Gout, anyone?

[ich bin besser]

Probably not a topic for the younger ones... 
Anyone diagnosed with it? If so, what did help for you?
Had my first (supposed) attack in December. Stopped drinking beer and eating red meat then. Now it seemed to have come back. Again bad pain in the left big toe.
Guess I still have to find out what to eat/drink and what not...

[wasteland]

I was sincerely convinced that gout had gone extinct after the Renaissence. Jeez. Will the pain and damage completely receed with a strict diet?

[philmcson]

I was sincerely convinced that gout had gone extinct after the Renaissence. Jeez. Will the pain and damage completely receed with a strict diet?

How could it go extinct, if you get the metabolic disorder, you'll get gout at some point..... a strict diet will decrease the accountable uric acid levels, thus lowering the risk of pain and damage. But complete recession, as in "10 years without attack" is very rare.....

[slycordinator]

How could it go extinct, if you get the metabolic disorder, you'll get gout at some point..... a strict diet will decrease the accountable uric acid levels, thus lowering the risk of pain and damage. But complete recession, as in "10 years without attack" is very rare.....

Also, it's not entirely uncommon for people to get the pain and urate deposits with "normal" uric acid levels. I recall reading writeups on multiple studies where 30-50% of cases had normal levels in the blood.

And this reminds me of my hatred for a commercial they ran on TV here for a certain uric acid level lowering drug that said "The root cause of gout is increased uric acid in the blood." Bullshit. The root cause is whatever it is that is causing you to have high uric acid. It's looking at the last leg of the chain and calling it the root. That's like saying "The root cause of hypertension is increased peripheral resistance" in my opinion.

[Dr. DTVT]

I have it.  I cut down on beer, but couldn't cut out iced tea.  That has mostly done the trick.

Medication, both for flare ups and to keep uric acid levels low is generic and pretty cheap in the states.

[philmcson]

How could it go extinct, if you get the metabolic disorder, you'll get gout at some point..... a strict diet will decrease the accountable uric acid levels, thus lowering the risk of pain and damage. But complete recession, as in "10 years without attack" is very rare.....

Also, it's not entirely uncommon for people to get the pain and urate deposits with "normal" uric acid levels. I recall reading writeups on multiple studies where 30-50% of cases had normal levels in the blood.

And this reminds me of my hatred for a commercial they ran on TV here for a certain uric acid level lowering drug that said "The root cause of gout is increased uric acid in the blood." Bullshit. The root cause is whatever it is that is causing you to have high uric acid. It's looking at the last leg of the chain and calling it the root. That's like saying "The root cause of hypertension is increased peripheral resistance" in my opinion.

The root cause of CVI is a blood clot in one of the cerebral arteries..... 

[YtseCullen]

My dad has it, and you can tell when he is having an attack, a couple summers ago it was bad, he had it all summer and he was so irritable you could barely be around him.... but he's really changed his diet and it helped a lot.

[ich bin besser]

Got the results of a blood test yesterday. Uric acid is too high, so it looks like gout - even though I don't have some of the typical symptoms (swollen, red or hot toe). Somehow it seems to be a cross between gout and arthritis...
As for a diet, I'm not sure what to do because I read/hear different opinions. The consensus seems to be that one should avoid beer, meat (especially red meat) and fish. A friend told me to cut down carbohydrates as well (as in noodles, rice or bread). I just fear that I don't find anything to eat then. 
Anyway, got some medicine for gout and will try to avoid a few things.

[slycordinator]

Got the results of a blood test yesterday. Uric acid is too high, so it looks like gout - even though I don't have some of the typical symptoms (swollen, red or hot toe).

Gout can occur in any joint in the body. It just often occurs in the big toe. Heck, back in acupuncture school I had a patient that got gout in his hands.

Somehow it seems to be a cross between gout and arthritis...

That's because gout is a type of arthritis.

[Big Hath]

no gout here, but I have recently felt what I believe to be plantar fasciitis in my left foot.  Hurts like heck when I stand up after sleeping or sitting for a while.

[cramx3]

Reviving an old thread....

So I was diagnosed with Gout today.  Well that is the belief at least, going to get blood work tomorrow to check uric acid levels to confirm. 

