years and didn’t take enough water before bedtime so asnot to ‘trot’ in the night! I’ve put myself off alcohol for 6 weeks(this is the sixth).

I’m also in my forties and my father had it (much later in life) andI had a previous injury to the leg with gout (swollen and frozenknee for 20+ years) but the doctor said this was irrelevant. Walkingis my main exercise, but my occupations are sedentary/office based.

Recovery seems very slow. My foot seems very weak and ‘twingy’following the attack. Does it take a long time to get back to normal?

Diet advice is conflicting (beer good or bad, cauliflower good orbad, and why is cod and haddock banned?) but I’ll look out forcherry juice, Turkish if possible.

I was told that Gout attacks are usually in one joint at a time andthat Rheumatoid Arthritis attacks are in multiple joints.

Has anyone here ever had a gout attack in two joints simultaneously?If so, which joints were affected?

Concerning “soup diet”.

My recollection is that bouillon should be avoided ifyou are a gout sufferer.

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 initial attack was nocturnal and there is ampleliterature references referring to the initial goutattack usually being a nocturnal one.

Does anyone have any idea as to WHY?

The feet would be dark and warm and if the person isasleep there would be no exercise induced enhancementof circulation.

But why nocturnal and why the feet, particularly thetoes?

I am 37 and have been suffering from gout for about 10 years now. Itake colchicine when in flares up bad (twice a year or so), but I’mgetting to the point were I can not handle it long enough to help.My doctor said I sould take allopurinol, but he can not tell me thelong term affects. Since I am realitivly young I worry about longturn use of this drug. Also, do cheeries work at all?

Blood uric acid levels pretty much lost all meaning for me a LONGtime ago..I’ll be SERIOUSLY HAPPY!!! when medical science figuresthis one out.Again and again and again and over and over I seemedical references to this..

IT ALWAYS ends up BACK at the same place..ya get the guy with theuric acid level of like 9..sure a bit over the average of 7..and likealmost all people with high uric acid levels..hyperuricemia..NO GOUT?NEVER!WHY?..this baffling question has been around for too longnow.Then the guy with like a level of 4/5..CRIPPLED with gout.Almostno-one ever puts together the fact that the blood uric acid level canget pretty much as high as it wants..BUT and the big but..HUGE..thatthe uric acid has to somehow..unknown..get into the joint fluid(synovial fluid)..AND reach a high enough concentration in order forit to crystalaize..The argument that gout sufferers cannot eliminateenough uric acid..or not enough fast enough..don’t wash no more. I mean obviouslly..someone like me who has NEVER had even aboveaverage levels is eliminating more and more percenatge wise thansomeone with a raging high level..but somehow..SOMEHOW..ALL of usgout sufferers..have at a certain level..uric acid spilling over intothe joint fluid..and enough of it..and enough of it to staythere..and get in a high enough concentration that it crystalizes..Iknow what my level is..yes I am PAINFULLY aware of that..my ownpersonal uric acid level..if it goes much above the halfway point..3-7..(here they use a different scale)((.180-450))..mine has been atabout 3 for years now..on allopurinol..before allopurinol it wasabout 4..and guess what happens to me at 4?.. That is the role of allopurinol..to reduce YOUR overall averageuric acid level..I crystalize out at 4..meaning at this level ofblood uric acid..even though I have some EXCELLENT blood tests/kidneyfunction..yes I am healthy fit/good diet..for whatver reason..somehowthis uric acid gets from my bloodstream into my joint fluid.. Others blood uric acid levels get to like 10..and are seriousllyunfit/unhealthy.with nowhere near the blood work..nor kidney functionof me..who gets the gout?ME!

Oh well..it takes a while to get an average uric acid levelestablished.If you get gout..it is too high..so you startallopurinol..and it gets lowerred..the dosage may needadjustment..and there you stay.

Diet and uric acid levels This here is another can of worms..it is pretty common knowledgethat diet can influence uric acid levels 5-15%.. Some facts get in the way though..someone with pretty much ashigh a blood uric acid level as can be had is hospitalized..on amedically supervised hospital vegetarian diet..the blood uric acidlevel can only be reduced by .028 umol/L..yup..there is about yourmaximum of 15%..that is providing that the person is almost awaif..and a vegetarian with a blood uric acid level of only180..there is the 15%..what about the other end of the scale?Whatabout in the real world..?eating normally..being of averagehealth..it is pretty much impossible to CONSISTENTLY lower the blooduric acid level average by even 2-3 %. Has anyone else here actually experimented/played around withthis?Just curious..I have..seriouslly.We have government healthcare..plus I was literally crippled with gout.No cost to me.Andjustified by all the Dr’s I saw..they were pretty baffled.And I wasVERY interested/concerned..the Dr’s wanted “average” uric acidlevels..a lot of them..as in real world/real life..exactly how Ilived..not this fasting..being a good boy stuff.I was after allpretty sick and wanted this gout nonsense over.Of course everyone isdifferent..my results..were that the blood uric acid levels hadalmost no change no matter what I did.The clinic was open from 7am to10 pm..and I had so many stinkin’blood tests..that the clinic saidthat they would just fax them to me.This is strictly an absoluteno/no where I live..I had these samples taken at all hours..underpretty much all condtions..hard exercise..and..various timesafter..drinking a few beers..eating a few cheeseburgers..There wasalmost no difference in the few months of this..all around 450umol/l..nothing worked..and I tried I think everything for thisgout..I VERY RELUCTANTLY went on allopurinol..almost immediately..andI mean it was like days..the uric acid level dropped to around 3..ithas stayed there for years.

