Gout Diet Blog

1 week on the allo and I felt the tell-tale signs of attack last night.Sure enough, 3am-ish, the pain woke me up. So far i would ratethe pain (out of 10 for full-on attack) 5. It would normally get a bitworse (start at 7/8 work up to 10) so I am hoping that it will stickat 5. Standard double dose of Naproxen and 300mg Allo and 5pints of fluid duly taken.

Now, was there a trigger? Last night’s dinner was wholewheatpasta with pesto, brocolli and cauliflower. I think I saw the lasttwo on a trigger list? Only had 5 florets of each. No alcohol sinceTuesday (2 glasses white wine).

I hope it just goes away. I’ve lost too many days this year - nearly80.

Sob, sob. Just gets me down. You all know what I mean.

i usually get gout tinges a few times per year for the last twoyears. occurs when i am not good on my diet and or exercise,butusually with a few doses of celebrex, it goes away with no problems.However, slowly my toe joints in both feet have built up unsightlyprojections. no trouble now, but am wondering if repeatedinflamations will cause permanent damage, so instead of walking, iwill have to hobble. the first toe joint swellings cause no painnow. doctor suggests that i take a daily pill which they say willeliminate any future attacks, but i prefer to dose with celebrex wheni am less than perfect in my eating habits. any comments from thosethat have had years with this disease. i am 60 yrs old and in goodhealth. thanks for response and advice.

Been on Allo for six months and find it really upsets my stomach!Is this a common problem?I am on Indomethacin 50mg x3 times a day, which Definitely upsets mystomach, but stopping Indomethacin when the inflamation has gonedown! I still seem to have an upset stomach!!Also still getting twinges as though the gout is just waiting roundthe corner to start at a moments lapse……..Any ideas please.I feel as though I will never conquer this underlying problem.

Had my gout attacks 5 years ago in my twenties(far too young). Onlyhad about 1 a year so put on the NSAIDs by my doctor. Then had a bigone that lasted over 2 months….I could not walk and the NSAIDs didNOTHING at all. That is real pain.

I was eventually put in hospital and put on steriods which did thetrick.

Then my doctor put me on Allopurinol which I presume has stopped theattacks cos I ain’t had any for over 2 years now. But I now havelimited movement in my ankle after the big attack. It has causedpermanent damage to my ankle and I am so peeved off at the way I wastreated by my doctor. I am sure I should have got Allopurinol soonerthan I did and it may have stopped the resulting attack and damage.

I am now into my first week of 300mg of allo per day, taken in 100mgincrements with each meal. I have been taking one colchicine perday, just to reduce or thwart potential flare-ups caused by theallo. This morning all of my typically affected joints had dullaches (not really unexpected since we entertained family lastweekend which means I drank vodka and ate rich foods). Even assuch, the aches are not nearly as bad as I would typically expectafter such a weekend. In response to this, I’m upping my colchicineto twice a day and started taking Voltaren until the aches subside.

This is the first hint of an attack since I started the allo aboutthree weeks ago, which is heartening and surprising since previousattempts at getting on the A-train resulted in horrific flare upsthat made me give up the allo.

Thanks to posters here, I took a more careful approach to gettingstarted on allo this time around (ramping up the dose, and taking acourse of steroids as “pain insurance”) and it seems to be working.

I am at least able to do the basics of life for the last couple ofweeks- mow the lawn, open jars by myself, work on my vintagemotorcycle, etc.)- nothing too strenuous yet. I have faith I willbe lifting weights, riding my dirt bikes and practicing martial artsagain in the months to come. Not to mention eating oysters again-though I will always be cautious about what I eat- it’s too easy to

I usually manage a couple of years between severe attacks.There was a problem with diaignosis in the past but this last attacksaw levels in excess of 630. Started out in left foot then anklethen went to knee and then if not bad enough as that started gettingbetter went to the right foot.

I am overweight and hypertensive to boot. Ugly circle. I havemanaged to get down 20 lbs on two occasions then whammo…..goutsets in and i get set back……not this time……I hope…..I amdown almost 20 lbs again and continuing to suffer like a dying dog.I would prefer kidnes stones….if that possible…..

I had cortisone in my knee this time and worked great…took a longtime to get swelling fully under control and back to full motion.

I read a posting on strawberries and i have to say it worked forme. It removed the pain almost magically…..redness and swellingis still thee at times but pain is GONE…..well at least for thetime being.