Essentially middle of Monday night I woke up with some good pain in my ankle (not toe).  It wasn't terrible, but annoying.  Went to work Tuesday and while I was much slower due to the pain, it really didn't affect me overall.  Now last night, around 11pm I get into bed and the pain is very bad.  So bad, I did not sleep the entire night.  My right ankle blew up too, looks like I got a baseball in there.  So I go see my podiatrist today.  It's a different doctor at the same place I've gone to in the past. 

This is where I find it interesting.  I've had ankle problems before.  My feet are somewhat flat and my ankles are very loose, I can bend them in weird ways. I've been diagnosed with tendonitis before.  I had the exact same symptons in the exact same spot on my ankle.  They made me get an MRI and confirmed it last time.  This time with a different doctor, he says its gout.  Not in the toe, in the ankle.  I hadn't been drinking the last few days and haven't eaten the foods he asked about, but my father has gout and also he said since it formed and got worse at the dead of night, that's also a sign.  I also didn't do any physical activities to injure my ankle.

Anyway, I got a shot to the ankle to help with the pain which lead me to finally sleep when I got home and it's much less sore now although still huge.  Any tips and tricks out there for dealing with this?  It'll be hard to hold back on drinking on the weekends plus avoiding meats.  Im guessing I just need to cut back vs. cut out completely. 

[TAC]

Hope that improves Cram.

[Phoenix87x]

In 5 weeks I will be a graduated Pharmacist, here's the story:

So gout is uric acid build up which is caused by the breakdown of proteins. You are already taking good steps.

The non drug route includes:

      1. Losing weight
      2. Cutting back on red meat protein
      3. Cutting back on alcohol
      4. Decrease blood pressure
      5. Drink more water, which helps kidney function

The over the counter med route:

      1. Naproxen or ibuprofen as needed 


If it gets really bad and what you are doing on your own isn't working than Allopurinol can be used, which is a xanthine oxidase inhibitor which will lesson the creation of uric acid.

I hope this helps

[El Barto]

Hope that improves Cram.

[TempusVox]

Wow! I really feel for you. About 20 years ago when I was in my early 30's I was diagnosed with gout in one of my big toes. At the time I ate tons of red meat. I recall my doctor told me to stop for a while, and I think it was about 2 months before the pain finally ceased. It was horrific.


A couple of months later, it came back in my pinky finger. It was so unbearably painful that I actually got really drunk one day, and told my ex wife that I was going to go to the garage, get the hatchet, and cut off my finger. She eventually convinced me otherwise, but it was brutal. (The experience actually prompted me at the time to write a short story about a man who is about to lose his job at a saw mill in a little rural town because it's going to shut down; and one night tells a stranger in the local watering hole his gruesome plan to cut off his own hand in a fake accident in order to collect the workers compensation) The pain in my pinky went on unabated for like 6 weeks. 24/7.

At that time, I totally changed what I ate and drank. I've never had another incident since, and I've long ago stopped worrying about those foods that can trigger it. But...damn.

Hope you recover quickly.

[cramx3]

Thanks guys.  The pain subsided within 24 hours of getting the shot to the ankle and the swelling is completely gone.  So I feel pretty much normal today and back to work.  Got the blood work yesterday so that'll confirm it soon enough, but it seems legit.  I really don't see it as the end of the world or anything terrible honestly.  It's probably for the best that I just watch what I eat/drink anyway.  I mean I typically am not a big red meats and beer guy, more of a chicken and vodka dude, but even that I should just watch out for and be more aware of it (those also are not good for gout, but I need to just be aware and limit my consumption levels overall).  Apparently spinach isn't the best for gout and surprisingly that is the one gout related food that I ate a significant amount of last weekend (not meat or booze  ). Should probably loose some weight too, I put on all the weight I lost last year.

[TempusVox]

Interesting you mention the spinach. Back in November I had PCNL surgery to remove a 10mm stone from my right kidney. After surgery they analyzed the fragments and it was a calcium oxalate stone. With my blood chemistry and the chemical make up of the stone my urologist told me the absolute WORST thing I can eat is spinach. He said for me, should I continue to enjoy spinach, I can be guaranteed of having another stone form again. I LOVE spinach, but will now never eat it again.

