Gout Anyone?

[Music Lover]

Gout seems to have different trigger factors and effective treatments for each person. I get it from too much red meat and beer, but can fix it in a couple days with over the counter naproxen and minor diet adjustments. One of my friends drinks maybe 2 beer a month and eats almost no red meat and still gets it...he has tried a couple different prescribed medications, yet his symptoms often last for a week or more with no relief in sight.

 

[MRG]

Gout can be a symptom of lead poisoning. Gout Linked to Low Levels of Lead This may not seem very helpful, but it's possible to chelate lead from your system.

Fructose can be metabolized into uric acid. Fructose and Gout: What’s the Link? - Gout The article doesn't mention it, but sucrose (table sugar) is 50% fructose. It's best to minimize all sweets.

A few years ago, I had gout in my hip joints. If I twisted my hip in the wrong direction, it would pinch on a crystal and feel like a knife poking me. That eventually faded, and now it's just in my big toe. My toe will flare-up if I eat candy and ice cream for a few days in a row.

Actually the lead thing is helpful. I had symptoms of lead poisoning and sure enough my lead levels were off the top of the charts.

I was shooting indoors every weekend and reloading my ammunition. Doc talked about chelation, but before that he wanted me to change some of our routine(more outdoor, immediately showering after the weapons were cleaned, tumbling brass outside). Leveled off by my next bloodwork.

 

[braumeister]

I haven't known anyone with gout for decades, and thought it was one of those old time conditions that afflicted "The Greatest Generation" fifty or more years ago, but that people just don't get any more.

Never had it myself, but a good friend has suffered greatly with gout for decades. He is now in his early fifties. Has always eaten an enormous amount of wild game, because he is an avid hunter and everything he shoots winds up on his table. He also consumes a prodigious quantity of strong home-brewed beer.

When it gets painful enough, he modifies his diet for as long as it takes for the symptoms to diminish, then goes back to normal.

 

[manerac]

Gout can be a symptom of lead poisoning. Gout Linked to Low Levels of Lead This may not seem very helpful, but it's possible to chelate lead from your system.

Thank you for that reference. I wanted to mention studies showing the correlation of gout with lead levels but it seems too conspiracy-ish.

When I felt the onset of gout this spring I switched to a no-carb diet and distilled water, and my symptoms went away. Maybe just lucky, but there you go.

 

[Sunset]

Actually the lead thing is helpful. I had symptoms of lead poisoning and sure enough my lead levels were off the top of the charts.

I was shooting indoors every weekend and reloading my ammunition. .....

I have always avoided indoor ranges because I felt breathing in lead dust might be an issue, yet at the same time, I'd kick myself as it really cut down on shooting time especially in the winter.
We had one near us that didn't have exhaust fans, so I'm sure that was the worst.

At least now I can feel better that possibly it is good to avoid.

 

[Aerides]

DH has gout from (likely culprit) several years of strict Atkins. For him it was triggered mostly from shellfish (surf and turf = attack). It took him years of subtle symptoms before holy-hell-i-need-the-ER to finally get diagnosed.

Since then, he's been on allopurinol, mentioned upthread, for years and it manages things to where he can eat what he likes with hardly ever a hint of an attack.

For non-medical intervention, he got some relief by ofc avoiding the bad foods, and eating cherries, as they seem to help counteract the specific acid.

 

[JG in Hangzhou]

Thanks for all the support.
Last night it moved from big toe to ankle. less pain but can barely stand up.
Still drinking water.

 

[Bir48die]

I have gout. Haven't had a flare up for almost a year. I was on vacation last year in the Caribbean and got it so bad I couldn't move without crutches. Lasted more than three months. My family has a history. I also was a huge meat and veggie guy. Drank lots of beer and did not hydrate enough. Now on Allopurinol and drink tons of water a day. Cut down on beer and beef. I will never process Uric acid without help. Will be on drugs the rest of my life. Also had a history of kidney stones so I've run the gambit on this issue for sure.

