Gout Diet Blog

After several attacks over the last couple of years I finally went toa rheumatologist during the last attack. These are minor attacks ascompared to what I have read about other people experiencing but itwas still enough to incapacitate me. They usually last for 1-2 weeks.I have been prescribed indomethacin in the past but I am not surethat it helped much. Two months ago I started 100 mgs of allopurinol(as prescribed by my cardiologist) a day and got an attack this week.I understand that this is not uncommon. My UA level is inthe “normal” range. I have increased my water intake by 2-3 quarts aday and have reduced my beer intake and cut out wine altogether. Thenew doctor prescribed steroids (Methylprednisolone) for a week. I wasamazed at the relief in a matter of hours! Twelve hours later I wasback to work and feeling about 90 percent better. I have not seen anyother comments on the use of steroids and am curious if anyone elsehas had similar results.

Doctor started me on allopurinol at 100mg to start. All liver andkidney function tests looked good at one month on, however, my uricacid level was at 9.1? This is up from around 8 range. Obviouslyexpecting doctor to raise dosage but felt some improvement even ifslight would be noticed after starting. Any advice on why thisreading is going up instead of down?

I have found a miracle solution for my gout which has gotten worse, with morefrequentand incredibly painful bouts. It even moved from my feet to my elbow recently.

I’ve had all the drugs from my doctor, and I’ve eaten cherries until I couldn’tstand another.None of it worked.

My wife brought home a flat of strawberries from the school where she teaches,and theysat in the fridge for a couple of days. Everytime I’d open it, they’d be sittingthere, going towaste. I had read somewhere that strawberries might actually exacerbate thecondition, soI was reluctant. But I was in real pain, so I tried it. As God is my whitness, Iate a half of abox of fresh strawberries and two hours later I was a new man. After takingAlipurnol,colchicine, and vicadin when it got really bad, strawberries have proven to bethe goutkiller. It doesn’t just give me relief, it I feel like I barely have gout now. Ieat a handfullevery other day, and have smoothies, and I haven’t had a bout or even a threatof one inthree months. This week I decided to really test it. We had a party and therewere friendsfrom Puerto Rico here. The last time they were here they brought a bottle offine rum. Ibroke it out and we had a fun time. I also ate chocolate, ice cream, red meat,and drank 3beers, all within 2 hours. This cocktail combination would have proved deadlybefore Idiscoverd strawberries to be my saving grace. But the only thing I was feelingwas hungover!

If you are suffering from gout, try strawberries. Eat a whole box, every day fora week. Youcan scale back as I did. The anti-oxidents in strawberries seem to have given mea psudocure, not just immediate relief!. I am a new man. More invigorated. My head ismore clear.I have much more energy.

The only thing I’ve done is I’ve gotten off the pills and am eating lots ofstrawberries. I’vealso not had coffee for two months. But I’d been wanting to give that up for along time I want to know if it’s just working for me, or forothers too.

I have had severe gout attacks off and on for 10 years now…I have researched a little, however this groups disscussions havebeed helpful in educating myself….thanks to all!

My question is severe gout considered a disability…..?

like most suffers I am down for 2-20 days at a time..If I did not own my own business…I dont know how any employerwould tolorate this many missed days???

I’m 36 & had various attacks over the years particularly achilles & knee.

I’m currently under attack on my knee & am taking colchicinne for the 1st time

the attack started 30 hours ago, initially i took two tiny 500mcg & am now taking

1 every 4 hours.

My knee is very stiff & sore but not a full blown attack, as i can walk very

slowly with pain. 

2 questions

Is it the colchinne that has stoppped this being a full 100% no knee movement attack

what are the signs that its working. 

All over this message board i’ve been reading about the horrific side effects of colcichine

Has anyone ever heard of vitamin supplements triggeringan attack?

I’ve been taking a lot of care not to eat any trigger foodsrecently (I’m also drinking lots of water and religiouslysticking to my allopurinol scrip). The only dietary changehas been an increase in vitamins to supplement the lackof protein and trace minerals, etc. that many of theaforementioned trigger foods provided me in the past.

Sure enough, the ankle blew up like a weather balloontoday, and I’m hobbled like a one-legged mule. Can’tunderstand it for the life of me. Follow the rules, losethe game… any ideas?

The food list I got said chicken up to 4x weekly, or other foods on thatlist, and beef once a week or less. Cod is on the beef list, Finnanhaddie (is that similar to haddock?) is on the chicken list. Most beansare on the chicken list, lentils are on the beef list, as are carp,halibut, pike, turkey, veal. Tuna & salmon & bluefish & trout are chicken.Bass, flounder, whitefish, pollock don’t show up on the lists at all,so the dietitian assumed they were low in purines and thus OK.

My gout has been so persistent and severe that I have developedtophi (hard mineralized nodules). They have manifested as hardbersa in both elbows, several “nodes” along my left wrist, a node onmy left ear, and nodes on several knuckles. These things areexcessively sensitive to cold, and serve as focal points forblistering inflammation whenever I have an “attack”.

My question is: With treatment to lower serum uric acid levels,will the tophi eventually dissolve and disappear? Or can they onlybe surgically removed?

I have yet to find a doctor (or any source for that matter) who cananswer that question with any certainty.

started occassional weakness/instability left leg. Kept feeling moreand more like my leg was going to collapse..not support me.It feltwobbly,weak.Yeah..kind of scary..VERY un-nerving.This came and went.Iwas unable to isolate when/what factors were involved.At times therewas a feeling that the muscles around the knee..and supporting itwere tired/weak..fine tremors that you get from exhausted muscles.Itseemed to occur ONLY at that point when going from full extensionBACK to bending it slightly.From there on it felt ok. Anyway..it was time for medical intervention.I had guessed sometype of nerve problem..and a tests/neurological etc.

