Gout 😥

[skeetstar]

Gout is caused by uric acid in your blood coming out of solution and forming crystals, usually in joints at the extremities. You are in good company, the Archbishop of Canterbury has suffered with gout.

Changing your diet can help, but not a lot.

Everyone thinks alcohol causes gout, but in realty alcohol helps to dehydrate you.. alcohol helps to cause the condition that causes gout. Make sure that once you are over the attack, that you stay well hydrated, and that means plenty of water, not just tea etc, and don't depend on coffee for hydration.
Keep your urine clear or uncoloured and you'll be off to a good start.

The long term answer is allopurinol. It will remove gout from your life, and has the added advantage of stopping you getting kidney stones, which even the medical text books describes as agony inducing.

If left to run riot in your body, gout can eventually lead to the need for amputation. That's an extreme, but it has happened.

See your GP, get allopurinol.

I'm not a medic, just a fellow sufferer, so the above is based on my experience, your may be different. I wish you the best.

 

[Amateur]

Uric acid doesn't always show up in blood test.
I started in my 30 s.
I'm 70 now and the only way to prevent it is Alopurinol every day.
I'm convinced stress has a lot to do with it.
Over the years I've cut out everything that is supposed to cause an attack but even if I'd had no alcohol for months or so called trigger foods it would still get me.
Long term Alopurinol is safe too, but whatever you do don't stop taking the tablets. It doesn't get better, it's with you for life.

 

[clogs]

Sideways,
do u think we should start wearing pointy toed, high heeled shoes to help avoid this problem.......hahaha.......

 

[Stigmorgan]

Sideways,
do u think we should start wearing pointy toed, high heeled shoes to help avoid this problem.......hahaha.......

The broken ankles would certainly take our minds away from the gout pain

 

[JimTaylor]

Hi, I had my first attack of gout in my late 30’s. Exactly 2 years later I had a second attack.
The trigger for me is dehydration, quite often I would not have a drink until I left site.
If it is gout it is caused by a high uric acid level and the uric acid forms crystals usually in a joint eg big toe. You know the pain caused as your immune system attacks the joint.
Repeat attack can seriously damage the joints.
For the pain I was given strong NSAID tablets (non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs). Stops the pain but not the cause. After blood tests proved it was uric acid and gout I was put on Allopurinol which lowers uric acid levels.
The triggers vary, a cousin is offal, some is beer or spirits.
Need a blood test as other minerals can cause similar symptoms.
Once I found out it was gout, I was surprised how many people suffer from it.
Try to work out what you where doing 3-5 days before the attack, to identify the trigger.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Sideways,
do u think we should start wearing pointy toed, high heeled shoes to help avoid this problem.......hahaha.......

Only in bed.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I, of course, have now found the cure for gout - get your legs amputated.

 

[highwood122]

I get it, as does a local friend. Both of us now in our 60's.
Diet can increase your susceptability to it but usually I find the trigger is physical damage.
Mine began in my mid 50's climbing a staircase with uneven steps. I found my whole bodyweight on just the toes of one foot and they slipped, giving a brutal slap when I dropped onto the step below.

The pain is exactly as you describe. OTC painkillers don't really touch it so life contracts to little more than enduring the next few minutes. It makes for a long night !
It's slightly less bad than serious kidney stones but that's little consolation :-(

I've had a couple of flare ups since, at intervals of a year or two and know that Naproxen + Omeprozole (protects the stomach) is a standard treatment. It works.

On the advice of my friend and more recently a doctor, make sure to keep a small stock of the tablets so that you can treat an inflammation immediately. Catch it early and it settles down again in a few days. Leave it untreated and it gets worse, can take 2-3 weeks to go and the crystalline deposits cause some lasting damage every time.

If your local GP's are as utterly user unfriendly as mine, go online to one of the online prescription med services and just buy what you need. It is not very costly. Someone at the company reviews and approves what you type in because these are prescription meds but you'll get them in 2-3 days.

The best way though is to use the NHS 11? helpline. The call handlers talk you through a guided questionnaire to reach a decision on what to do. They have no discretion but may guide you if you begin by clearly describing what you think you have and what you need. They have the ability to cut through the GP receptionists and arrange a priority phone call with a GP and that is what you need. After being fobbed off by the surgery with a phone appointment for a weeks time, I was able to get a same day call back and immediate prescription once I twigged that the NHS line was the way to go. The GP was fine, it's the admin that is deliberately designed to obstruct at our local group practice.
Don't mess about. With gout you have severe pain and can't walk more than about 3 steps. If you minimise and pretend you can, the diagnostic may spit you out as non urgent instead of a doctor easily actioning a remedy in <10 minutes.

Don't start allopurinol unless you have to by the way. If you only get one episode a year, keep the Naproxen handy and just jump on it when it happens.

done exactly the same thing 2 weeks heavy pain

 

[Stigmorgan]

So after 30minute of repeatedly calling the gp surgery and getting a busy signal I finally got through at 8.30 and was in a queue of over 30, by 10.30 I was up to number 10 in the queue then I finally got my turn just before 11.00 only to be told that the doctors were fully booked call back at 8am tomorrow. Ffs all I need is a repeat of a previous script. I know they are busy but it would take less than a minute for the doc to check my file and sign off a new script
Oh well guess I'll look forward to the same tomorrow.

