Gout 😥

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Finally got the call back from the doctor, she wrote a script and uploaded it to the Cloud so SWMBO can get it while she out in town, downside is I had forgotten my first flare up wasn't Jan 2020 it was August 2019 so doc has booked an appointment in new year to discuss the daily pill 😥 I'm now torn because I hate taking meds/pills at the best of times but I also hate this pain, I've resisted going over the a lifetime of taking pills but I may have to give in now.
 
Taking a pill every day or occasional screaming pain ? It really isn't a hard decision.
 
Lots of advice previously stated but too much to wade through so excuse any duplication below:

Gout is indeed caused by increased levels of uric acid.

High purine foods (Google it) should be avioded. High on the list are offal and shellfish though other foods (like strawberries) will affect some people.

Keep yourself hydrated - 2.5 to 3 litres of water per day.

If you can get Naproxen, take 750mg after an intial attack. The dose is on the leaflet in the box. Then carry on as per normal dosage in leaflet.

The quickest way to reduce the symptoms is with Colchicine. Pescription only, but make sure it doesn't clash with other medication you may be taking. I can't take it as I am on "statins".

The only long term solution is Allopurinol from your doctor. You will have to have a blood test to check for high levels of uric acid. Start with 100mg daily for a month, up it to 200mg for another month and level out at 300mg for the rest of your life. You increase gradually, as the higher dosage can trigger an attack if you start with 300s.
After a short while you will be able eat some of the high purine foods but in moderation.

I haven't had a gout attack since I started on Allopurinol (6 or 7 years). Had 1 or 2 twinges which I know were down to dehydration.

There is is a Gout Society website

btw I am not a doctor.
Hope this helps
 
Taking a pill every day or occasional screaming pain ? It really isn't a hard decision.
It is when my flare ups are few and far between, my first two were 5 months apart, since then over the last 3 years I've had maybe 3 or small niggles which were quickly sorted with the naproxen in a few days so the box of pills I got in 2020 lasted me until last week when this episode started, so the decision is to occaisionaly take a few pills when I need them once or twice a year or put my kidneys through a daily dose for the rest of my life, some may find that an easy decision to make but I don't. (Sorry that reads aggressive, it's not meant to be)
 
Just been reading the Gout info the GP sent me by text, apparently gout attacks only last 5 to 7 days then get better on their own 🤣😂 well that's not completely true.
SWMBO is on her way back with the Naproxen so a day or two and I'll be back to fighting fit, just as well too as there's a heap of extremely spalted silver birch logs I need to gather in from the school field and I want to get back out to the lathe and continue with the spalted Sycamore yarn bowl I started last week.
 
Finally got the call back from the doctor, she wrote a script and uploaded it to the Cloud so SWMBO can get it while she out in town, downside is I had forgotten my first flare up wasn't Jan 2020 it was August 2019 so doc has booked an appointment in new year to discuss the daily pill 😥 I'm now torn because I hate taking meds/pills at the best of times but I also hate this pain, I've resisted going over the a lifetime of taking pills but I may have to give in now.
I hate pills as well. Try nineteen a day.
 
Lots of advice previously stated but too much to wade through so excuse any duplication below:

Gout is indeed caused by increased levels of uric acid.

High purine foods (Google it) should be avioded. High on the list are offal and shellfish though other foods (like strawberries) will affect some people.

Keep yourself hydrated - 2.5 to 3 litres of water per day.

If you can get Naproxen, take 750mg after an intial attack. The dose is on the leaflet in the box. Then carry on as per normal dosage in leaflet.

The quickest way to reduce the symptoms is with Colchicine. Pescription only, but make sure it doesn't clash with other medication you may be taking. I can't take it as I am on "statins".

The only long term solution is Allopurinol from your doctor. You will have to have a blood test to check for high levels of uric acid. Start with 100mg daily for a month, up it to 200mg for another month and level out at 300mg for the rest of your life. You increase gradually, as the higher dosage can trigger an attack if you start with 300s.
After a short while you will be able eat some of the high purine foods but in moderation.

I haven't had a gout attack since I started on Allopurinol (6 or 7 years). Had 1 or 2 twinges which I know were down to dehydration.

There is is a Gout Society website

btw I am not a doctor.
Hope this helps
I'm a bit wary of Naproxen. We (the wife and I) bought 2 boxes of 250 tablets over the pharmacy counter in Manhattan and bought it back to the UK as it's only available on prescription over here. We bought it to help with Arthritis pain. My wife ended up in Intensive care after a month or two of daily use at the recommended doses. 4 bleeding ulcers resulting in two blood transfusions, she's now banned form NSAIDs.
 
I'm a bit wary of Naproxen. We (the wife and I) bought 2 boxes of 250 tablets over the pharmacy counter in Manhattan and bought it back to the UK as it's only available on prescription over here. We bought it to help with Arthritis pain. My wife ended up in Intensive care after a month or two of daily use at the recommended doses. 4 bleeding ulcers resulting in two blood transfusions, she's now banned form NSAIDs.
That must have been scary as hell !

It's also why Naproxen is routinely prescribed with omeprazole alongside. To mitigate that risk.
I had a stomach ulcer years ago and even a small one is properly painful. Naproxen daily for any more than a fortnight would have my alarm bells ringing !
Your doctor would no doubt tell you "that's why it's a prescription medicine here"....
 