I am off to my doctor tomorrow afternoon and i am demandingallopurinol……

I dont care if it is 50 pills per day I am at witts end with painand discomfort and sleepless nights…..

The British author recommends drinking 1 teaspoon of clear honey and1 tablespoon of cider vinegar with a cup of hot water 3 times a day.She also suggests 1 teaspoon of black molasses 3 times a day.

She advocates an acid free diet, as follows -

1 use less salt,2 cut out animal fats,3 cut out citrus fruits,4 cut out red meat,5 stop drinking alcohol,6 cut out fried foods, white sugar and white bread7 avoid cream ckes and biscuits.

You can get full details from her books - check on Amazon for thetitles (this is not an advert for her books).

A Chinese doctor I saw recommended drinking nettle tea and dandeliontea, and devil’s claw has also been recommended.

If you’re interested in a more esoteric method, look at Wong KiewKit’s website. He says that chi kung if performed over a period oftime, can cure most “incurable” illnesses.

You could also try positive visualisation. You simply relax (bywhatever means - tensing and relaxing your body parts in order willdo)then seeing your kidneys (or area affected) as being healthy andvibrant. Wong Kiew kit recommends this, but the technique is widelyused by all sorts of alternative practioners.

I had some relief from my recent gout attack bydrinking cherry juice. I bought it in a concentratedliquid form (100% cherry juice), and diluted it withSpring Water to make it palpable. I drank threeglasses of it a day. I don’t know if it would be aseffective in pill form (I take it you got it in pillsfrom Vitamin.com?). Most health food stores carry thecherry concentrate, which I have read is the best wayto ingest it for relief from gout.

It seems to me that gout is all about enzymes.

Urate crystals form, caused by high acid levels but this causes noproblems on their own. I have been told that Gout sufferers testedbetween flare-ups show crystals in the joints but the crystals haveno effect. Then something (an enzyme?) triggers white cellresponse. This is an ALLERGIC reaction? White cells engulf uratecrystals, assuming that they are bacteria, and start to whack thepseudo bacteria with deadly enzymes. Sharp edged crystals rupturecell walls, enzymes are released, hell fire and damnation let loose.

Body reacts. Kidneys go into overdrive chucking out uric acid (Isuspect that this is why with some people like me the serum uratelevel drops to low levels, confusing the GPs).

This however has NO effect on the pain because there is still anenzyme WAR going on down there one of those nasty little Africanwars, which involve lots of killing and maiming, and mutilated bodiesleft in ditches under the hot sun it is no point screaming youlittle shit because no one will hear you!

In comes colchicine and NSAIDS such as Indomethacin. Body starts tobelch and burp (sorry about that !) and brain floats on cloud ninebut the rebels are more or less disarmed.

However while the attack was taking place and apparently for a timeafter (and this is the bit that I am trying to understand - if ayonehas any views on the subject) the liver goes haywire.

In my case Aspartate Transferase goes to 72 out of its range 15-40,Alanine Transferase goes to 157 out of its range 10-50 and Gamma GTgoes to 59 out of its range 9-40. Shit this looks bad - but whoknows? Look at that Alanine Tranferase, whatever the hell that is,I’m a gonner ! (this is clearly why you should never, ever, let thepatient copy down notes off the pathology report).

Uric acid goes back to what I expect is my normal (bad) level of 5.48.

Ok lets deal with the uric acid. So wait until the enzyme war diesdown in my foot (or at least disappears out of the newspapers), thenslowly introduce Allopurinol.

And what does that do? It inhibits the ENZIME xanthine oxidase.

What is going on with these enzimes???

TRIGGERSOffal espec. liver; Meat except pork; Fish espec. sardines & shellfish;Mature cheese; Poultry espec. turkey; Wheat; Yeast & yeast extract eg Marmite;Asparagus; Cauliflower; Greens; Mushrooms; Maize; Spinach; Tomatoes; Peas;Beans of any kind; Honey; Hydrogenated fats; Glucose syrup; Corn starch;Dextrose; Fructose.

NO PROBLEMSPork; Pork sausage (organic without additives); Dairy (eggs, milk,cream,butteryoung cheese); Rice; Almonds; Brazils; Coconut; Hazelnuts; Apricots; Bananas;Blueberries; Cantaloupe melon; Cherries; Cranberries; Figs; Nectarines;Peaches;Pineapple; Calabrese; Carrots; Courgettes; Purple sprouting; Leeks; Potatoes;Onions; Pumpkin; Squash.

If this saves anybody even just a small tweak of pain I shall be happy.