I had a flair up last Friday night. Week end, no doctor. ruled out ER. Not bad enough. First episode in years. Ibuprofen got me through it. Receded by Monday.
Anyway, my question : is there an over the counter drug to treat this ? Internet shows some but I am leary of them.
WebMd overview I'm sure you know all of this but worth looking to see if there is additional info here.
My Dad has dealt with gout on and off for a few years. His is entirely influenced by his diet. Because it is an excess of uric acid in the blood could over-hydrating help?
Coconut Oil, it should be the stuff that is solid at room temperature. If it is liquid I can't vouch for it, never tried it.
Take a spoonful of it. If that doesn't work try a second spoonful. If the taste or texture is off putting melt it on some toast.
Or you can try Omega 3 supplements they are more convenient than coconut oil. Both work great for me your results may vary.
My uncle has to stop eating liver sausage when he gets it. As long as he doesn't have more than a serving or three a month he's fine. More frequent than that and he'll get flairups.
Dark juices help---- like organic grape, or blackberry juice. Also that POM (pomegranate juice) stuff is said to help. I had what I think was gout a few years ago, and it was excruciating. Sorry about your flare-up.
Avoid shellfish, foods heavy in butter and thick sauces, and overconsumption of alcohol. Keep the foot elevated when possible.
Good luck, gout sucks.
Gout Gout Let it all out These are the things I can do without
I lost last week due to a flare up.
Colchicine prescribed but did not seem to have an effect, they told me 24 hrs and it was over 60 hours before i did not scream when I banged my foot.
Still swollen......
I was misdiagnosed with gout, turned out too be tarsal tunnel but the medicin i use for flare ups is the same. Indocin, it will really mess up your stomach if taken for an extended period of time though its generic isnt over the counter its fairly cheap.
Joe Gearin wrote: Dark juices help---- like organic grape, or blackberry juice. Also that POM (pomegranate juice) stuff is said to help. I had what I think was gout a few years ago, and it was excruciating. Sorry about your flare-up. Avoid shellfish, foods heavy in butter and thick sauces, and overconsumption of alcohol. Keep the foot elevated when possible. Good luck, gout sucks.
No sugar/corn syrup added juices is key. Cherry juice and cranberry juice (RL Knudson is the brand I think)makes a good one that is kind of pricy but was recommended to my boss and he swears by it.
Beer is what set mine off recently Blues festival attendance found me putting a noticable dent in the supply of Mirror Pond.
"No sugar/corn syrup added juices is key. "
My research indicated "fructose" was the culprit as far as sweets.
Shell fish was really bad as it contains Uric Acids
My preventative is hydration, for some reason my thirst button does not get pushed. I have not figured out why.
I will get to a point where my pee is very dark, yet I feel little if any thirst.
A year or so back I suffered a bout of vertigo (of sorts) Doc said it had something to do with crystals in the inner ear fluid.
Diagnosed by placing my head in three different positions pausing in each position for a spell. This shifted the crystals to a position where they did not affect balance.
Fixed it by hydrating....
In reply to bentwrench:
I'm the same way regarding hydration...I just did a 13-mile ride and barely felt thirsty at all. Compounding the problem for me is that drinking water makes me nauseous. No idea why, but I've always been that way.
There is a lot of fluffy info out there and I have used OTC remedies with limited success.
Someone suggested dark sour cherries. So I got a pound of dark sour cherries and ate them all. Then I had gout and diarrhea. Not a good combination of having to poop right now and not have the mobility to make it to the loo in an expedient manner.
The fish thing seems to hold true for me. I can eat fish just fine, but I started taking Fish Oil for blood lipids and it gave me the worst gout ever: Toe, ankle, knee, and hip all at the same time.
Cruciferous veggies they say are bad; cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, etc. Didn't seem to bother me.
The worst seems to be alcohol and big quantities of red proteins like beef. It used to be that if I had a steak and a couple beers I knew it would cause problems. Also I suggest taking an anti-inflammatory for small injuries. If you stub your toe, take ibuprofen or aleve. It might prevent a flare up.
I'm on a steady diet of alopurinol (100mg/day) and haven't had a flare up for a few years. I've had some very mild pain that I suspect was gout, but the alopurinol's job is to lower uric acid levels so injuries, inflammations, and otherwise optimum conditions for a flare up won't cause crystallization and a flare up.
