GOUT

Heroin

Cherries and cherry juice as a regular part of your diet will reduce flare-ups 35 to 40% but I doubt it would have any effect overnight.

Take Alleve or Advil until you get stronger NSAIDS from the doctor. It is another inflammatory problem, like so many medical conditions.... including that virus thing that's lately been in the news.

Ew. Only fat people get gout.

You eat too many organ meats.

No, R5.

I drink too much.

I don't eat organ meats at all.

OP - What your just listed is my friend's problem. He has gout and he's 71, overweight (not grossly) but huge gut, and......he drinks. He drinks beer mostly if not only just beer. I think he drinks pretty much every day. He once told he cut back on pepsi or coke and that seemed to help. He was probably drinking rum and coke / pepsi, I don't know.

I should add that his diet is kind of junky. His wife does all the cooking but they eat LOTS of meat, very salty diet (lots of fast food) even though she cooks most of the time. They do bacon and eggs every day I think. He is fairly sedentary. Oh...and he's on a list to get 2 knee transplants next year.

Not in the best of health.

OP - Found something on one of the sources of gout: Beer.

6. Beer (Link below)

People with gout should avoid drinking beer. The breakdown of beer in the body causes a spike in uric acid levels. Beer also dehydrates the body and slows the elimination of uric acid. Most experts suggest people with gout skip alcohol wherever possible, but an occasional glass of wine is generally fine.

R7/R8 thanks.

I drink beer every day.

Lately, I've also been eating a lot of salty and fatty food. Not really on purpose, but it just happens.

R8 I love eggs and sausage, and eat it fairly often. I also LOVE diet coke. Maybe 3-4 cans a day.

I'm not sedentary, but I do have a poor diet.

I think you both have pinpointed my problem.

Not sure I can cut back, though I should at least try. Especially since this pain is awful. Even when I'm off the foot, it's still a throbbing pain in my toe joint. Arrrgh.

OP - I am the same poster at r7 and r8. lol

Ice for swelling.

I had/have gout. My doctor said it was called "the rich man's disease", since only people who eat really "well" get it. In my case, lots of eating out and sweets, I guess. It's a build up of uric acid. I've been taking allopurinol for it for years now and haven't had a flare-up in all that time.

Drink as much water as you comfortably can.

My partner has it, and isn’t overweight. IPA beers are a real trigger for him. He now drinks Coors light most of the time. He is fine with meat. His Dr gave him medication that he only takes when he has a flare up (once a year or so). Marijuana edibles help with the pain. He took resveratrol before he saw the Dr, and that helped quite a bit.

Drink lots of water, it will help to dissolve the crystals.

Soak your toe in milk.

....

I remember reading something about aspirin aggrevating gout. something about crystals in your big toe.

I empathize, OP. I had 2 severe attacks in the last year. I couldn't walk. It felt like sharp knives. Hope you get better. Cut out meat and alcohol.

Gout is due to a dietary deficiency. Make sure you get enough vitamin C. The human body is unable to create this vitamin in its own.

Don’t eat anything. Seriously.

Chacun a son gout.

[quote] He is fine with meat.

I think we need to hear more.

OP, you must be of royal blood. Gout is a King's ailment.

I thought I had gout once... turned out it was a bone spur in my big toe... still very painful.

Learn what purines are and which foods have a lot.

Me: I keep tart cherry juice in the fridge at all times.

[quote] Chacun a son gout

Or, as the typist in Rumpole's office heard it: Jackie had some goo.

R4 - incorrect. My mom got it and she was petite and slender as hell...which, of course, I didn't inherit. Awfully painful OP. Acupuncture helped my mom but you need a good acupuncturist. The one she had retired and the other guy that she went to during the second bout was about as useful as a colander to a DL-er boiling pasta.

I have gout. It’s a myth that only fat people get it. It’s in the arthritis family so if you’re genetically disposed to arthritis you can get it.

Change of diet helps a lot. Bananas are good for helping to dissolve the crystals as well as the above mentioned tart cherry juice. I mix it in water.

Avoid alcohol, red meat, soda and sugar.

To help relieve pain soak your foot in warm water and epsom salt. This helps take the swelling down.

Ibuprofen 800 mg three times daily or Aleve 500 mg twice daily for 5-7 days unless you have an active ulcer, poor kidney function, poorly controlled BP or heart disease. Works as well as other gout flare regimens.

