Gout Diet Blog

Uric acid is an organic acid.It is a solid at room temperature, it is soluble in organic solventsand it stays mainly in the adipose tissue of your body. Adipose isthe fatty tissue-so, for all intents and purposes, uric acid isstored in the body in and around the fat in your body. If you take ajar of water and put wesson oil into the jar and shake it up, thefat, that is the wesson oil, will stay on top and the water will sinkto the bottom. In reality there is a small amount of the wesson oildissolved in the water and a small amount of the water dissolved inthe oil but the amounts are so small that it is not worth mentioninghow much. If you take a salt, like good old sodium chloride and putit into the jar and shake it up, the salt will dissolve in the waterand none of it will dissolve in the wesson oil. Similarly, if you putan organic compound, like for example cholesterol, or motor oil, ortri nitro toluene into the jar and shake it up, be careful shakingtri nitro toluene-all the organic compound will dissolve in thewesson oil and none will dissolve in the water.

OK so far so good.

The fact is that organic acids, are substances that behave like otherorganic compounds for solubility except that they are acidic, whichmeans they can be nutralized by a base, for example, by sodiumhydroxide. When that happens, the organic acid is converted into asalt.

A dramatic example of this is acetic acid. Glacial acetic acid, thatmeans pure acetic acid, is a clear srong smelling colorless liquidthat you can pour out of a bottle. However, when you nutralize aceticacid with sodium hydroxide and then remove the water that is formedby evaporation, you get sodium acetate. The sodium salt of aceticacid is a solid with a high melting point, very soluble in water andit forms crystals in water when the water gets saturated with it.

By analogy the sodium salt of uric acid, specifically the monosodiumsalt of uric acid-mono sodium acetate, is also a solid with arelatively high melting point and the properties of the salt areentirely different from the properties of uric acid. Uric acid iswhat is in trophi. Not monosodium urate crystals. Trophi are painfulbecause they are a deposit of something that the body doesn’t need orwant and they are a lump that is uncomfortable because it is a lumpbut uric acid deposited in a trophi does not cause an inflammationreaction like the crystals of mono sodium urate do.

If you shake up the contents of trophi into that jar with wesson oiland water in it, the uric acid will dissolve in the wesson oil.Virtually none of the contents of the trophi will go into the watersolution because it does not contain the crystals that kill yourfeet. Similarly if you shake up the contents of the fluid in andaround a gout inflamed toe, in that wesson oil and water, none of thecrystals will go into the wesson oil and all the crystals willdissolve in the water.

If you have so much excess uric acid in your system that you areforming trophi, you need to be on allo and get started with theprocess of removing, by way of your kidneys, more uric acid-as urate-each day than your body produces. Allo blocks the production sidewhich allows your kidneys to get rid ot what was made before youstarted allo.

My husband and I have both started suffering sever and debilitating elbow pain a few months ago. It comes and goes. I think it is Gout or something similar. He thinks he has strained his elbows. It’s both for him and only my left elbow. I think it’s a strange coincidence but stranger things have happened. We are 41 and 42. We have three grown daughters and then decided to have more kids (what were we thinking? lol) and so now we have two little boys ages 3.5 years and 8 months. We both enjoyed excellent health until this second go round of children. Now we are stressed, exhausted, we both need to lose weight, and we have this pain. Along with my elbow pain yesterday my feet really hurt. It felt like my arches were just giving out. I know losing weight would help but I can’t help to think there is more to it than that. My husband hasn’t doctored but I have. I have been tested for rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, pcos, hormone problems, thyroid, etc. The tests all came back fine except the one saying my thyroid antibodies was slightly high. All the doctors think this is in my head. Uh huh. One even had the nerve to tell me I had an extreme case of PMS! LOL!

I have referenced multiple studies that link high uricacid levels with high blood pressure, arterial detioration and withheart disease. There are even several well done studies that showthat the link is causative and not simply linked because when theyarbitrarily cause an animals (not human) uric acid to rise, thatanimal gets high blood pressure and has severe arterial deterioration.

So much we already know and therefore taking allopurinol will reducethe exposure we all experience from this risk factor.

It occurred to me that1. There are many people who have very high levels of uric acid whodo not have gout.2. High Blood Pressure is thought to be the #1 cause of, or at leastlinked to, early death from heart disease and arterial complications.3. A very large percentage of the population suffers from high bloodpressure.

Is it possible that uric acid is a much bigger problem thatn just amenace to us gout sufferers? This would be particularly true forsomeone who is overweight and would therefore have a large storeroom, so to speak, where they can store large amounts of utris acid.

For example, if there were, which there is not, a good clinicalmeasure of the total uric acid level in a person, not just the bloodlevel but the total uric acid, then it might be prudent to put a muchlarger population onto allopurinol than is now on it.

Since I am on allopurinol and will not go off it why do I care?

Why do we, or why should we care.

