Gout Diet Blog

One of the reasons for not starting allopurinol in the firstplace durng an attack is that it is basically impossible to determinewhat kind of gout attack is occurring. The conventional..early stage gout attack is almost alwaysbrought on by a rise in uric acid levels..usually sudden..by whateverreasons.These last a week or two..and go away..or maybenot..sometimes all that goes away is the attack..the white blood cellattack..the deposists just find a home..and get bigger..until..Quiteoften there is a trigger.To a level where the uric acid in theblood..has somehow managed to get into the synovial fluid of the joint(method unknown)or whether the crystals have already started in theblood(not known).This is one of the reasons that blood uric acidlevels are drastically different.1 person may have high levels..nogout..another low levels..gout.It is not so much the blood uric acidlevels but the actual concentration of uric acid in the synovialfluid..and around the joint.Quite often the blood uric acid level atyour arm where the sample is taken has nothing at all to do with theactual concentration of uric acid in the joint.Even the actualconcentration in the joint can be highly misleading..often in chronicgout this is low..especially in the blood because the uric acid isnow in the form of deposits..dense..but not yetcrystalized.Impossible to determine by blood tests.Can’t be seen on x-rays.ONLY when it has crystalized can it be determined by asample..even then..crystals have been seen where there is no goutattack. Starting or staying on allopurinol during an early stage attackwould probabblly be a good idea as it is a powerful drug..capable ofdrastically reducing uric acid levels..fairly quickly..if there areno..or few deposits of uric acid around the joints..this would be agood idea.But then this can not be determined.This is the reason somany Dr.s want people on allopurinol after their first attack..thefirst attack is rarely a case of chronic gout(mine was). The SERIOUS,SERIOUS problem of starting allopurinol during theother type of gout attack..secondary uric acid stage attack is that asudden drop in uric acid levels caused by the allopurinol can casuethese undetected deposits around the joints to go completeleywacko..crystalizing,causing an unbelievable white blood cellattack,basically cutting off circulation and causing instantunbelieveable swelling.These attacks put you in the hospital.There isno way of determing whether there are deposits around thejoints..untill it reaches the severe stage.These deposits canlie..dormant..growing for years..not detectible..ask me aboutit..what causes them is not known. Another gout expert theorizes that changes in uric acidlevels..especially sudden ones.. in the synovial fluid actually stripthe protein from the crystals of uric acid..the white blood cells nowsee the jagged edge of the crystal as a foreign body and attackit.They can’t destroy it and surround it..so many white blood cellsare destroyed that the nucleus of these cells are..waste/dead cellsand this only adds to the uric acid rise..thus the gout attack is nowself perpetuating..sheesh..I’m no bio-mollecular chemist.. Here..you can read my story if you’re bored..you sonn will be HEHE My uric acid level has never been out of the normal range..I havea perfect diet/exercise..always have.This monster struck me withoutwarning March 9 2001..in the balls of my feet..and forefeet..how longis a gout attack?I was on maximum strength colchicne andindomethicine..for?EVERY time I went off the maximum dose..I had amaximum of 12 hours..before another SAVAGE attack..on May 32001..after being in bed 20 hours a day since March.. a specialist,afoot specialist,a rheumatologist.and a g.p. all agreed that thisongoing gout attack..the worst they had ever seen was not going tostop..nor did they know how to stop it..all drugs would do wascontrol it..With only average uric acid levels..and urine testsindicating I was ..not an under excreter..they guessed that if I wenton allopurinol..during the attack..(there really was no other choice)hey just like baking a cake..just give this guy more drugs..(30 Dr.svisits/30 different prescriptions in 6 months)..the only hope Ihad..any reduction in overall blood uric acid levels wouldeventually..hopefully lead to an unfavorable chemical condition forthe uric acid deposits in my feet..and they would leave..it took 11/2 years to get off colchicne/indomethicine.NOTHING else worked.. Yes I have suffered..and done a stupendous amount ofresearch/reading..sad thing is that this disease has so manydifferent facets..all this may help no one..but me. How can this disease be the oldest known to man…goingback..documented 2500 years..also be the one they know the leastabout. Gout..who needs it..ahh..long as I can ski well..and it nevercomes back..SURE..

Would appreciate hearing thoughts on effectiveness of taking glucosimine forgout and general arthritis.

Seems like there’s a lot of hype about glucosimine, and not much reputableinfo. Some doctors will tell you it might be helpful. None say it willhurt or harm you. Others don’t seem to believe in it.

