Two weeks ago tomorrow, I was hit with gout.

Since Feb 11, I have written down everything I consume every day, in preparation for my annual physical.

I also began my Lent ritual a little early. For Lent, I give up fast food, alcohol, candy and pop. I eat pretty healthy and only drink water.

I was doing great until 3 weeks ago, when I came down with a head cold. It lasted 1 week. After Nyquil and Daquil, I was able to shake it. 1 day after I felt like I had fully recovered, my right big toe began to hurt. I thought maybe it was from the time on the eliptical at the gym, as I had not been for over a week and felt good enough to hit it hard. the following day, the ball of my foot and big toe were rather swollen and somewhat painful to walk on.

The following day, I used my google fu to self-diagnose gout.

WTF??? Really.

Oh well, it will probably only last a couple of days. After one week, I emailed my doc. At this point I had been using Advil, which helped slightly at night. Doc recommended I continue with Advil, but cranked up the dosage.

The pain really did not subside and there were times when it was almost unbearable. I mean this shit hurt and hurt bad.

It hurt when the sheets brushed up against my toe, when I was in bed.

This morning I e-mailed my Doc. I was ready to say "uncle", I was done. I don't care what it takes, knock this shit out, please.

I had seen several videos of people drinking tart cherry juice to help with the swelling.

My Doc had not responded within an hour, so i drove to Kroger and bought the cherry juice I had seen in may of the videos.

at 9:00 I started on a 32 ounce bottle of this stuff. At 11:00 a.m., I got up to leave for lunch. OMG!!!! There was noticeably less pain in my toe. How the hell can this be? I don't care.

After lunch, my doc emailed me with a script that he promises will knock it out. It is a steroid that is taken multiple times, on a decreasing basis over 6 days.

I told my doc I was desperate this morning and used my Google-fu to try to find some relief. Doc was very understanding, but recommended I fill the script and take it from there.

I finished the 32 ounces of cherry juice and am somewhat amazed that this stuff has helped tremendously.

I will start the script tomorrow morning and let you know how it goes.

I have been told things to avoid are Beer, Bacon, Turkey.............WTF???Is this some kind of cruel joke?


Are there any other gout sufferers out there?

Craft Beer , A lot of Tomato products, orange juice and Deep Fried Chicken Gizzards are triggers of mine unless I really moderate

Gout is caused by high levels of uric acid in your blood. You need blood work to check your uric acid level. A drug like allopurinol may be needed.

A course of Prednisone is a short term fix.

BTDT. It really does suck. There are numerous trigger foods that I have to avoid

Organ meats
Sausage
Beef broth
Meat gravy
Pretty much all alcoholic drinks (beer being the worst)
HFCS
Shellfish

I seem to get away with a couple slices of bacon every morning at breakfast but I try to be moderate in my consumption of red meat. The main thing for me is to not get dehydrated. I quit caffeine because of the diuretic effect. I pretty much just drink water or tart cherry juice. I was on allopurinol until I developed an allergic reaction (sudden onset of a severe rash) and the doc took me off of it.

The tart cherry juice really does help.

BTDT too. I feel for you. I tore three ligaments in my foot last summer and the pain was bad. My doc said, "maybe you're having a gout attack". I told him, "Nope. As painful as this is, it's not as bad as a gout attack."

Edit: Another vote for tart cherry juice. It gets right after the uric acid.

An RX for colchicine may help if the steroids don't do the job. Works for me in controlling occasional flair ups.

I have fought it for years. My dad used to get it, and he's a pretty tough old man, but it would just take him out of commission. I now understand.

I am on Uloric now, it has helped a ton. If you are having a repeated problem that may be something for you to look into.

Got diagnosed with it in my early 20s. Colchicine helps kick it quickly.

I’m on 100mg of allopurinol everyday now. My last attack was almost twenty years ago.

I know it’s still there on days I do excess of red meat or sea food. I just drink a lot of water to flush my system out. Cheaper than cheery juice.

Thank you for your stories and recommendations.

My doc ordered blood work last Thursday evening and got the results Friday morning.

IIRC 4.5-7.2 was the range. My uric acid levels came in at 6.3. Doc said anything over 6.0 can actually trigger an attack.

This morning I began a 6 day treatment of Methylprednisolone. Doc says this will take care of it.

Doc prescribed Allopurinol, but I was told not to begin taking it until my symptoms subsided. When the Nurse told me Doc had prescribed Allopurinol, I asked how long I would be taking it. She replied "from now on". I told her I did not want to take another drug for the rest of my life. She responded "ok".