I finally turned to alopurinol because natural remedies weren't working and I was taking 1600mg of ibuprofen a day when I had a flare, suffering through it, and likely causing future arthritic problems. I figured the alopurinol A) was more helpful than potentially harmful, B) didn't have one of those class-action legal commercials, and C) was cheap and effective.
IIRC, the correct test numbers for Uric Acid are under 7 whatevers. Mine were around 12, meaning that anytime conditions were right I would get a flare up. I started on 200mg/day alopurinol and they dropped to 6. Now I'm down to 100mg/day and haven't had my numbers tested but its been years since a bad flare up so I call it a win regardless of the numbers.
I will say this: I have no proof either way, but celery seed extract may have worked a couple times for me. Not sure if it was the celery seed extract, or if it was just a short flare up, but superficial evidence suggests it may have shortened the flare up.
curtis73 wrote: I'm on a steady diet of alopurinol (100mg/day)
Me too. Alcohol and too much fatty food will cause a flare-up so I try to limit intake of both. The allopurinol has allowed me to keep my number below 6 for years now.
My last flare-up was fun. My right big toe was the victim that time and I woke up in the middle of the night from a dream where I was trying to pump the brakes on a car that wouldn't stop. My side of the bed was near the wall and I was slamming my foot into the wall (brake pedal). Yes, a grown man can scream loud enough to wake a child on the other end of the house. Had to get a shot in the joint to stop that one and have been on allopurinol since.
At 58 I wrote off my joint pain as just arthritis but that feet, ankle, knee, and hip pain could be the gout. Only had the sore toe thing a few times though. I know I need to hydrate more as I can feel like a hangover after never drinking alcohol. Thought about taking supplements for joint health but haven't tried 'em yet. Gotta run it past my doc the next checkup. This E36 M3 makes me feel older than I am.
Simple blood test for uric acid levels.
The way mine presented the doc did not think it was gout. Ordered the test and was surprised by the results. Mine was very high. Yet my big toe was not as inflamed as my ankles.
No one understand how painful this is unless you have it. Like I don't want the bedsheet to touch my damn toe. Colchicine didn't faze it for me, allopurinol was like a light switch.
I describe it to people like this: Imagine having sand in the joints of your toes/ankle/knee. Now imagine that sand is sharp pointy crystals of acid.
That usually makes them squirm enough to get the idea
It is a problem with protein metabolism. Diet and hydration are key, some people have problems with specific foods, asparagus, organ meats, seafood, particularly crustacean like lobster or crab. Great toe is most common, but I have seen it in midfoot, ankle and knee. Uric acid is not as soluble if it is cool, like in your big toe. Have never seen it in a hip. It is typically unilateral, men and post menopausal women get it. It is quite excruciating, in acute gout. Tophaceous gout is more chronic form, accumulations of crystals under the skin give nodules, when they break down you see the bright white crystals, seems to be less painful. My understanding of why the tart cherry juice works is that it alters the pH of your urine, makes it more acidic. Like dissolves like, hence you are able to pee out more of the uric acid.
I have it. Genetic gift from both side of the family with no return receipt. Most of the points have been covered. No OTC pain meds help, Aleve made it worse. Why Aleve made it worse I don't know. Lots and lots of water to flush the system and a prescription NSAID for the pain.
Dehydration sets mine off. Also foods high in purines set it off.
Indocin seems to be best NSAID for gout. If you are prone to it, keep some indomethacin around. Aspirin can actually set off an attack.
A thread I started years ago over on Corner-Carvers
I have pretty much eliminated high fructose corn syrup from my diet, only flare-up I've had in five years was after a steak (rare) with three or four classes of red wine. Switched back to beer & pork..so far, so good.
I miss a good rare steak, though. Maybe without anything to drink on top of it?
maybe a glass of wine and a few glasses of water with your steak
In reply to friedgreencorrado:
I can have a good medium-rare steak with no alcohol and no problem. Just don't get any asparagus with it. Or ever.
Went for a run last Tuesday night, first time in a while. Next, morning my big toe was painful and sore.. Pain has subsided.. probably did something on my run.. but..
this thread has me self diagnosing.. booo urns..
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