Yeppers.Did I read 8 ounces, FOUR times a day, of TART cherry juice? My mouth is puckered just typing this!
-BB
Hippocrates: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”.
Yeppers.Did I read 8 ounces, FOUR times a day, of TART cherry juice? My mouth is puckered just typing this!
-BB
I learned a few things about gout. None of this is new, but I hadn't found it before.
Gout can be caused by either hypothyroidism (by lowering kidney clearance of uric acid) or hyperthyroidism (by increasing uric acid production).
Lithium may help keep uric acid in solution. This should prevent crystals from forming. A typical dose is 5-10 mg at each meal (15-30 mg/day).
Vitamin C may increase uric acid clearance in the kidneys.
A few weeks ago I had a pretty severe gout attack in my right foot. It was a higher level of pain than I've seen before. I was already taking 5mg lithium. I increased to 10mg/day, but it didn't seem to help much. I may try a higher dose.
It turns out my need for thyroid hormone had decreased and I was taking too much. I've been gradually lowering my thyroid dose over the last couple of weeks, and my foot is much better.
I hope someone out there finds this useful.
What medication for pseudogout did you take?
I was diagnosed with gout in my right large toe 3 or 4 years ago. I've taken Allopurinol and Colchicine (that's likely misspelled) daily since. I'm tempted to drop the Colchicine. Even though my blood work looks good (I don't think it was ever over 7), my toe aches constantly and has limited the shoes I wear.
My exercise each day is about a 4 mile walk each morning. That is so hard on that toe, but the exercise so far has been worth it. There is swelling in the joint that never goes away. I'm afraid I let this go too long before the Rx and have permanently damaged that joint.
I didn't know about the sugar. I'll work on reducing that as much as possible. My downfall is white wine, and I know I'll not give that up (at least I don't plan to right now). Maybe I'll add the tart cherry juice and see. I take a Tart Cherry supplement pill and if that helps, I sure would hate to do without it.
Thank you - much appreciated.CoolRich59,
i hope you recover soon sprained ankles are no fun , and the gout complication would not be pleasant
Tough week for me.
Had a mild gout flare up in my ankle a week ago Friday. It wasn't too bad; in fact, I was wondering if it was just a mild sprain instead.
No such luck. On Monday night, it ratcheted into a major flare up. I was in bed for the next two days. I kept putting off going to the doc because it seems like I always go just as the worst is over and I end up paying for the visit and the Rx when I don't need it anymore.
I gave in and finally made an appointment Wednesday morning. But by noon, the pain was diminishing and I cancelled the appointment. Thursday, I was able to start getting around.
The kicker came Thursday afternoon. The DW had agreed to babysit the grandkids. I tripped on a toy that was left out and sprained the same ankle. Yep. I sprained the ankle that was still enflamed with gout. Wow, did that hurt!!
Today (Saturday) I am finally able to get around the house a little bit.
I don't believe that's correct. Prior episodes have been in my big toe, but I suspected gout because of the intensity and consistency of the pain were way beyond a sprained ankle.Gout only occurs in your big toe!
NYEXPAT said:Gout only occurs in your big toe!
I love my regular doc, and he definitely knows about gout, but he tends to be pretty dismissive when I see him. Either he hasn't had much experience with it, or he is unsympathetic because he's been after me for years to get my weight down and I have yet to make much progress.Any doctor who claims it only occurs in the big toe has no real experience with it.
Update: As the pain from the gout flareup and sprained ankle diminished, I started noticing a lot of pain in my knee.The kicker came Thursday afternoon. The DW had agreed to babysit the grandkids. I tripped on a toy that was left out and sprained the same ankle. Yep. I sprained the ankle that was still enflamed with gout. Wow, did that hurt!!
Update: As the pain from the gout flareup and sprained ankle diminished, I started noticing a lot of pain in my knee.
I thought it was due to strain I'd been putting on the knee as I hobbled around favoring my ankle, but the pain got a lot worse Saturday night. I ended up going to an urgent care center and learned that, when I tripped on the toy, I tore the meniscus in my knee.
My tough week is being renewed into next week.