 

[Rhossydd]

Ffs all I need is a repeat of a previous script.

You should be able to order a repeat prescription via the NHS app. You might also find that if you use the same pharmacy all the time, the pharmacist can re-order for you and may supply emergency supply medicines until a prescription arrives. If you're lucky your GP surgery may still accept letters to request repeat prescriptions.
Clogging up phone lines for repeat prescriptions shouldn't be necessary now.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I have an appointment on Thursday, but I forgot to note the time. I rang to check and I was 19th in the queue - that's probably more than an hour, I can't afford to hang on the phone for that long (I rarely use the phone and it's expensive). Is it any wonder people miss appointments?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

https://www.pharmacy2u.co.uk/
excellent.

 

[Lefley]

That's no problem, can't stand sleeping in socks or anything else beyond shorts. It is defi lately gout, I've had small flare ups in warm dry weather and the naproxen always worked, the first flare up the doc offered a lifetime course of allo but I resisted as I don't like taking meds when I need them let alone all the time but this time feels different to even the first, I can feel it in my ankle too so may have to bite the bullet and go with the daily meds. I don't k ow of any foods that are triggers for me but dehydration is definately a big one so I've always been careful to drink enough water.

is naproxen a prescription medicine in england?

 

[Stigmorgan]

You should be able to order a repeat prescription via the NHS app. You might also find that if you use the same pharmacy all the time, the pharmacist can re-order for you and may supply emergency supply medicines until a prescription arrives. If you're lucky your GP surgery may still accept letters to request repeat prescriptions.
Clogging up phone lines for repeat prescriptions shouldn't be necessary now.

I've only ever had 1 script for it and the amount lasted until now, unfortunately the doctor at the time didn't put down that it needed to be a repeat so I can't get it through the NHS app, I've spent the last few days trying everything and every option ends up telling me to talk to my GP.

@Lefley Yup Naproxen is a prescription only drug here, there's nothing available over the counter that will help with Gout.

 

[Sideways]

is naproxen a prescription medicine in england?

Yes,

Funny how rules vary around the world.
We can buy generic acyclovir cream that actually works against cold sores for about £5 over the counter here. When I tried to buy some in the USA, I was told it was UDS 60 for a 2g tube and I'd have to pay for a doctors consultation to have it prescribed. I waited until I went home !

Another USA comparison (sorry but I haven't had the chance to spend more than 48hrs in Canada and I wasn't ill )
In the UK, OTC painkillers are quite limited and sold in I think a max 32 tablets in a pack (because of concerns about overdose).
In the States, Advil, Tylenol, etc are sold in tubs of 200 or more. No problem.

 

[Geoff_S]

We went to France a few years back and I needed some Nurofen and Codeine tablets.

When I showed the box to the pharmacist, she threatened to call the police! Apparently Nurofen on its own is OK. So I bought those to calm the atmosphere.

Anyway I happily took these and thought maybe I didn’t actually need the codeine as well as they were so effective. Luckily I quickly found out that whereas in the UK you take 2 x 200mg tablets, in France the tablets were 400mg and of course I was taking 2 of them! No permanent damage done.

But back to the thread, yes gout is a monster pain, I’ve seen it in my mate’s face. My sympathies are with you.

 

[niemeyjt]

2 x 500mg paracetamol is OK - and here in CH I can get 1g tablets on prescription.

Over the counter - only done it once here - approx £8 for 10 Ibuprofen that would have been 50p in Tesco. Hence only once! Now anything OTC is from the UK.

Having said that, Tesco in particular are stupid - the law limits you to 2 x 16 pills of paracetamol - but for some reason they include Ibuprofen and other pills in the same bracket.

 

[clogs]

Stig.
my old GP was just as ellusive.....BUT for things like repeat scripts and heart probs we could just ask for the surgery nurse.....
she quikly got the script sorted .....
In the end I spoke to her more than the doc......brilliant lady who listened.....

here u pay €25 for a 1/2 consultation....lucky I dont go often.....
but u get the full 1/2 hour...they insist on checking everything but I just want to be left alone and not prodded.....hahaha...

 

[Withy]

Having dropped a log on my foot it was no surprise it hurt. Turned out to be the first gout event. A number of years of ignoring, hobbling, cursing etc. and my GP prescribed alopurinol. One tablet a day and no further agony. Red wine, beef steak and so on may get me for other reasons but no more hobbling in agony.

 

[fezman]

@Stigmorgan can you visit the surgery in person? I always do that to book appointments. They don’t like it, even sent me texts asking me not to go. My response is if they can’t get me an appointment over the phone then they can deal with me in person. I usually rock up when they open at 8am, and have an appointment by 5 past
Otherwise as others have said ring 111, or check your out of hours service. I dont like using the OOH service as its meant to be for urgent cases, but what do you do if you end up in the infinite “call back tomorrow at 8am” loop?