Bloody gout.... any advice from fellow sufferers?

[The Brighton Buzz]

Suffered for about 20 years. Tried to watch diet, but eventually went on to allopurinol and haven't had an attack since. As others have said drink plenty of water. Different things trigger it with different people. Port and cheese is an old wife's tale. With me I stopped drinking lager and went on to bitter also over ripe fruit especially strawberries brought on attacks. I would just start taking the allopurinol and you should find it will settle down. I didn't wait the two weeks free of attacks. Hope the drug is successful for you but by the comments on here nobody has said that allopurinol doesn't work so hopefully will be good for you too.

 

[shabba]

Been suffering for several years but the last few months have been terrible. The attacks used to come infrequently but now they are almost weekly and spreading to my knees, hand(see attached) and elbow as well as the normal very painful feet.

The doc advised a drug called Alopurinol, as a daily preventative measure but I've been told I need to be free of gout for 2 weeks before I can start to take it. I just don't get 2 weeks respite.

Oh, stopping booze has not proved to be the answer!
View attachment 39463

It is horrible, go to regenerative nutrition and they do supplements that work! Also, no drinking and try cherry juice

 

[Phat Baz 68]

Stock up on Cherry Juice , get some Colchisine tablets from your GP, try not to eat too many purine foods e.g peas, Broccoli etc.
some people need to avoid shellfish, and the biggest one of all for causing Gouty Arthritis is .... STRESS !!!
Have had it on and off for years in my feet and knees so I feel your pain mate.
Most people think its alcohol but that actually plays very little part in it.
Also lots of food additives agrevate it too. Good luck. Oh ice packs too.

 

[albie_noobs]

Hi,

Interesting post for which thanks !

Were the Voltarol painkillers available off prescription ( I note all of what you are saying) just wondering whether or not they are something I might consider or are they not at all recommended whilst on Diclofenac.

I would like to hear, if you can be bothered, or please PM me.

Best

Voltarol and Diclofenac are one and the same thing, Voltarol contains a smaller dose of Diclofenac and is usually available over the counter in tablet or cream form.Diclofenac is about 4 times as strong in the anti inflammatory stakes and is available on prescription.
I'd reccommend going to your GP as buying enough Voltarol over the counter to make a difference will be very expensive. Good luck and I'd say get on the Alopurinol as soon as you can.

 

[Muzzy]

My gout has been eased by a new drug called Adenuric. It's a replacement for allopurinal which wasn't working very well.
Still waiting for blood test results to check if I'm on the correct dosage but all seems to be ok, thank Christ, I was in agony from my last attack. This, believe it or not was how my right knee looked from an acute attack

 

[Hillian1]

I was taking Dicoflenac regularly but after the recent headlines about it have stopped.

Eating Cherries and drinking cherry juice has eased mine more than Dicoflenac ever did.

 

[OzMike]

Lay off the red wine and the red meat.

 

[Muzzy]

Lay off the red wine and the red meat.

And mussels, scallops and oily fish.

 

[Hillian1]

And mussels, scallops and oily fish.

And prawns, asparagus, kidney, liver, mushrooms and just about every bloody food that I like.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

I think I said earlier in the thread (sorry, couldn't be arsed to go back over it), I was never given any advice on eating or drinking anything - I had a few bad attacks about 15 years ago, was prescribed Allopurinol, have taken it ever since and never had a bad attack since. I don't think about it any more.

 

[BigGully]

I was taking Dicoflenac regularly but after the recent headlines about it have stopped.

Eating Cherries and drinking cherry juice has eased mine more than Dicoflenac ever did.

Perhaps you are just in a period of remission irrespective of your diet.

I am being slightly mischievous because I know what a horrible condition gout is.

But if you accept that common gout by its very nature is a condition that might only last 24 hours and you might only have a handful or a singular attack in a lifetime, then it follows that you will have long periods without it.

The periods of having an attack are truly awful and we are all likely to take measures irrespective of their merits.

Of course it eases as it inevitably will and hey presto, we have the answer to our gout problem, days, weeks, months might go by between bouts and even when it returns we somehow justify the virtues of our diet even though our toe is again in excruciating pain.

Just read through the posts on this thread each one offering the 'magic bullet', but we can't be for certain we actually have one.

 

[spongy]

I've always had problems with my right foot after I tore some tendons 5 years ago. At first I thought I had just re injured it as I had a swollen foot and the swelling was exactly where the damage was....

It was a couple of days later I realised what it was and my foot tuned into this...

The photo doesn't show just how bad it had swollen. It was like that until Wednesday, no matter how much water I drank, anti inflammatories I took or how much glucosamine or cherry juice I drank, 6 days of agony, the pain has now gone and the colour is back to normal but the swelling has remained.

My boss the generous fellow that he is phoned me on Friday to say that he had to cancel his off-roading trip for the weekend because of me and that I was letting my work colleagues down due to my absence and that he wouldn't pay me for the time off.

So I've been back at work since Monday with a severely swollen foot that is still agony to walk on, working 7am to 7pm, sometimes crying in pain.

