Isn't it refer to as the "rich man's" disease?

Wow! Thanks for all of the good info! The steroid injection i received yesterday seems to have helped as I got 6 hours of restful sleep last nigh and woke up with much less pain this AM. I'm a vegetarian and don't drink alcohol in any form (due to liver disease), so I am very discouraged to be facing this (gout) even though I eat a very healthy diet.

I also had a severe attack while fighting cancer, seems the tumor dissolved raising my protein levels.....ouch!

Beat me to it... :rolleyes:


KT

Recent dosage change info for colchicine
 

Colchicine dose and drug interactions

Dad has gout and won't drink water much at all so repeat episodes several times a year, waits a few days to call and say by the way... so we had been giving him more doses of colchicine. This caught my eye in August this year. Lifted from clinic pharmacy newsletter:
"As long as I can remember colchicine has been dosed as 0.5 or 0.6mg q1h until symptoms resolve, roughly 12-16 tablets were taken or nausea, vomiting or diarrhea occurred. The colchicine products on the market have never been FDA approved (as a combination product they have). Now the first single agent product is approved under the trade name of Colcrys. Since it had to go through the usual FDA approval process two things came to light. The dosage can be significantly reduced. The lower dose maintains efficacy while greatly reducing adverse events. The new dose is 1.2mg followed with 0.6mg in 1 hour. Only after careful consideration should any more of the drug be given. This dose reduced the percent of adverse GI side effects from 77% to 26%. The incidence of toxicity can increase when patients take drugs, which inhibit the cytochrome P-450 3A4 system. Patients should not use the following with colchicine: erythromycin especially, but also clarithromycin, telithromycin, itraconazole, ketoconazole, grapefruit or grapefruit juice, cyclosporine, verapamil, diltiazem, nefazodone or HIV protease inhibitors. "

does anyone know if hard water has an effect? My father in law was told to drink only distilled water to help with his symptoms. Granted, the water where he lived was pretty hard, so it was probably good to get your own still anyway.

The weekend was painful, but not as bas as Thursday, seems that the steroid inj and pills have helped. I was able to drive the MazdaSpeed3 to the Porsche Club Fall color tour as there is no way I could press the clutch pedal with my toe as painful as it is. The lab results should be in this week and I'll give the Dr who's been taking care of my liver disease a call to see what, if anything I can take since every med for gout is hepatotoxic. I can't take anything for pain, since those meds are hard on the liver. This is very discouraging to me since I've been a vegetarian and non-alcohol person for almost 2 years (liver disease), then to have this gout pop up... I would be lying if I said this wasn't a good time for me...

BTW, I drink tart cherry juice mixed with sparkling water every day, but I eat a lot of lentil soup (main source of protein) and asparagus and my brother also has gout and he said that he cannot eat asparagus and lentils are on the "no no" list for gout...

I've been fighting Gout for about 13 years now. I've never been able to determine my particular tirgger but I suspect shellfish and alcohol as first attack occured after a Chinese banquet with lots of lobster, crab and booze. Suffered for 10 years with flare ups 4-5 times a year. Used Indocin during flareups with mixed results. Allopurinol seems to keep it in check now but still have an occasisional bout. The last time I did my Dr. perscribed a 2 week therapy using decreasing doses of Prednisone. That seemed to work wonders and haven't had a flare up in almost a year now.

Most important thing I discovered was I was taking the Allopurniol incorrectly. You must stop taking Allopuriniol during flare ups or it prolongs them and makes them more intense. I will usually take Ibuprofin for the pain.

Me and two of my friends got it after a week of golf in Gulf Shores. Steaks and seafood, alcohol, partying very hard. Hurt so bad I couldn't let the bedsheets touch my big toes when I slept.
All three of us sitting at the bar on a Sunday, watching football, with our legs up, drinking water.
As quickly as it came, it left. 4 or 5 days, as I recall...

i jinxed myself....i am in the flare now....it's killing me

.
.
.
.
<<<<<<<< yep, got him from an old friend here.

There is an interesting new gout drug called Krystexxa by Savient Pharma, FDA approval process stumbled but may be on track again for 2010. Supposedly effective for severe gout, that is gout so severe that it is deforming. Don't know about liver tox. Anyway, just mentioning it.

Thanks for the good info, guys! My 2 problems are that my liver disease prevents me from taking any pain meds, so I'm glad the Prednisone is helping (so far) and the diet I'm on for my liver is already very restrictive (no alcohol at all, no red meat, no animal fats, fish or chicken once per week). So, the "avoid rich foods and alcohol" part doesn't do anything for me. Thanks again, I'm very sorry you guys are also afflicted with this!

For my family getting gout is a tradition, my Dad, my brother and I. Normally if I feel it coming on in my foot I drink a lot of water and if possible exercise. By running, tennis, squash or racketball it seems to get the blood flowing and break up the crystals. My Dad rides a bike for a similar effect. I have drugs which I use and one time I have had an injection but not in the joint, sorry I cannot remember what it was but it was almost instant relief.
My doctor seems shocked that I can control gout with exercise! You can search for foods that raise Uric acid levels. Avoid organs as they elevate Uric acid levels. Like Noah I seem to have no trigger foods that bring it on.

I'm ending my 1st week on steroids and the pain has subsided. I'm drinking lots of tart cherry juice, mixed with sparkling water, I'm a vegetarian and drink no alcohol of any kind due to a liver condition. I'll have to figure what, if anything triggers my gout, but one trigger food is lentils and I eat a lot of lentil soup, since that's my main source of protein.

The Dr's office called Fri and they want me to come in ASAP to discuss my latest lab results, ao we'll see how that goes...

Art
 

Art;

Hope it all works out for you.

Will keep you in our thoughts

Thanks! It was very painful to play the drums at church yesterday. The throbbing and pain seem to come and go over the course of several days.

baking soda works well mixed with water btw....as it raises your ph level and it reduces the amount of acidity in your blood...tastes horrible though

Chronic and acute gout are kind of different. Did you know that sodium urate crystals look surprisingly like toothpaste?

To the guy with the liver disease, I suspect that has something to do with the reason you are getting gout in the first place. Drink more water.

Nick, the pH thing won't work for very long, and it is going the wrong direction. Like dissolves like, so raising the pH of your juices will make uric acid more likely to precipitate into crystals, potentially making it worse. I have always thought the tart cherry juice trick works by lowering your pH, making urine more acid and able to dissolve more uric acid.