Drink lots of water.

Cut out the crap food and drink.

High uric acid and arthritis run in my family, so plenty of gout with an added side of stomach ulcers. I get gout at the base of my thumbs and I find massaging them helps a lot, especially if I catch it early. Skipping a couple of meals and drinking plenty of water and green tea can stop a flare up. If it starts getting chronic then it's back to the low purine diet,

Thanks for all your helpful advice in this thread.

It has definitely opened my eyes to my crap diet.

I used to be able to handle eating any way that I wanted, but it seems that as I get older, it's causing problems.

Beer really seems to be affecting me the most. Besides gout, I think it was also causing me problems with too much gluten. I was (and still do) break out in rashes whenever I have too much beer, and I think it has something to do with the gluten, which triggers these rashes.

As I mentioned, I drink beer or wine every day, so I'm probably going to have to cut back or cut it out completely.

I also love rich foods. Especially steak (with the crispy fat). In fact, I was going to cook a ribeye with shrimp scampi this weekend for dinner.

Butter and cream are also favorites. A place near where I work had a lobster bisque special on Tuesday, and I had two bowls of it!

Then I eat a ton of chips, and I made a fresh salsa last weekend that came out a little bit too salty, but I ate it any way.

I also don't drink very much water. Maybe one bottle a day, if that. The rest is either diet coke, coffee, and beer or wine.

Clearly as I type this, I'm starting to see that I have a horrible diet.

Surprisingly, I would say I'm only about 15-20 pounds over weight (six feet, one ninety), due mainly to the fact that I exercise regularly and don't over eat. It's just that what I DO eat, is crap.

Looks like it has all come to a head for me, and something has to change. But thanks again for the advice.

Now it looks like I'm

R30 At that rate with the NSAIDS your kidneys are going to take a hellava hit, along with thinning all organ walls which can result in internal bleeding. Aleve has one more strike before being banned by the FDA.

OP: CBD is supposed to be a good anti-inflammatory, and doesn't compromise organ value. See if you can get a composite med like vicoprophen (7.5/200 ratio, this drug was designed for patients who should avoid high NSAID doses.

Fatty meats, fatty fish, sugar and booze are the most common culprits. But talk about the meds and diet with your dr.

I would add to this discussion, mushrooms are also high in uric acid, strangely enough.

But see a doctor about your toe; my dad had to have his toe partially amputated due to gout (and no, he's not a fat fuck)

I had a flare up last year that was painful. My doc gave me Indomethacin, a strong anti-inflammatory, that worked extremely well. You can’t take a lot of it, though. She only gave me 5 days worth, but what a difference it made. I have arthritis,but can’t normally use these types of drugs, but this one brought such sweet relief.

^ Tumeric is also useful with gout related inflammation.

How do you take the turmeric, R36?

Dissolve it in water?

R37:

Tumeric is probably most effective when taken as a potent supplement (which will have the correct balance with Cucumin etc. Tumeric needed the cucucumin to be absorbed best by the body).

However, a daily drink of Tumeric tea only helps - empirical studies suggest a positive impact on all inflammation, including arthritis... as well as depression.

Oops, R36 beat not-R36

My husband has gout.

I had it one time in three toes on my left foot. The tops of my toes hurt like hell for a few days and I couldn't figure out what triggered that. I love seafood, and I've read it could be a cause.

Oh dear, OP, it’s actually referred to as “the Gout.”

R32, please change your diet. It’s currently very dangerous

Jesus Christ I've had it in both toes all week! All through that Hurricane. Got prescriptions and couldn't walk to CVS to pick them up- truly painful and tedious.

OP - The low purine diet is not too difficult. Get your uric acid levels checked before you start and again in a couple of months. You might be surprised how quickly your UA levels drop.

OP - Thanks for the detail at r32. You forgot to mention if you wipe front to back or......

Orudis is great for gout. But it's not over the counter in the USA anymore. I believe you can get it over the counter in Canada.

I order colchicine through Canada Drug.

I don’t drink anymore and still got it. My dr. said red meat is the culprit but I eat like garbage anyway. A good excuse to shape up.

I had gout in my right big toe about 15 years ago. I'd been talking about superfoods with a friend, noticed spinach was on the list, and ate it at nearly every meal for two weeks or so. And one morning I woke up and my big toe hurt so much, I couldn't even stand having a sheet on it.