Where I've been limping around I'm now having problems with my right knee and left hip. But today is the first day I have been able to walk properly without a limp despite the swelling remaining. If it hasn't gone by Sunday I shall be back at the doctors to get it sorted. I'm going to Turkey in 3 weeks so I need to get it sorted and get the allopurinol up and running. I used to take it but I cut down on the drinking and weened myself off it, that was 3 years ago, now I'm going to go back on it, I'm not ever going through this again!!

 

[Hillian1]

Perhaps you are just in a period of remission irrespective of your diet.

I am being slightly mischievous because I know what a horrible condition gout is.

But if you accept that common gout by its very nature is a condition that might only last 24 hours and you might only have a handful or a singular attack in a lifetime, then it follows that you will have long periods without it.

The periods of having an attack are truly awful and we are all likely to take measures irrespective of their merits.

Of course it eases as it inevitably will and hey presto, we have the answer to our gout problem, days, weeks, months might go by between bouts and even when it returns we somehow justify the virtues of our diet even though our toe is again in excruciating pain.

Just read through the posts on this thread each one offering the 'magic bullet', but we can't be for certain we actually have one.

My attacks would start with a slight throbbing in my big toe or top of the foot, 48 hours later I would be in excruciating pain and last for at least 7 days. Now when I start getting a niggly pain in either place I'm straight onto the Cherry's and it dies down in 24 hours.

Coincidence maybe but I'm not so sure.

 

[BigGully]

My attacks would start with a slight throbbing in my big toe or top of the foot, 48 hours later I would be in excruciating pain and last for at least 7 days. Now when I start getting a niggly pain in either place I'm straight onto the Cherry's and it dies down in 24 hours.

Coincidence maybe but I'm not so sure.

Personally I would also change the name Gout to a more user friendly name, personally maybe with a French twang, perhaps like 'Gouet' as in 'Gilet', add a little romance to the condition.

Who doesnt, even as a sufferer visualise a portly over indulgent Victorian gentleman with a big bulbous nose drinking copious amounts of port when you embarrassingly explain to a casual colleague that you have GOUT, bloody hate it.

I always say I have twisted my ankle !!!!

 

[Hillian1]

Personally I would also change the name Gout to a more user friendly name, personally maybe with a French twang, perhaps like 'Gouet' as in 'Gilet', add a little romance to the condition.

Who doesnt, even as a sufferer visualise a portly over indulgent Victorian gentleman with a big bulbous nose drinking copious amounts of port when you embarrassingly explain to a casual colleague that you have GOUT, bloody hate it.

I always say I have twisted my ankle !!!!

Yep, whenever I say gout the first thing I hear is "Ah, rich mans disease, too much fine food and drink" which is about as far from the truth as you can get.

 

[Muzzy]

And prawns, asparagus, kidney, liver, mushrooms and just about every bloody food that I like.

Not all the food and drinks on the lists affect all sufferers. It's similar with migraine sufferers, you have to discover the hard way. Keep a diary of what you consume and when you get an acute attack you then find out what to avoid.
Some things on the avoid lists are a bit generalised but do tend to be high in purines.
For me mussels are the biggest no no! If I eat anything that contains them I'm usually done for within a couple if hours!

 

[Hillian1]

Mussels, I love mussels.

Last time ate them I woke up in the middle of the night convinced somebody had smashed my foot up with a club hammer.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Yep, whenever I say gout the first thing I hear is "Ah, rich mans disease, too much fine food and drink" which is about as far from the truth as you can get.

Don't think I've ever had that said to me, but then I don't tend to talk about it much - I have far more interesting ailments.

 

[Muzzy]

Mussels, I love mussels.

Last time ate them I woke up in the middle of the night convinced somebody had smashed my foot up with a club hammer.

Have you had a full on knee attack yet?

 

[Don't get me started]

I've always had problems with my right foot after I tore some tendons 5 years ago. At first I thought I had just re injured it as I had a swollen foot and the swelling was exactly where the damage was....

It was a couple of days later I realised what it was and my foot tuned into this...

The photo doesn't show just how bad it had swollen. It was like that until Wednesday, no matter how much water I drank, anti inflammatories I took or how much glucosamine or cherry juice I drank, 6 days of agony, the pain has now gone and the colour is back to normal but the swelling has remained.

My boss the generous fellow that he is phoned me on Friday to say that he had to cancel his off-roading trip for the weekend because of me and that I was letting my work colleagues down due to my absence and that he wouldn't pay me for the time off.

So I've been back at work since Monday with a severely swollen foot that is still agony to walk on, working 7am to 7pm, sometimes crying in pain.

Where I've been limping around I'm now having problems with my right knee and left hip. But today is the first day I have been able to walk properly without a limp despite the swelling remaining. If it hasn't gone by Sunday I shall be back at the doctors to get it sorted. I'm going to Turkey in 3 weeks so I need to get it sorted and get the allopurinol up and running. I used to take it but I cut down on the drinking and weened myself off it, that was 3 years ago, now I'm going to go back on it, I'm not ever going through this again!!

This Sounds just like mine with the tendons and right foot. As soon as I feel a twinge now I hit it with 2 colchezine and a diclofenac (normally in the middle of the night) and this seems to head it off , i get about a days discomfort but do have to keep the medication going for the rest of the day.