Gout - Holy crap!

[I_wanna_Shed]

My Dad has had bouts of gout in his knee for many years now. He's gone on about how bad it is, I thought 'surely it can't be that bad!'......... :?

For five days I've had what I thought was a slight sprained ankle, a small limp. Then at 1am today...... the weight of a bed sheet on my left ankle is TOTALLY UNBEARABLE! Tried to get out of bed, I was crawling around on the floor in pain like a sissy, unable to put any weight or movement on my foot at all. :B

Doc says its goat, and gave me Indocid. Dad doesn't like these and was advised to take Colgout instead by a medical professor. Been reading up on all of the different meds.

I haven't had any diet change or unusual foods, so am not sure what could have bought it on. Everyone says to give up meat, seafood, fine cheese, wine and beer. WHAT THE HELL IS THEN LEFT TO EAT!!!!!! THEY ARE ALL OF THE MAJOR FOOD GROUPS!!!!! :doh:

I've got a job where I can pretty easily work from home. So my plan is to stay off these foods as best I can. Have a massive blinder on them once every two months, and have a week at home in pain to make up for it. :U

Nathan.

P.S. My biggest relief is that it didn't arrive last weekend for the wood show. I would have been the guy crawling around on my knees with a pillow strapped to my ankle.

[jmk89]

Colgout is something that people who don't have gout recommend. It gives me the squitz which is when you have to stop taking it.

If gout is hereditary for you (it is for me) it often won't matter what you do with your diet. Also, watch out - dietitians love to throw the kitchen sink at gout so start with advice from the department of health in your state before going wider in dietary modification! DAMHIK

The good news is that if after doing some dietary stuff you keep getting attacks the quacks will let you use Alopurinol. I started on it 7 years ago and haven't had one bout of gout since! That was after 10 years of getting a major attack at least once a month.
Best of luck

[wheelinround]

Sheeeeeeeees Nathan not at your age surely pure Mrs IWAS, mate have a spare wheelchair if needed. Hope your sorted real soon.

Oh watch tomatoes uncles flared p with those.

[Tankstand]

I was put onto Pro-gout and had to lay off the beer.

They reckon that Cranberry juice helps.

[Greg Ward]

Diclofenac.... is great.
Indocid causes stomach problems with me.
Gout comes often when the body is stressed; some foods may affect, but I still drink my beer, less seafoods perhaps, less offal perhaps.
But it can be a killer and I never go anywhere without a tablet, having said that, I may only take tablets several times a month and sometimes go for months not needing one
You learn to live with and manage it in time.
Good luck, find the tablet that works and keep it close.
Greg

[jmk89]

Btw Progout = Alopurinol
It reduces levels of uric acid in the blood but has to be taken daily. Indicid and others are painkillers that also help dissolve the gout crystals

[bsrlee]

Welcome to the big boys club.

Daily Alopurinol for me - Progout, Zyloprim - its all the same. I found the pain killers just about useless.

As for diet, good luck finding out what you can eat. Mine seems to be set off by eating European mushrooms (but not the Asian varieties). Others 'go off' with just one variety of seafood, or wine/beer, or whatever.

[A Duke]

As a sufferer I get an evil amusement by telling some of my dipsomaniac acquaintances, who have been told by their doctor that the only cure is abstinence, that I have been a teetotaller all my life.

[Adynaton]

G'day Nathan,

A coupla things!

Colgout is taken about 2/24 until the pain goes, or you get diarrhoea, which ever comes first.

As the others have said the long term medication is better and should reduce attacks.

Wheelinround is right. Tomatoes will aggravate gout as will most high acid foods, but as bsrlee said, you have to experiment with what you can and can't eat. If you want to get really technical you start off, only eating rice then add one new food every 2 or 3 days until you find what sets you off. No major food groups there!:no:

As Greg said, Indocid causes stomach problems for him, but be careful because Voltaren,[diclofenac] or any of the other anti inflammatory medicines can also cause stomach upsets, including ulcers, which can bleed. It is important to always take that sort of stuff with food to help prevent this

My suggestion is find yourself a friendly pharmacist and have a chat about the different medicines and how they work.

ps. To Duke - thank you, I am no longer a drunk just a dipsomaniac!!!!:D


Ady:)

[I_wanna_Shed]

Thanks everyone. My ankle is 80% better, but went to (another better) Doc today to fix up the problems that Indocid gave me - not pleasant at all, and scary.

I'll try and reintroduce one high purine food group at a time to try and narrow it down that way.

Getting a blood test done too, and then the Doc will see what we can do long term if reintroducing foods doesn't pin point the problem.

Nathan.