Turns out spinach is quite purine-rich. My doctor prescribed indomethicin, I stopped eating the spinach, and I was better within the week IIRC.

OP here.

I went to the doctor and got the online results of my blood test(s) back.

Can anyone help me interpret this?

Uric Acid Standard Range: 3.8-7.8 mg/dL. Your Value: 9.3 mg/dL.

I'm assuming it's high? Does this mean I have gout?

My doctor also had me take x-rays just in case I injured my toe, but they came back all normal.

Unsurprisingly, my cholesterol levels are high also.

CHOL Standard Range: 35-199 mg/dL. Your value: 286 mg/dL.

HDL Standard Range: >=35 mg/dL. Your value: 54 mg/dL.

CHOL/HDL Average Risk of Heart Disease: Females 4.4 Males 5.0 Your value: 5.3

Damn, I'm unhealthy.

I also got this result, but I have no idea what it means.

ERYTHROCYTE SEDIMENTATION RATE (ESR)

Standard Range: 0-20 mm/hr

Your Value: 40 mm/hr

Anyone?

You didn't discuss the results with your doctor?

High uric acid means it's very probable you have gout. Elevated ESR means there's some inflammation in your blood (which is expected with gout).

Not yet, R54.

My doctor is off on the weekends, but I can access the test results online.

We'll probably talk about it next week, but I was just curious.

OMG some bad advice here. Avoid aspirin and ice and elevation, as this is a crystalization problem. Instead, max Advil dosage and soak the foot in hot water. Drinking a lot is good too. Avoid meat (esp cured meats) and chicken. (It's said beef is bad but chicken seems to cause more for me).

And in the future, when you feel that twinge in the ball of your toe, take the advil and it'll probably stave off a full attack. Haven't h ad one in years. (But the first time, I didn't know what it was and did all the wrong stuff, and wanted to cut my foot off.)

[quote]Drinking a lot is good too

OP will interpret this as 'anything goes' and go out and buy a case of Coors Lights now, r57.

Haha R58, in case it wasn't obvious: WATER

OP needs A, B, C. type of information. Very detailed, r59.

OP, once again drink, lots of water. With high uric acid, you're also prone to develop kidney stones, so hydrate! Get a prescription for Allopurinol.

OP is a fat whore!

Your uric acid level is too high. you want it below 5, ideally 4. your doctor will probably put you on this which is now generic too

I've been on both Uloric and Allopurinol. Both worked.

I started getting gout when I was 12/13 and wasn’t drinking beer at all. I was a fat kid but I wasn’t THAT fat. Sometimes it’s just genetic.

Stop drink soda (including diet soda) and alcohol, OP. If you need to tell yourself it's not forever then it's not forever and tell yourself that. Increase water intake. Keep a full glass or bottle of water next to you all day. Drink constantly. No need to overdo it or gulp it down, just a steady intake throughout the day, at least 1 liter.

If you're going to take a turmeric supplement get one with piperine included. If you're going to use turmeric powder to make a drink, grind black pepper into it just before drinking (black pepper contains piperine, which increases the absorption of the curcumin in the turmeric). As others have mentioned, get some cherry juice. Not sweetened and find a good brand (there are some shitty brands out there since cherry juice for gout - and sleep - became a thing)

R57 Putting ice on it is standard care. It's painful because it's inflamed, and cold will help with that. I wouldn't recommend high doses of ibuprofen without advice from his doctor. Not everyone can take that and we don't know if OP has other health problems.

[R4] Not all people who have gout are fat. I know two people who have gout. One is a long-distance cyclist and avid skier, and the other is a tiny woman who weighs about 100 pounds and is extremely active.

Those otherwise "healthy" folks may be the exception I am inclined to think. As I mentioned, my neighbour is around 70 years old, married, she cooks for him but it's terrible out-of-the can stuff, plus their forays into fast food every other day, coffee, beer, rum, Lays potato chips, etc. They're both pretty much sedentary. He's getting 2 knee replacements soon. He doesn't take care of his teeth, waits for big flare-ups then he goes. It goes on.

^^^ Forgot to mention, huge meat eaters (steak, burgers, etc). Bacon and eggs every day practically.

How many pounds of organ meat do you eat each day?