I am very fit,healthy,perfect diet..blah blah blah

A whole rheam of blood tests.

Rhuematolgist confirmed muscle atrophy at the bottom of the quadand basically in the surrounding area..ligaments etc just above theknee.Muscle atrophy when you spend an hour literally every day hikingin the ravine with your dog at a elveated heart rate.Not good.I hadheard and read that allo can cause this..I had maybe guessed this.

ALL the tests going back to my pre-gout pre allopurinol days weremeaningless.They were ALL pretty much identical..the ONLY differencewas a 30% reduction(continuous/constant) drop in uric acidlevels..from 4.5 to 3..(allopurinol)

I also at times cycle hard and ski hard a LOT winters.

The rheumatologist figured that with the uric acid that low it washighly unlikely that my body was adding anything to the uric acidthat was there.(PERHAPS? I need to add some grain alcohol..HAHA)Hefigured this problem was the result of uric acid that was alreadythere..been there for a LONG time.The sheer amounts unable to bedetermined..BUT somehow? they had to find their way back into thebloodstream.They had moved around and ended up here..just above theknee.He said this was a common spot for uric acid deposits.

Once there..basically at the base of the quad just above theknee.The base of the quad,ligaments are more or less saturated inuric acid.There are the factors of reduced circulation,the actualwhite blood cell activity..there could be crystals..OR a mix ofcrystals(phagocytes)(( the resultant death of cells involved in thebattle..mixed with white blood cells)) there could be some tophi.Iasked him about screaming heart rates and SEVERLY loading thequads..only adding to the problem of excess uric acid being added atsource.He wasn’t sure about that but felt that exercise clearly woulddo no good..and NOT to do strenuous exercise for fear that the kneecould end up at a weak angle and be exposed.I did have pretty strongquads..at one time being able to machine leg press 750 lbs..and crack2 minute half miles(1.52 best..woo hoo).My last bout of cripplinggout..right before allopurinol saw me lose 6″ off my quads..30 -24.He figures that the nerve endings in the area are simply beingexposed to too much crap..and this has and is affectingtheir “firing”..and they are shutting down..atrophi.He feels thatwith this nonsense going on there has to be white blood cell activityand there has to be that whole problem of excess uricacid/crystalization/phagocytes/tophi perhaps/impairedcirculation/nerve end problems/perhaps ligament problems.

“Dunh de dun”(horn trumpet please)..the almighty colchicine to therescue.He figures that this will “seperate” the “combatants”..andallow the “road to be cleared”..

And I THOUGHT I HAD!! my year and half on colchicine..

On pretty careful review of this..it simply cannot be determinedfrom tests actually when I was on/off the colchicine.Had really noeffect.OTHER than to “save”(LOL the ONLY time I have been “saved”)me from the horrors of gout.

Plan is a couple of “hits” a day for a few weeks.IF I get a day ortwo with no problems then I am CLEARLY on the right track..and fromthere..it is a year of twice a day.

True..I don’t have to go with this plan..and I COULD seek adifferent way.I simply do not know enough about this to know/beginwhere to look.One thing is FOR SURE!..this is BAD and a couple ofweeks of colchicine isn’t going to hurt.I AM GOING to do that muchanyway.This is CLEARLY a deal with this NOW situation(ski season iscoming..ROFL..LMAL…HEHEHAHA)HOPEFULLY I can being some muscleregeneration soon..BY SKIING.

I know that there are some STRONG! opinions on colchicine..andthere have been some rather “testy”..OK OK..arguments.My opinion hasbeen..take it if you have to.I feel that I now AGAIN have to.

I have gout.

I have had it for about 3 years and I am now on allopurinol. Istarted t mopnths ago with 100 mg, bumped it up to 200 for two weeksand I am now at 300. During this time I have had constant knawingpain in the variious areas where I have had full blown attacksbafore. It may be my imagination but it seems to me that during thistime of “flushing out the old uric acid”-so to speak-large amounts ofwater seem to be very helpful. Much more helpful than whyen I was inthe middle of a full attack “Before Allopurinol”. During this periodof rather constant attack, I have used NSAIDs off and on and on someoccasions, while on allopurinol, I have taken some culchicine but notoften as I am very afraid of the long term effects of that drug.

I woke last night with another spot being inflamed, not badly butdefinitely inflamed and for some reason it hit me, that about 5 yearsago, well before my first gout attack, my shoe size suddenly changed.I have been a size 9 since I was 16. I remember playing football inHigh School in size nine shoes and I played my whole amature tenniscareer in size 9 tennis shoes. I had 3 pairs of golf shoes in size 9and at that time, and, almost over night-yes in the spring when Ifirst went out to play golf again- the shoes were so tight. I had toplay that day in my street shoes and ended up buying size 9-1/2which also got too tight after about 6 months. I now wear 10 to 10-1/2 and if I can fined them I wear an E width whereas I always wore aD width before.

I asked my physician and several physician friends about the shoesize chgange at 55 years of age and none of them could offer anexplanation. I did not grow taller or grow shorter either so I wasnot actually getting bigger. My feet were just getting bigger.

I now suspect that the growth was from uric acid being stored thereand I wonder if anyone else has noticed an increase in their shoesize. By the way, I am not talking about the increase that is obviousand necessary when your foot is being attacked by and swollen by agout attack. I am talking about a larger size being required when youhave no pain and no attack.

The reason I mention this is that if, after allopurinol treatment fora long time, possibly years and years, if my shoe size shrinks backto 9, I think I can be pretty sure that I have gotten rid of theexcess uric acid that the serun blood tests, and the 24 hour urinetests do not moniter.

Has anyone else noticed an increase in shoe size?