Living with gout. Who has it?

Hi @ethos ! I owe U a apology, last evening when U were trying to help out that gal that was hell bent on signing on with Trans Am it was suggested to her to check out Abilene. When John Boy offered her advice I suggested that would be great advice to follow because of JB's experience. This wasn't meant as a slight to U and was bugging me and I wanted to clear it up. Hope U feel better, get some cherries

 

I avoid spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, sea foods except shrimp and salmon, beer. For pain at night, an ice bag helps. I used to eat a small serving of canned spinach every day, but switched to collard greens.

 

Used to work with a guy that said cherry juice worked for him. He'd have a sip every morning.

 

I'm the guy cowtipper mentioned. I have had it in both knees (not at the same time thankfully), my right wrist my right ankle and both my index fingers. Although I haven't had an attack for about 4 years. The quack I saw had me on about every med out there (two types, one type reduces the amount of uric acid your body produces naturally, the other type helps your body filter the acid out better.) I couldn't take any meds from either type, they made me very ill and sweat "like a ##### in church" as dad use to say. I told the doctor I would beat this with diet, to which he laughed. I stopped eating many of the trigger foods (many I didn't like anyway, beer, sea food, cauliflower, oatmeal, organ meat) Food is only the trigger, it is actually a hereditary condition, and it's how your body reacts to certain foods that causes it. It is considered a form of arthritis. Cherry extract is one of the strongest natural ways to reduce the number of attacks as well as the reducing the severity of the one's you do get. A friend who gets it in his knees so bad they swell as big as cantaloupe says cherry kinda helps, but fresh raspberries get it over with quicker for him. I also started drinking a lot of water (a gallon a day) but I had to cut back a bit. Being an OTR driver, I didn't get many miles when I had to stop and pee on about every tree I passed.

Another thing that I used was 800 mg ibuprofen, but the doctor refused to prescribe them after I told him that he was wasting my insurance money with the other meds that made me sick. His advise was not to drive for a while after taking his drugs, but as a driver, that really wasn't possible since you were suppose to take them around the same time every day, and how often does an OTR driver have a consistent enough schedule to wait for the nausea to go away before driving, every day. So now I just keep the OTC ibuprofen on hand, and when I start getting the feeling I am gonna' get an attack(It starts out I wake up freezing, and pouring sweat and my thighs/knees are red hot), I just take 3 or 4 every 6 hours. And it knocks down the inflammation before it gets to the painful stage. But the OP is correct, it is the worst pain I have ever felt.

Some people have had success eating a more alkaline based diet, but that isn't always that good for the body.

 

Hey @supersnackbar ,good to see U back

 

I have limited the use of cherries. I just know many have used them and had relief. I have found that changing my diet, drinking water, and occasional ibuprofen has kept my attacks at bay.

I forgot to mention, some of my worst attacks came during extremely stressful events...right before major dental surgery, my daughters wedding, etc. I think that has something to do with it. Most of my older siblings have it in their big toe, they call it their 'hammer toe'. I think I am the only one that has it elsewhere.

 

Thanks. I have been lurking, but decided that I most likely wouldn't get anybody upset with posting my opinion and experiences on a topic like this. Hope it helps, I take my hat off (so to speak) to anyone who tries to do this job with this ailment.