The issue with the NHS is that it has failed to keep in proportion to the growth in population so you reach the point where it becomes overwhelmed, add to this that people now seem to call 999 for a splinter and you have something that can only go one way. Again like so many problems we are faced with today it all comes back to over population, to many people on such a small planet.
 
The issue with the NHS is that it has failed to keep in proportion to the growth in population so you reach the point where it becomes overwhelmed, add to this that people now seem to call 999 for a splinter and you have something that can only go one way. Again like so many problems we are faced with today it all comes back to over population, to many people on such a small planet.
Also a victim of its own success, those who live on into 70 - 80 -90 and have long term Ill health compared to my grandparents who died quite suddenly at 65-69 of cancer.
 
Our understanding of Gout has moved on a lot in the past 5+ years. We no longer believe that Gout is caused by high levels of Uric Acid . Research in the past decade has revealed that Uric acid is a symptom of the disease NOT the root cause. The reason Serum Uric Acid levels are high is due to Hyperinsulinemia or Metabolic Disease.
Metabolic Disease is the root cause of many Chronic conditions such as , Arthritis, T2 Diabetes, Dementia, Chronic heart Disease and strokes,Asthma ,Gout .
Hyperinsulinemia generally associated with type 2 Diabetes is due to Insulin resistance , impaired Insulin secretion and carbohydrate intolerance .

The most effective treatment for the root cause of Gout is not medications to reduce the levels of Uric Acid crystals in the body which is just the Medical Profession's 'sticking plaster' remedy ......but by tackling hyperinsulinemia (the root cause of Gout,) with diet and lifestyle changes.
Significantly reducing Carbohydrates and sugar with a high Fat, High Protein and Low Carb Diet based on 'real' unrefined foods will have a significant effect on Chronic health conditions like Gout Arthritis , T2 Diabetes in a matter of weeks and in most cases give lasting long term remission.
Here is an interesting recent study on the association of Gout with Hyperinsulinemia
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3749619/
 
Our understanding of Gout has moved on a lot in the past 5+ years. We no longer believe that Gout is caused by high levels of Uric Acid . Research in the past decade has revealed that Uric acid is a symptom of the disease NOT the root cause. The reason Serum Uric Acid levels are high is due to Hyperinsulinemia or Metabolic Disease.
Metabolic Disease is the root cause of many Chronic conditions such as , Arthritis, T2 Diabetes, Dementia, Chronic heart Disease and strokes,Asthma ,Gout .
Hyperinsulinemia generally associated with type 2 Diabetes is due to Insulin resistance , impaired Insulin secretion and carbohydrate intolerance .

The most effective treatment for the root cause of Gout is not medications to reduce the levels of Uric Acid crystals in the body which is just the Medical Profession's 'sticking plaster' remedy ......but by tackling hyperinsulinemia (the root cause of Gout,) with diet and lifestyle changes.
Significantly reducing Carbohydrates and sugar with a high Fat, High Protein and Low Carb Diet based on 'real' unrefined foods will have a significant effect on Chronic health conditions like Gout Arthritis , T2 Diabetes in a matter of weeks and in most cases give lasting long term remission.
Here is an interesting recent study on the association of Gout with Hyperinsulinemia
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3749619/
i had gout bad when i was 40. came and went. i use to be an avid meat smoker. tons of beef and of course drinking beer while waiting for meat to smoke.

my wife could not handle beef in her diet after years of stomach pains after eating it. Long story short, we stopped eating beef, maybe have one steak every few months, just eat chicken, pork turkey, and i quit daily consumption of beer. Just the occasional weekend ones now. I have not had a Gout attack once since diet change.
 
Was on Naproxon for years, with a side-dose of Lazoprazole to protect my stomach from ulcers. Got told never to use Ibuprofen again. A few years ago there was a shortage of Naproxen (that is what the doctor told me) and they changed me onto Meloxicam and all has been well since, touch wood (on a woodworkers forum!).
 
Also a victim of its own success, those who live on into 70 - 80 -90 and have long term Ill health compared to my grandparents who died quite suddenly at 65-69 of cancer.
A hospital consultant once told me that the biggest burden on the nhs was frail and elderly people being kept alive by statins. Now my 92 year old mum, who has zero quality of life with end stage dementia and a heart condition is being kept alive by a handful of pills every day, including statins and also has a pacemaker (the heart failure clinic insisted on changing her batteries last year). It is tears me up watching her barely able to eat, can no longer speak and just exists in her goldfish bowl of a life.
 
Also a victim of its own success, those who live on into 70 - 80 -90 and have long term Ill health compared to my grandparents who died quite suddenly at 65-69 of cancer.
Something weird just happened to my first reply attempt but this is what I said:

A hospital consultant once told me that the biggest burden on the nhs was frail and elderly people being kept alive by statins. Now my 92 year old mum, who has zero quality of life with end stage dementia and a heart condition is being kept alive by a handful of pills every day, including statins and also has a pacemaker (the heart failure clinic insisted on changing her batteries last year). It is tears me up watching her barely able to eat, can no longer speak and just exists in her goldfish bowl of a life.
 
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