Gout Diet Blog

how much Allo is a safe dose…..Is more better?because I have been suffering with the usual big toe joint pain forover three weeks and it is just driving me to despair!!!Is their any way of clearing this consistant attack quickly?I have been prescribed Allo (300mg daily) & Indomethacin (50mg)x3times a day.But it is not clearing it!!!!Any help would be very much appreciated.

The interesting thing, it seems to me, is this “gout attack waitingto happen” issue.

I understand your point that we have crystals in the synovial fluidcaused by excess uric acid in the synovial fluid, which is relatedsomehow to excess uric acid in the blood. Reduce uric acid at source(i.e. in the blood) cures the crystal problem in the synovial fluid.

Lots of articles that I have read refer to a BUILD-UP of uric acid(for which I THINK that the correct term is serum urate) in theblood. They also refer to DEPOSITS of crystals.

So we seem to have a time delay on the fuse with things building up.Presumably this might be what causes the gaps between attacks.Logically a build-up of serum urate should lead (in the case ofsusceptible people) to a build up in the synovial fluid and thereforea build-up of the deposits of crystals.

But can that be true ? My uric acid has been down at 464 then 362(reported as 3.62 which I assume is simply a decimal point issue)then 548. This doesn’t seem to be a build-up as such. It seems tome that it fluctuates during the phase of a gout attack and thenreturns to a sort of standard high level during the intervening phase.

Maybe they mean a build up in the synovial fluid. That would makemore sense, and suggests a delayed transfer from the stable highlevel in the blood.

Then there is the comment that “uric acid levels drop [during a goutattack] because so much of it has left the bloodstream and is nowcrystallised in the joint fluid”. I have read this several times inother articles as well.

But can that be true? How much mass of crystals would need to beformed to remove all that uric acid out of the blood and why doesn’tthe kidneys simply top up the reduced uric acid in the blood again.

And if the drop off of uric acid in the blood can happen so fast(i.e. during the phase of a gout attack) it seems to suggest that theidea of a slow delay in build up can’t be right.

And if crystals build up, and if it is the physical shape of thecrystals (your nasty jagged particles of glass like substance) thatcauses the pain, then why doesn’t the pain build up slowly as thedeposits of crystals build up ?

As an engineer (so you can see why I am like a blind person stumblingalong in this field) it seems to me more logical that some othercontrol mechanism must be at work, which I have attributed (in myignorance) to other enzymes.

Nevertheless I take your point entirely that the formation ofxanthine is an intermediate stage in the production of uric acid andthat the enzyme xanthine oxidase (XO)[which presumably initiates thisformation] is inhibited by Allopurinol. I understand that reducingserum urate levels solves the problem of crystals in the synovialfluid anyway, so I appreciate that I am being pedantic and everythingelse is just academic. Just take the pill and get your life backseems good enough advice to me.

But it is interesting to realise just how little we know about allthis other than that crystals precipitate out of solution past acertain ph level. If it were down to me I would give the medics allthe research money they want to get a bit further on this one. Butthen I am biased.

The WHOLE idea of taking drugs is to KEEP them in your system sothey can do their work. Doesn’t do much good..or NEARLY as much good if you take thedrugs..then end up with the runs soon after.Bye bye drugs..haven’thad time to work..long enough..flushed out of the system down thetoilet.You with the runs..dehydrating(the WORST way) only INCREASINGyour uric acid level. When you need the drugs for attacks..forget the purine/dietstuff.Eat what plugs you up..and takes a long time to digest.Sits inyour stomach..allows the drugs to get in your system/STAY in yoursystem..do their work.What you can add(to the uric acid level) withpurine is NOTHING compared to what you WILL add withdehydration.PLUS the drugs are NOT in your system.

I am in the throws of a gout attack that has been with me now forabout three months. Off and on and I have been trying to figure outhow to minimize/eliminate the pain and get back to normal.I recently went on allopurinol but I think I am not on enough, as Iam only at 100 mg now.

I believe that I need to loose weight as I am now 207 and should be180 and I know that there is a lot of stored uric acid in my fat andas I lose the weight the uric acid will come out. The trick has to beto keep the water going.

My weight loss plan is to walk for 1 hour a day, on a tread mill,that takes me 4 miles in that hour on an incline of 4 on the machine.Dunno what that is in the real world. I do know this, that when I amreligous about the walking for 5 of 7 days each week, I loose about 2pounds a week with no change in diet. When I get encouraged I usuallylower the food and improve the rate of loss to about 3 pounds a week.Any more than that and it would be dangerous and I level off there.

When you walk for one hour, and sweat as I do when I walk twoimportant things happen.

1) I wil raise my body temperature for a whole hour. That’s why I amsweating and the increased body temperature will increase thesolubility of the socium urate in my system. Improve the solubilityand the system will reabsorbe the solid sodium urate and reduce thecrystals in my system.

2) The walk will increase, temporarily, my blood pressure and anincrease in blood pressure will improve whatever renal capability mysystem has. Increase the pressure on an osmotic system and it willimprove it.

The key I think is to make sure that I replace immediately, or as itis happening, the fluid that I am going to sweat out. I have neverdone this and I know from past experience that when I sweat too muchwithout drinking water and without drinking an appropriateelectrolyte, I get attacks and I get dehydrated and it’s not good.From a experiment design, I should make sure that my kidneys haveplenty of water to use when I am elevating my Blood Pressure so Iwill drink about two quarts of liquid, 1 qt of water and 1 qt ofgator aid during the walk.