OP is a ghoul

Why do you insist on stuffing your body with organ meats?

[quote]You eat too many organ meats.

Not true, my other half got it at 55 and neither of us eat organ meats. It's too much rich food that can cause it. In my partners case looking back several days before he had a steak, bacon, shrimp, lobster rolls with butter, and finished it all off with beer. We had relatives in town for 3 days so we kind of broke our routine going out every night to dinner. He thinks the beer is what pushed it over the line. He was not a happy camper. It was his first time. I have been lucky so far.

You deserve it, OP. Go fuck a sheep.

[quote]Stop drink soda (including diet soda) and alcohol, OP

Diet soda or Diet Coke does not cause gout. It's the sugar in soda that is the culprit. Including fruit juices. Diet soda is basically carbonated water with food coloring, there is no link to gout.

Your indulgence in rich organ meats is the cause.

Isn't gout caused when the crystals in your urine become long chain molecules, and collect in the joints of your toes?

Lol, R78, uric acid, not urine.

You can always wait it out, OP.

It’s seriously funny to read some of the “medical advice” on DL. Really? Beer? Add cherry juice to OP’s shitty diet?

Cut out the meat, alcohol, eat fruits and vegetables, get moving, and lose weight.

I know that NOBODY wants to hear this, because if people would use common sense we wouldn’t have a billion dollar weight loss industry that sells useless gimmicks.

Can you have gout on the top middle section of your foot?

I woke up yesterday with it hurting just a little bit, and by evening it was full on pain. I could barely walk.

It's not swollen or anything. Just painful, but it feels like it's swollen.

Gout can be genetic or due to diet. Kind of like Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes (bad comparison but you get the idea).

OP--I found that a supplement, Uric Acid Support containing tart cherry has been a god-send. I get it from Amazon--they have lots of variations on the same thing. What works for me. is from a company called "Concerning Life" but I'm sure many of the others work as well.

What's been even better has been getting prescribed a medication which, for me, keeps gout away. Hopefully your doctor will prescribe something for you. The med I'm using is Allopurinol. I've had gout for five or six years, and in the last two, since starting on the drug, I've only had it once, when I skipped the med for a few days. (Used the sour cherry supplement to clear it up.)

Drink a lot of water.

r83 - I've had gout on that part of the foot. Yes, it can be painful.

Ugh, R86.

I was afraid of that.

I've had to stay off of my foot all day, and I don't know how I'm going to go in to work tomorrow.

I don't even know what to do about it.

R85's advice sounds good, but Amazon delivery will take a while, and I can't even drive to a pharmacist.

Damn, damn, damn!!

As others have mentioned, get a prescription and take a regimen of Colchicine and eliminate alcohol until the gout goes away. In the future, limit your intake of alcohol, or the gout will return.

R88 Gout isn't just alcohol. I mean, I drink a ton of wine and have never got gout. It's also meat, obesity, seafood and other high purine foods.

The following foods are low in purines:

Eggs

Nuts and legumes

Any type of fruit

Whole grains

Vegetables (excluding asparagus, cauliflower, spinach, mushrooms, and green peas)

Low-fat dairy products

Poultry

Have ANOTHER drink, WHORE !

Pay attention and as soon as you feel that characteristic twinge, take anti-inflammatories for a bit (avoid Aspirin, I like ibuprofen). Most times, this will nip it in the bud. Once you're in a full blown attack, you often need something stronger, like indomethacin.

For me, stubbing my toe can lead to an attack, probably inflammation cascading. I don't drink at all and I'm not obese. Charcuterie is also bad and not something I enjoy enough to risk gout over. Hydration is important as well.

R91 Nobody is saying that but if you reduce gout to just alcohol that's just not accurate.

I got it in my right foot last week. It was excruciatingly painful. I couldn't even put on a shoe two days later.

I am not overweight. And I eat a very healthy diet.

I started drinking more water, nettle tea, cider vinegar, and tart cherry juice (not from concentrate). The cherry juice really helped me sleep.

I also haven't had any alcohol for over a week. I think that his the key.

Today, I can walk normally without any pain. I even went to the gym.

I really don't care if I ever have another glass of wine. I never want to feel that pain again.

I woke up this morning with gout in my left foot.

It hurts!!

I've been having this ache on the bottom-middle of my left foot. It comes and goes. Gout? My mom's gout is related to her blood cancer.