 

[Fedup]

I eat a lot of fruits and hence the same as fructose, but no problem with gout. I have hip arthritis but maybe I get used to the pain and don't notice the pain so much except when it's starting to rain. But I also love to eat cherries. My husband eats all kind of berries, maybe they are helping him because he eats red meat.

 

[msieweke]

Fruit is not as much of a problem. For example it's not unusual for someone to drink 3 cans of Coke per day. To get the same amount of sugar, you would have to eat 2.5 pounds of apples. How many pounds of fruit do you eat?

Also, it appears the fiber in fruit changes the way it is digested and absorbed. In studies where soft drinks were replaced by fruit with equivalent sugar, kids lost weight. So it's more complicated than you might think.

 

[Fedup]

I say a lot, but it depends on the fruit. I might have a large cherymoya for dinner, it's an Asian fruit. I have half of bowl of cherries after dinner for desert. An occasional banana here and there, same with apple or orange. I drink coconut juice straight out of the young coconut. I mean I eat more fruits than vegetables, the opposite of my husband. Maybe less than 2 lbs a day.

 

[street]

I don't have it but was talking to a couple of guys yesterday and they both get gout. It sounds very painful and puts a person out of commission for a while when it appears.

 

[Johanson]

I am hopefully on the backside of a nasty gout attack. It got worse when I put ice on my toe and the surrounding area. It then moved into the surrounding area (metatarsal bone) where it's at now. The big toe joint seems fine now.

My youngest brother gets it way worse than me. I usually only have an attack once a year or so at the most but it has been getting worse and has been lasting longer. My weight is up too and I'm sure that doesn't help.

 

[Red Badger]

DH has gout from (likely culprit) several years of strict Atkins. For him it was triggered mostly from shellfish (surf and turf = attack). It took him years of subtle symptoms before holy-hell-i-need-the-ER to finally get diagnosed.

Since then, he's been on allopurinol, mentioned upthread, for years and it manages things to where he can eat what he likes with hardly ever a hint of an attack.

For non-medical intervention, he got some relief by ofc avoiding the bad foods, and eating cherries, as they seem to help counteract the specific acid.

+1
As with earlier post, after getting tore up from gout attacks, I got on the allopurinol as a maintenance med. No side effects from the daily med and no gout flareups in 6+ years. Darn they hurt!

 

[NYEXPAT]

Gout runs in my family as well. I stopped experiencing it when I left the USA. I do however have periodic incidents of "false gout" in my knees, elbows,ankle. I take 1 painkiller (under the tongue) and 800 mg of a anti-inflamatory. The pain is mostly gone in an hour and I stay on the antinflamatories for three days. I have never had a incident last more than 4-5 days.

 

[Fedup]

Ah, maybe that's why my husband doesn't have gout. He takes a fresh spoon of home grown turmeric and honey everyday. Turmeric has anti-inflammatory benefit.

 

[MRG]

I have always avoided indoor ranges because I felt breathing in lead dust might be an issue, yet at the same time, I'd kick myself as it really cut down on shooting time especially in the winter.
We had one near us that didn't have exhaust fans, so I'm sure that was the worst.

At least now I can feel better that possibly it is good to avoid.

I changed all my practices at the same time so it's difficult to say what was causing my exposure.

I know I'd asked around some shooting forums. The suggestions I received were warning me about tumbling my brass indoors.

 

[braumeister]

I know I'd asked around some shooting forums. The suggestions I received were warning me about tumbling my brass indoors.

+1
Everything I've read says that this is the biggest single culprit.

 

[JG in Hangzhou]

Finally able to walk out of the house into the sunshine today.
Ankle and toe still swollen.
Discovered I can live on one cup fruit, one cup vegetables, two pancakes and 18 glasses of water every day.
Maybe its my new diet plan.
The last night was very painful until I dug into my migraine medicine reserve. The pain disappeared and didn't return. I wonder if the reduced stress helped pass the crystals through the joint.

Anyhow. Thanks for the sharing and the support.

 

[W2R]

So glad you are feeling better. What a miserable affliction.