I’m posting my weight today, I think about 207 and I’ll post myprogress weekly on Sunday evening. I’d like all of us who aeoverweight, to try it. Lets loose weight. What are you now and postit weekly. If you are not able to loose weight, and you are trying,perhaps you can tell us why you think you didn’t and why you were notable to do it. I know that in my case, I am just weak and figure thatI can do it tomorrow so I put it off and pig out. Tomorrow will findme walking-only 45 minutes a day the first week by the way, and Ibelieve I can do it. I walked through the gout pain once about twoyears ago and, in fact, I walked it away after about two weeks and itstayed away for two years. I got to 185 then. Unfortunately over theintervening two years I then balooned back to my now chubby self of207.

Wish me luck and perhaps some of you will join me.

Here’s another one of those “known” factors that is NO longerapplicable..it used to be “known” that attacks were caused by RISESin uric acid levels.Attacks are caused by CHANGES in the balance ofuric acid..if you have a level of x uric acid..UNLESS you are underattack..all is ok..well..maybe it’s not in terms of the uric acidbuilding up..BUT you are not under attack..let’s say that you lowerthe level..that is you lower the soluble level..you are NOW lowerringthe amount of solubility that you have available..IF you havedeposits..OR they are in the process of crystalizing..perhaps thelowerring has caused the deposits to move/migrate..THS can and hastriggered attacks..

I DO NOT like this idea of “triggered” attacks..that simply meansthat there are crystals ALREADY there.Get rid of them.Lower theoverall uric acid level..keep it there.

My Doc is convinced I have Gout due to symptomsand high uric acid (9.4 down to 6.7 with Allo over 2 months - nowtrying to lower it more by getting off a diuretic blod pressure med).He plans to increase allo if that doesn’t do it. Back next week foranother blood test.

I’ve never had joint fluid tested. I asked him to do it - but hesaid there was not enough swelling and he did not want to “attck theankle”.

Three weeks ago,I had moderate swelling (no tenderness or redness)in my right ankle - severe pain when I stood on it - could barelywalk. This ankle has given me problems for 30 years due to manysprains.

I’m convinced this was triggered by alcohol (beer) — I have givenup all alcohol until this is under control — or possibly forever.It just isn’t worth the misery.

I’ve been drinking tons of water and avoiding the “bad” foods. Lotsof vegs and fruits — a little meat. Take celebrex daily.

Doc says sometimes Gout attacks are not red and tender. Gave meMedrol which got it back to normal quickly. Five days after goingoff Medrol it hit again - but not as severe. Did another round ofMedrol and it quickly recoverd. Two days off Medrol and it is back.

I can usually walk with some difficulty — It is barely manageableon a good day.

Medrol works great but I’m afraid to take any more — Doc wouldprobably not give it to me anyway.

It seems that I have had ankle pain for the last 3 weeks unless Iwas on Medrol.

I’ve been reading about a number of studies being done on the positiveeffects of Omega-3 (fish oil) in treating gout. Apparently they seemto reccomend 3000mg/day. Does anyone have any feedback and or tried this?

Try it. It works for me.I dont believe in Pharmacueticals but stillhave taken them during an intense attack.Ive never taken Allopurinolbut have a prescription,,,, pain pills ,,colchicine and other nonworking herbal gout cures. Hopefully i can throw them out in a fewyears.

I have mentioned it before but it is worth mentioning it again withsome specific recomendations.

High blood pressure, hypertension, is associated with gout. Moreoverthey have shown that they can actually induce high blood pressure inrats with high doses of uric acid.

It is a known correlation and gout sufferers should be very carefulabout taking their BP medication.

My medication happens to be Acuppril which is an ACE inhibitor. Itdoes not work the way the diuretic BP medication does.

I say this because if you are on a diuretic BP medication, you arerunning the risk of percipitating a gout attack from dehydration.

Just be aware of the fact that high blood pressure comes with goutand that treatment of that high BP with diuretics can cause a goutattack.

itten to this group for some considerable time but would like to mention that I was a chronic gout sufferer until I started experimenting with diet and have not had a gout attack since.Diets are tough but if you persevere you get used to them.

Here is what I have done.

1) Detoxify - There are plenty of different Tablets etc that you can get from any health food shop or search on the Web

Start with a Colon cleanse first then all the other organs Liver , Stomach , Intestines etc.

2) Diet - Draw up a diet perhaps in conjunction with a nutritionist and stick to it.

My diet consists of all organic fruit and vegetables and meat.

Breakfast 8oz fresh fruit juice and 2 slices of wholemeal toast with low fat butter

Mid Morning - A piece of fresh fruit or a piece of Rye bread and Cottage Cheese

Lunch - A leafy all vegetable Salad as much as you can eat, Wheat Grass, Bean Sprouts etc

Mid Afternoon - A small tub of Yogurt.

Dinner - Steamed Vegetables with No More than 3oz of lean Meat you can find some wonderful recipes on the web or in books using this amount of meat as a benchmark.

Also Pasta is another low calorie filler.

Not to Eat - Anything with preservatives, Animal Fats,Salt,Gravies,Milk products (except Cottage cheese in small Portions)

Search the web find out what is good for you, Read labels, Buy a recipe book on low calorie diets.

Exercise at least for 20 min twice per day even if it’s only a brisk walk, Don’t be embarrassed to stand in front of a mirror and exercise and time yourself and try for 5 min extra every other day until you are doing 30 min each time comfortably.

DISCLAIMER

I am not a doctor and am only stating what I did to overcome Gout, You should do these things in conjunction with a Neurologist or your Doctor or

not at all if you are under Doctors orders or on some other medication or plan.

This is the site for a very good book http://www.master.healingamerica.com/ It is PDF Format and I might mention I am not involved in any way with it or the products it has for sale.

Best of luck and Good Health…………BB