Well, from a purely selfish point of view, if uric acid can be shownto be participating, even mildly, in causing high blood pressure, andif those same people also have gout free but elevated levels of uricacid, there would be a significant amount of money and researchallocated toward making this elevation of uric acid not happen.

In other words, when or if the focus of medical science falls on uricacid and how to eliminate it from our systems, there will be new waysuncovered, new treatments and all of them will apply, in a totalsense, to helping gout sufferers as well.

I’ve had gout for 15 years and have generally kept in under controlwith indomethacin at the first twinges. I’m sure that the extra 50lbs that I’m carrying are a big factor. I’m interested in trying alowcarb diet but am concerned that a high protein diet will increase myuric acid levels. Have any of you tried a low carb diet? What wasyour experience? Is it a good idea or not ?

Just got back my hair analysis,, loaded,,, my childs DAN Dr. iswanting to do a DMSA challenge test to verify. who else has donethis ???????????????i still have an untouched bottle ofallopurinol… if I need it,, or colchicine ,, or pain killers(I willtake them in my hour of need).I am so depressed this group isabout “Get on Allopurinol or die!”Does anyone here believe webecame this way because of toxins?Or is gout simply genetics . I dontrecall my mother not be able to pass me out of her vagina because myfoot was swollen …Maybe I have a different kind of gout, Not assevere as most ,,I HAVE BEEN THERE! cursing all ,, this onlystrengthens me to further my quest WHY? Why at 40 years old ? Whydoes diet work ,,sometimes ,, Why attacks when on allopurinol?or colchicine? What has my body lost its ability to do?Why do I getan attack when my uric acid is low ?Is it so hard to believe insimplicity,,, Aloe cools sunburn,,, Ginger calms the stomach,, Drugscover up the root cause of gout ,,and doesnt cure it ,,,Lets faceit folks ,,We have done a fantastic job of poisoning this planetand we can get it back with GODS help..Dont just rely onmedicine..Heal yourselves Its what works for you,, dont judge ,,just keep searching ,, My daughter is better from autism anddoctors admit its all from the parents of autistic children who keepsearching ,, Keep the faith,,and keep asking questions

My husband was diagnosed with gout after several episodes. After onemonth on Allopurinol his blood test showed a reduced uric acid andthe Allopurinol was increased & added Colchicine. After anothermonth his blood tests were so abnormally high (Liver functions,triglycerides, cholesterol, sugar, etc.) that he was taken off ofAllopurinol. Blood test 10 days later showed all of his numbersstarted to go down. Now we are waiting for the next blood test tosee what another month without Allopurinol will do, but the bigquestion is if there is an alternative to getting the uric acid downwithout Allopurinol. He continued on the Colchicine. His blood testsreally looked scary.

It is time to get down to the strawberry nitty gritty. Dosage. How manyounces of strawberries should a 150 lb 76-year male eat per day in order toget the desired effect.

It would seem then, that some maintenance dosage ofallopurinol is likely going to be necessary and thatalthough it is possible to go off allopurinol entirelythose who do so are likely to have the uric acidlevels rebound but would presumeably be able to resumetheir use of allopurinol at that time.

Somewhat akin to those who end their high levels ofwater intake, the higher test results or theperception of an attack beginning would induce them toresume the high water intake, but there does not seemmuch of a liklihood of any particular damage from thealtered routine.

I’m going to go to a podiatrist and see if they’ll let me get onAllopurinol. A few questions about this…

1) Do you take it daily (i.e. like vitamins) or just when you feela “flare up” coming on?

2) Does is eliminate gout or just make the outbreaks less painfuland less severe? By “eliminate”, I mean does it stop the gout fromspreading to other, larger joints (hip, elbow, fingers, etc.)

3) What, if any, side effects does it have? I’m working on changingmy diet to include more water if anything and about the only realvice I have is beer (sorry, that won’t go until I’m old andwithered).

As I mentioned, I’ve had only three outbreaks and I’m figuring if Ican “nip this in the bud” now, I’ll be better off in the future.

Lastly, I’m a swimmer, but haven’t been actively swimming for over ayear. With my last outbreak in my ankle, I noticed while swimmingit was a little stiff, but once I got going, it kind of feltbetter. Is something like swimming better for gout as it hasno “direct” contact on the joints as opposed to something likerunning?

I just glossed over this info.the other day..don’t know how old itis?..

Uricase..NOT! the animal or plant type..BAD REACTIONS..BUT! asynthetic version.This is on trial and I THINK being used inEurope..I haven’t looked at the FDA info.This COULD be the “silverbullet”..this uricase mixes with uric acid and then they BOTH end upwater soluble.I have NOT really read much about it..tests..but sofar.You got uric acid?Take some “o” this..next day you will havepractically NONE!

Another drug called..can’t remember it or thespelling..Lotarin??..I THINK they have to give this by injection..

Oxypurinol..I THINK this is the active ingredient in allopurinolbut some that can’t take allo can take oxy..