Uric acid crystals.. It used to be “known” that when there were gout crystals therewas gout/an attack..such was it that in some medical literature evennow Dr.’s still rely on it.I mean it was almost never done as afollowup..it was just assumed no gout attack=no crystals.Well so muchfor that theory..so much in fact that a lot..more and more Dr.s don’teven bother with the crystal thing.And along the way..more and morecrystals were seen in the joint/fluid and no attack.. It used to be thought that when the attack ended..the crystalsdissolved/dissipated..that was untill followup studies/researchinvolving actual fluid samples showed very clearly that the crystalswere still there.There is scientific debate as to how long itactually takes to make the crystals..some theorize that it takessince puberty..when gout actually starts..20-30 years..it does indeedtake on average of about 30/40 years for the first attack. Patients that went on allopurinol..showed a drastic reduction inactual crystals..no-one else.

Gout attack triggers.. It used to be thought that it was a massive amount of purines/oralcohol that drastically raised the uric acid level..more andmore..it is known that it can be a very slight increase..notmeasuresble by blood tests..or even a decrease. Other factors..chemicals..that can interfere with the white bloodcell attack on the crystals..or the chemical coating on the crystalsthemselves. There are simply too many people..many of them here..that haveattacks set off for..no good reason.

Shock wave therapy for gout(crystals) This is close..it is pretty common for kidney stones to be brokenup by sound waves(lithotripsy)..however..gout sufferers that haveuric acid stones..these stones cannot be seen on x-ray..hence verydifficult to sight the equipment.There is a clinic nearby thatadvertises sound wave therapy..of course I called them..they saidthey didn’t know if it would work..they weren’t sure if the crystalswould get broken up small enough..if I ever get another attack..IWILL BE THERE!

Quality of life.. It/this is almost sad..I mean at some point..I hear/read ofpeople giving up this..cutting back on this..not doing that.Ok fairenough..we want to avoid the DREADED attacks..VERY sad is when somuch has been given up for so long..THEN the attacks come backanyway..worse.

I do not know..if I gave up alcohol,coffee,meat,chili,..ETC.,I donot know personally how far I would go..I do know that I have indeedtried this..and fortunately..very,very fortunately forme..nothing..nothing at all worked..so I never had to make thatchoice..had I discoverred that somehing caused it/triggered it..wouldI have given that up..OR would I have said..”Forget it”..I’ll go onallopurinol instead..

Personally I just knew..knew..that my skiing..extremelyhard..screaming heart rate,burning thighs and the pounding on my feetwas what caused my gout.All that uric acid being dumped into mybloodstream..blasting out hot air from my lungs in cold weather isjust a great for the dehydration.I communicated with someone who gotattacks after weightlifting..his passion..so he finally quit.Did hego on allopurinol?No..but he did tell me to quit skiing.All the Dr’sI saw said no..skiing/exercise was not a factor for me..I didn’t havea great deal of choice I was crippled..it was allopurinol.. In the words of my rheumatologist..”Let’s say Arnold that I toldyou to quit skiing or face gout..I know that you have skiiedin/around gout attacks..you wouldn’t quit would you.I know that youwouldn’t quit..so if the choice is now..ya wanna go skiing?..then eatthese mudpies..let alone allopurinol”

Cherries.. Yes I have done that.the different kinds/extracts etc.No it didnot work YES! it was EXPENSIVE!..YIKES!Does it work?A lot of peoplesay so.Some recent research..cherries and a few other berries areEXCELLENT sources of flavinoids..that are extremely good athealing/and getting nutrition to damaged tissue..it is theorized thatthe irritation/damage caused by the crystals to the tissue in thearea is healed by the flavonoids.Idno..

BE WELL!..gotta go now and have my 100 lb dog TOW me around theneighbourhood..sheesh..3 times a day of that for 1/2 an hour each..15years of this..2 dogs later..NO WONDER I HAVE GOUT!

Being one of the oldest drugs in the world, colchicine gets a badrap with many health care professionals- one would suppose due tothe potential toxicity and sometimes nasty side effects.

I take colchicine, and to be honest it’s the only drug that reliablyworks to control my gout (I have yet to follow through withallopurinol therapy, but plan to). Being as old as colchicine is,its actions do not seem to be understood. It is defined as an “anti-gout” medication, but there is nothing on how it works. It DOESwork, at least in my case. It is also defined as an anti-inflammatory but I think that is crap- the inflammation reductionoccurs as a secondary action of the gout subsiding. Can anyone shedany light on the true action of colchicine?

In my world, the sometimes horrific gastric side effects caused bycolchicine are an acceptable price to pay vs. the pain of a severegout episode.

the amount of damage to joint interfacings is from scars thateach attack brings with it. The process is progressive, and dependent onseverity of and number of attacks. Each painful attack leaves us with adegree of scarring. When very much of this has occurred, the joint getsbuilt up and mis-shapen. In severe cases, it can be quite pronounced.

On the joint at the base of my right big toe, the distortion and enlargementis very visible in x-ray photos, and to the naked eye.