I take it the glucosimine is supposed to help strengthen joints, therebyhelping them heal quicker and not suffer as much harm as a result of goutattacks.

I’d like to hear experiences of the gout group who use glucosimine, and howhelpful they feel it is.

Some comments about “allergies” and gout.

First. Allergy or allergic reaction are not medicalterms, they are layman’s terms. The proper medicalterm would be ‘hypersensitivity reaction’.

Second. Such reactions are always along a spectrum ofseverity. Some people react to a bee sting with littlealarm or physical reaction, some have a lifethreatening reaction. Anything beyond the systemicreaction that is average for the species wouldprobably be considered ‘hypersensitivity’. If theimmune system detects a threat, but does little morethan yawn, that would be ‘cellular anergy’. Manyvaccines do not cause any effect at all and have to belinked to haptens to create the body’s ‘reaction’ tothe stimulus.

Third. When it comes to food it is perhaps a good timeto remember the less-than-popular theory about goutand fungal metabolites. It is here that one can recallthat one researcher’s focus is on fungal metabolitessimply on the empirical evidence that all ‘anti-gout’measures are also ‘anti-fungal’ measures too.

What conditions could cause pain in the muscle or ligaments, ortendons near a knee joint or my heel area (not sure exactly what ishurting, but it isn’t in the joint like gout is)?

This condition recurs periodically, and by the time I can make anappointment and get in to see my doctor, the pain has gone. The painprocess usually starts and stops within a two week period. I’ve hadthis happen to my Achilles and heel, too. I need to know what to useas a departure point with the doctor; i.e., what I suspect might bewrong.

I have been experiencing a few unpleasant symptoms, seemingly sinceI started taking allo, which seem reminiscent of colchicinesymptoms. For the last week and a half (since I “upped” to the full300mg/ day dose of allo) I have had a perpetually sour stomachaccompanied by horrifically sour sulfur belches. I have also hadchronic diarrhea and enough gas to fill the Hindenburg thirty timesover. No matter what I eat or drink, it remains just the same. Iexpect these symptoms with colchicine, but nothing I have read saysanything about these symptoms in regard to allo (and I haven’t hadcolchicine in a few days, just because I thought it may be theculprit). Typically these symptoms are gone within a day ofstopping the colchicine, but these persist.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? I could just have a caseof mild food poisoning or a stomach virus, but the coincidence ofthat happening just as I started the drug therapy has me wondering.

I am hydrating hard, and taking vitamins to reduce the chance that Imay become anemic again due to the loss of fluid and nutrients.

Let’s see, wieghing the balance of sitting on the pot until my legsgo numb from cut off circulation OR laying in bed because my kneesand ankles look like red softballs and hurt like a red hot pokerjambed in the joint… THE TOILET WINS!! Hopefully, this is justan adjustment period…

Sorry to be so graphic, but things are as they are.

3 years ago i suffered my first attack of gout which was swiftlycontrolled with NSAIDsI never went on Allopurinol and didn’t get another attack till Junethis year which was quite bad. My doctor gave me Arcoxia whichseemed to settle it down but my big toe still retained a certainamount of swelling.I then went on Allo (100Mg) and cut out all alcohol, meats, fish andyeat products.However every month i would get an attack.My doctor presribed me Colchicine. During an attack i took it every2 hours until i had reached the 6mg limit. The attack subsided andhe advised me to take 2 Colchicine a day while i got back on theAllo.I did that for a few weeks and seemed to be getting back to somesort of normality, so i just went onto the once a day Allo tablets.After a week of that i got another attack (last week). I startedtaking Colchicine again to relieve that acute attack and stopped theAllo. However, it doesn’t seem to be working. It plays havoc with mystomach and my big toe is still swollen and sore. I was neveroverweight to begin with and have now lost quite a bit which isworrying me.I’ve read all sorts of reports on Colchicine and was wondering howlong one can take it safely.When i was combining it with the Allo i felt quite/almost normal.Could i do that indefinitely??

As many of you know I have been researching this thing, this goutthing, now for about 6 months and I have come to some conclusions.

However, a conclusion that we have all read about, and talked about,hit me the other day and after having thought about it for a fewdays, and it really does make sense.

What is the advise that accompanies any remedy for gout?

Well, it is “Drink lots of water!”

I have been given that advise, I have given that advise to others andI have followed that advise each time I have been afflicted with thepain. Moreover, to my not quantitative but pretty accurateobservations, drinking lots of water helps more than any other thingI seem to be able to do.