The tart cherry juice definitely brought some relief, but it flared up a little last evening, while I was sleeping. I will make tart cherry juice a part of my diet. Is tart cherry juice all the same? The one I bought was the brand I saw in one of the videos, Knudsen. There were less expensive brands, but I bought what the guy in the video said worked for him.

Thanks again for all who have shared their stories. For those who have never experienced it, I hope you never do.

My friend, welcome to the Gout fraternity. Several years ago, when I was approaching the half century mark, I started experiencing my 1st attack, at the Achilles tendon area. I thought at the time it was just tendinitis from too much running. But then, subsequent attacks appeared all over, from the most common joint (the great toe), to the ankle, knee, elbow, even the wrist. My uric acid level was sky high, almost at 11. I had attacks almost every other month, the longest bout lasted almost a month, the shortest a week. I skipped all meat, sea food, and the greens that suppose to trigger the gout. NSAIDs, cochicine, and steroids were useless. I refused to be near any narcotics and just suffered through these attacks. Even with strict dietary restrictions, my level never came lower than 9.

I finally got fed up with these frequent attacks and got on a low dose of allopurinol 150mg a day. And life has been sweet ever since. My attacks now are down to maybe every other year, and are no longer severe like before.
Unless you're allergic to it, allopurinol is a great med for preventing gout flare-up. It's been around forever. I'm glad your doc put you on it, instead of prescribing one of the newer and more expensive drugs.

I get it from time to time, and you're right, it really tickles. My doc prescribes Diclofenac, which works very well and quickly. Like overnight.

Gout sucks.

My first exposure to it was on a trip to Houston, not good.

Spending the better part of a year fighting it with allopurinol, colchicine, indomethican, I was tired of all the pills to fix it.

Research showed that some BP medicines with diuretics can cause gout attacks rasing the uric acid levels. The solution is to change BP to one without a diuretic. When I informed my physician he was unaware of the correlation, but was willing to write the script.

Changed the BP to a non diuretic based pill and the Gout attacks have been eliminated and blood tests show Uric acid at normal levels.

So it's not always alcohol, headcheese rich meats, shellfish or the other triggers you hear about. They may contribute but it may also be a result from medication changes.

Stress also plays a roll, at least for me, I'd find that attacks seem to hit when I was under a lot of stress

Check the medications you are on in addition to diet.

As a fellow sufferer, ask your doctor about Uloric. If your insurance covers it, it is worth every cent.

I have moderated my shellfish intake, but other than that, 40mg every morning has been a panacea.

Uloric has fewer interactions with alcohol if that is your thing. Havent had a flare up in 18 months since starting this preventative.

My 2 cents

Colchocine. Stay very hydrated. Ive had 2 big toe flair ups. Colchocine worked very fast for me. Limping gimp in morning, walking fine that night.

Ice tea is a trigger for my gout, among other things. I could count on the first weeks of summer being the beginning of gout season as well.

I seemed to live on the edge of the uric acid envelope. Had a blood test then several days later an attack and another blood test. Several quarts of ice tea was the only dietary change.

Alpurinol is my favorite drug of all. I still drink tea but not to excess, I just don’t want to press my luck with the alpurinol.

Enough allopurinol to get your uric acid level below 6, then stay on that, yes for the rest of your life. Without it I had continual gout flare-ups. That was the advice given in a Grand Rounds a few years ago, and it’s solid.
BTW uric acid blood levels may be artificially low during an attack as the uric acid crystallized out into your tissues—that’s what causes the pain.

I know the feeling. I had a bad attack (my first) back in '97. Have been taking Allopurinal since then. Started at 300mg a day and finally got down to 100mg about 5 yrs. ago. Daily dose is a good preventive measure.

I get hit with it a couple times a year. It sucks.

For the pain and swelling my Doc moved me off Indomethican to Diclofenac Sodium you should check with your physician.

I found that its easier on the stomach and bowels and kills off the inflammation that is causing the pain quicker than Indomethican.

As Uric acid crystallizes in your joints they swell, the pain is the swelling pushing out on the tissues. Stop the swelling, reduce the pain.

You stated your attack began after an illness where you took Dayquil and NyQuil, if you've had zero gout attacks prior to that I'd suggest looking up the effects of any and all medicines you took during that spell, see if anything is noted as a trigger. Also what other medications you are on, its not always the food and booze, it can be a combination.

Good luck in figuring out the reason.



Like I said, dropping the additional diuretic in my BP medicine to just the BP 100% solved the uric acid and hence gout problem.