Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

Categories


All categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Add to Google

Subscribe with Bloglines

Saturday, October 28. 2017

Gout

A friend emailed this photo of his foot this week. Ouch. It's the classic presentation. Fortunately, Gout is easily treated these days.



Gout occurs more commonly in those who eat a lot of meat, drink a lot of beer, or are overweight. Diagnosis of gout may be confirmed by seeing the crystals in joint fluid or tophus. Blood uric acid levels may be normal during an attack.


Have any readers had this nasty problem? 

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Medical at 16:52 | Comments (17) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

I just finished a bout of gout two years ago. Pretty painful and debilitating. I disagree that they have good treatments. They gave me colchicine for pain and to reduce inflammation. It did neither. Time eventually makes the pain go away. But the foot is forever deformed. The joint where my big toe meets the metatarsal bone now sticks out about 3/8th of an inch; looks like a bunion. I can walk OK but I can't wear some of my shoes anymore.
#1 GoneWithTheWind on 2017-10-28 17:34 (Reply)
I have periodic bouts of gout, maybe 6 months apart, which started about 6 years ago. The first occurrence was quite painful and lasted for about two weeks until I finally tried a non-prescription treatment I found on the internet. Since then whenever I feel a twinge I immediately start taking the capsules and it goes away within a day. The treatment is extremely inexpensive, about a dollar a day. I am not in the habit of recommending products but this is a real Godsend.

https://www.goutcure.com/

I use the 1221.
#2 Roy Lofquist on 2017-10-28 18:23 (Reply)
Fortunately, I do not.
#3 steve walsh on 2017-10-28 18:30 (Reply)
I had several painful bouts of gout usually about 6 months apart until my dr. prescribed Allopurinol several years ago. I have not had an attack since. No side effects at all. I might have reduced the likelihood of recurrence by giving up my favorite foods like red meat, bacon, beer, and losing some weight, but I prefer using a miracle of modern medicine when it works so well and is relatively inexpensive.
#4 TahoeBob on 2017-10-28 18:50 (Reply)
I too take Allopurinol. Two pills/day with no recurrence. I eat little meat, don't drink alcohol and I am only 20 pounds over weight. Go figure.
#5 Jerry Long on 2017-10-28 19:32 (Reply)
Allopurinol is a wonder drug IMHO
#6 alex g on 2017-10-28 20:17 (Reply)
I like beer, single malt scotch, sea food, wine, etc. I eat a balanced diet and don't over indulge in any of these things. I'm about twenty pounds over weight. Two Allopurinol pills per day keeps the very unpleasant outbreaks rare. Nasty stuff gout.
#7 Mark Clark on 2017-10-28 21:28 (Reply)
Yes, woke up several times in the past due to some one apparently dropping a bowling ball on my big toe. Have had attacks on both feet at separate times.

Laid off the beer and seafood, plus had to stop most of the wonderful exoctic fruits of Asia also. Watch my diet closely and no attacks for the past 2.5 years.

Have yet to try any drug regimen as the diet control appears to work.
#8 Capt. John A. Snyder on 2017-10-29 05:15 (Reply)
Amen to the bowling ball on the big toe feeling. My podiatrist took one look at my uric acid levels and prescribed one allopurinol a day, which pretty much has my gout under control. He also recommended drinking lots of berry juice, which keeps me running like a brook. I've had two surprising flare-ups from beverages: over-hopped beer, and too much black tea; so I now avoid those. Turns out I don't miss either one.
#9 Mike Anderson (Link) on 2017-10-29 07:01 (Reply)
I had one attack of gout about 6 years ago and was prescribed Allopurinol by my Doc. Stopped taking the meds three years ago, only drink about 1 beer a week, red meat once or twice a week and drink tart cherry juice concentrate daily. Have not had another attack since.
#10 Dustin on 2017-10-29 08:20 (Reply)
I started having gout (or gout-like) symptoms over 20 years ago, at a time when I was in great shape and didn't eat a tremendous amount of meat. I say "gout-like", because the first doctor I saw did the needle-in-the-big-toe test -- using a syringe to suck out fluid from the inflamed base of my right big toe -- and didn't find any uric acid crystals. Frankly, I think the lab just muffed the test.

Anyway, I continued to suffer major attacks a few times a year until I had one several years ago while working away from home in California. Went in and saw a podiatrist who didn't stick a needle in my toe; he just looked at it and said, "Yep, you've got gout." Put me on a short course of indomethacin (a steriod) to deal with the immediate attack and on allopurinol for maintenance. When I got back to Colorado a month or two later, my regular doctor said, "Yeah, you've got gout" and continued the prescriptions.

My gout attacks grew less frequent and then went away all together, even though I am now much more overweight, eat lots of meat, and eat seafood (lobster, crab, shrimp) freely. Aside from an occasional slightly achy big right toe, I haven't had a gout attack in probably 5 years. I agree with the comments above: allopurinol is a wonder drug.
#11 bfwebster on 2017-10-29 09:42 (Reply)
I had a gout attack and have been taking allopurinol. No further gout attacks.

Paul L. Quandt
#12 Paul L. Quandt on 2017-10-29 11:57 (Reply)
I always heard gout described as a rich man's disease. Thank God for allopurinal. But what I really want to know is 'Where's My Money?'
#13 Otto Maddox on 2017-10-29 12:21 (Reply)
Have a mild attack 2-3 times a year, usually lasts a few days. Rarely a nasty attack lasting a week or two.

No medication for it here, doctors aren't allowed (single payer healthcare...) to prescribe anything unless you get it at least once every other month.

So I suffer along with diclofenac to blunt the pain and reduce the inflamation.
#14 JTW on 2017-10-29 13:34 (Reply)
I had gout in my heels so bad that it brought tears to my eyes to get up in the morning.
Tried the usual cures.
I then fasted for 2 weeks, water only, and my body burned up the uric acid as fuel during that time and for more than 25 years gout has never come back.
Incidentally, I have never tasted beer, nor do I eat an excess of meat, nor was I overweight at the time.
That fasting worked was a complete surprise to me, after all the medicines didn't.
#15 skm on 2017-10-29 15:31 (Reply)
"Lemon juice. The best way to relieve gout pain and swelling is to reduce the amount of uric acid in the bloodstream. Lemon juice alkalizes the body and reduces the amount of acid. Mix the juice from one lemon with half a teaspoon of baking soda."

Or Italian Volcano lemon juice from Costco.

Add a shot glass of high quality virgin olive oil to this and you won't have to have your gall bladder removed.
#16 Don on 2017-10-29 16:18 (Reply)
I have had it off and on for a long time. I do not eat a lot of meat nor do I drink. A beer a month is about it. Not over weight and I am physically active.

There are no good treatments. I have found that ACECLOFENAC 200 mg time released (good for 24 hours per tablet) knock down the symptoms quickly and have had complete relief after a few days, the worse I had to take the tablets for 10 days. Unfortunately the tablets are not available in all countries. They are not expensive if you can find them.

The medical profession does not seem to be to concerned with gout, it is an autoimmune disease and it is the body attacking itself that causes the painful inflammation not the food you eat or the uric acid levels. Too many people look at the symptoms and not the cause and autoimmune is probably more closely related to side effects of vaccines than any specific diet.
#17 Max Power on 2017-11-01 16:46 (Reply)

Add Comment
(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)

By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email
addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications.

Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u],
[url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here.

Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

BBCode format allowed
 
 
A Chris Southern Consulting website.