Which brings me to the point of this tirade.

What do I do, and I will bet that you do, when your gout symptoms goaway?

Well, because of the information on purene and high levels of it inthis and that food we all have seriously altered out diets.

But….and here is the catch…

How many of us continue to drink a lot of water when we are not beingattacked?

In reality we live our lives gout free, how much, 75% of the time,85% or even more. During that time I always have reverted back to myold habits of drinking when I am thirsty. Sometimes I will drink alittle more thinking that, well I do need it for my gout, but I donot seriously practice drinking an extra gallon, or two, of waterabove and beyond my normal drinking requirements. Why? Because I justdon’t think about it. I am willing to take 300 mg of allopurinol aday but I don’t force myself to drink the extra water.

The allopurinol may not hurt me but then again it probably will havelong term side effects. Some of them are known and some of them areprobably there and just not documented. It is, after all, a drug thatis altering my basic chemistry and, although I have committed toeating my little pill each and every day, I fear it and I reallydon’t like it.

Now back to the water. What are the long term effects of drinking anextra gallon or two of water each day? The major effect is that youwill have to go to the bathroom more often. I think that’s probablywhy I end up limiting my intake because of the inconvenience ofhaving to go so often.

The bottom line is this. If you double the water your kidneys processeach and every day of your life, particularly when you are not in thethrows of a gout attack, you will, in almost all cases of gout,eliminate the gout. I don’t have any data on this nor do I know ifthere has been a study on it but it is simple logic.

If my body just barely makes it with the amount of water it has towork with, that is makes it in terms of keeping up with the amount ofuric acid it has to get rid of each day, if I double that amount ofwater each day, I am going to increase the amount of uric acid it isable to excrete. It very well may not double it but it absoluely willincrease the excretion.

Therefore the number one recommendation for a gout patient:===>

Drink at least 1 and preferably 2 extra gallons of water each andevery day of your life and it is particularly important to drink theextra water when you are not being attacked by the unfiendly crystalsof Mono Sodiun Urate.

By the way, someone with a good lab could conclusively show what thedifference in uric acid excretion is, in normal gout sufferers, whenthey are not under attack, when they drink twice as much water asthey normally do. In fact two 24 hour urine collections would tell ushow much difference the extra water would make. In fact my Doc mightbe willing to run the test.

It the test has already been run, I’d like to read the descrtiptionof the study.

What I’m proposing here is that doubling your intake of water eachday of your life is a long term cure for gout.

I’m sad to report that I finally got another flare up after almost ayear of being pain free. I thought I would share my latest experience.

As a refresher, I’ve been on 300mg of the a-train sincenovember-december of last year, I’ve been eating anything really butlow carb mostly, and I exercise about twice a week. Did any of thiscause my flare up…actually yes but unfortunately for our herbalpreachers it was not related to diet, a-train, etc.

I went (ice) skating as I always do once a week, when I took a nicefall and twisted my ankle, the same ankle that has always been aproblem from too many years of playing basketball injured. Also thesame ankle that gout decided was a good spot to inhabit. I wasactually shocked when I woke up the next day to mild swelling and thatoh so familiar feeling. There wasn’t really enough pain or discomfortto address it so I left it alone. The next morning got a little worseand now I could see some pretty good swelling combined with the “goutlimp”. Something had to be done! Where was my suitcase of herbs? Theallopurinol obviously wasn’t working?! I have to fly to Dallas in themorning!! How am I going to get around those airports, not to mentiongo walk around properties I’m appraising!!

After my panic attack passed I remembered that I needed to start thecolchicine, so I hit the bottle til I could hear my stomach verbalizeits anger with me. By the next day the pain and swelling had almostdiminished and just in time to enjoy my trip to Dallas!

By far this was the mildest and shortest attack I’ve had. Sure is nicenot to have attacks all the time but its a great feeling to send thatgout monster back to it’s hole when it decides to come out and play.(My stomach says otherwise but we will reconcile over a large slice ofcarrot cake and vanilla ice cream - courtesy of Black Eyed Pea)

I know water is the best thing to drink. But what else is good orbad. I drink alot of Gaterade or Pepsi. I was told the Gaterade wasbad because of all the minerals in the drink. I drink the gateradeto get away from the pepsi. Anyone know the good or the bad thingsto drink, or where I can find a good list of common foods.

Is oatmeal OK for gout sufferers? If it’s OK, then how about the milk that goes with it?