[cramx3]

So I had a bad flare up last weekend.  Like really bad, not just my ankle, but my entire foot blew up.  Once again, I was sent wondering wtf did I eat?  I really haven't eaten any of the gout related foods and hadn't been drinking.  My podiatrist prescribed my indocin for the pain which is not helping at all.  In fact, I'm getting really bad headaches which is a side effect.  So I stopped, ibuprofen helps much more without side effects.  Sadly marijuana doesn't even help with this pain (apparently I would need a CBD strain that you can't get in an illegal state).  Doing some more research and it seems there's a lot of mystery over what foods actually do cause gout and some say it may not be meats, but actually sugar.  I don't eat sugary things either besides with my coffee (which I stopped as of last week), but actually I do eat white bread a lot with sandwiches and whatnot.  I think that's potentially it.  I really am clueless overall though.  My father is prescribed allpurinol for controlling his uric acid levels.  When I think about it, my grandfather had gout too and he was ridiculously healthy and in good shape.  So I'm thinking this may be very much hereditary and my diet makes it worse, but it may be a bit more natural than a certain food I am eating (not sure, just guessing here).  Well I really don't want to take that pill every day, it also has side effects.  I found a natural supplement that also keeps your uric acid levels down, cherry tart.  So I just started taking pills of that daily, no side effects, natural, and reviews on amazon are ridiculously positive for gout.  My foot is still in pain from a week ago, but it is slowly getting better. Very slowly.  Hoping this cherry tart is just what I need.  Seeing my PCP about this next week, but I am jus trying to avoid taking prescription pills if I can.

[Stadler]

By the way, according to my grandmother, it's THE gout, not "gout". 

Count me in on the "loves spinach but doesn't eat it much because he doesn't want to spend another two nights lying fetal in the bathroom wishing the pain would end already" camp. 

[Phoenix87x]

So I had a bad flare up last weekend.  Like really bad, not just my ankle, but my entire foot blew up.  Once again, I was sent wondering wtf did I eat?  I really haven't eaten any of the gout related foods and hadn't been drinking.  My podiatrist prescribed my indocin for the pain which is not helping at all.  In fact, I'm getting really bad headaches which is a side effect.  So I stopped, ibuprofen helps much more without side effects.  Sadly marijuana doesn't even help with this pain (apparently I would need a CBD strain that you can't get in an illegal state).  Doing some more research and it seems there's a lot of mystery over what foods actually do cause gout and some say it may not be meats, but actually sugar.  I don't eat sugary things either besides with my coffee (which I stopped as of last week), but actually I do eat white bread a lot with sandwiches and whatnot.  I think that's potentially it.  I really am clueless overall though.  My father is prescribed allpurinol for controlling his uric acid levels.  When I think about it, my grandfather had gout too and he was ridiculously healthy and in good shape.  So I'm thinking this may be very much hereditary and my diet makes it worse, but it may be a bit more natural than a certain food I am eating (not sure, just guessing here).  Well I really don't want to take that pill every day, it also has side effects.  I found a natural supplement that also keeps your uric acid levels down, cherry tart.  So I just started taking pills of that daily, no side effects, natural, and reviews on amazon are ridiculously positive for gout.  My foot is still in pain from a week ago, but it is slowly getting better. Very slowly.  Hoping this cherry tart is just what I need.  Seeing my PCP about this next week, but I am jus trying to avoid taking prescription pills if I can.

Indocin used to be the standard NSAID for treating gout, but not anymore. The guidelines recommend aleeve (aka naproxen), but if you are getting success with the Ibuprofen, then its all good.

Since this seems to be an continual problem and it runs in your family, You probably will need a maintenance regimen of Allopurinol. That's pretty much the gold standard.

And the cherry tart, typically I don't recommend natural products since they are not FDA regulated, but if it helps and doesn't cause any issues, then it is what it is. It will give you more of an NSAID effect, where as my primary concern would be to decrease your uric acid levels.

And its good that you are trying to figure out what from your diet is contributing, but some people are just so genetically predisposed to gout, that having a maintenance agent on board is the way to go.

[cramx3]

Yea, thank you for the advice, good stuff.  I just really don't want to get stuck with a prescription pill to take daily that has side effects.  I feel like Allopurinol is where I'll end up, but I'd rather not if I can.  I'll find out more on wednesday.