Gout Support
GoutPal Interactive is the world’s biggest and best gout support network.
It is run by a gout sufferer, Keith Taylor, and it has contributors all over the world.
My aim is to help you understand and work with your doctor to fix your gout. In this day and age, there is no reason to suffer, but lack of knowledge and understanding can put you on the wrong track.
Everything you need to fix your gout is on GoutPal.com. I explain all aspects of gout symptoms, gout treatment, and gout diet. In an ideal world, that is all you need, but sometimes we all need a little personal care.
Here on GoutPal Interactive, I give you all the personal gout support you need.
If you do not understand what your doctor has told you about gout, I will explain it. If you do not know what to ask your doctor, I will help you frame the questions in a way that suits you. We are lucky to have hundreds of fellow gout sufferers chip-in with their experiences and opinions.
Sometimes sad, often funny. Sometimes heated, often joyful. This is a place for real people with real emotions, where we find real answers.
To get your personal answers, start by asking in the gout forum.
Share Your Gouty Tophi Photographs
I am collecting, of all things, photographs of tophi.
You may have noticed recent changes in the gout forums, and the process for sharing your pictures no longer works.
I am introducing new ways to share photographs and I will publish the updated instructions soon. In the meantime, if you have photographs of tophi, please add a comment below, and I will email you with the access details.
See more tophi photographs.
Apple Cider Vinegar For Gout Relief: Science Required
There have been interesting discussions about the science of (ACV) apple cider vinegar for gout relief.
I have summarized my understanding of apple cider vinegar, but I feel some of the discussions we have had leave questions unanswered. I have closed the existing discussions, and moved relevant comments here. You can add to the debate below, but please restrict comments to science-based knowledge, not random personal experience. If you have views or questions about apple cider vinegar that do not add to this debate, please use the gout treatment forum.
Continue to read about apple cider vinegar for gout relief
Christmas Gout Shopping
There’s no excuse for this really, so I will not offer one.
I always leave my Christmas Shopping to the last minute, and I seem to have more gouty friends these days. This year, being even tighter than usual, I decided to buy stuff that I get some commission on – someone has to keep the servers running.
I’ll try to be more organised next year. For now, hear are some Christmas ideas for your gouty friends.
The irony of selling a colchicine T shirt cheaper than the cost of the drug now it is branded Colcrys is not lost on me.
Ho, ho, ho. I’ve just spotted “Used to treat gout” – is that the first gouty double entendre?
Lowering Uric Acid Gout Forum
This discussion concerns gout attacks during treatment for lowering uric acid. It is a place to share relevant experiences or ask relevant questions. More importantly, it is the place to help me improve Lowering Uric Acid: What Are The Pitfalls? so that I can publish a permanent guide to managing uric acid lowering treatment.
Andrew asked:
… this is the first time I have seen the distinction made about isolated vs. widespread locations in the two immune reaction phases. When I was in the bad phase, I only had gout attacks in my left big toe. Since March I have been in the good phase (as documented by my uric acid number), and I have had attacks in almost all the toes on my left foot, in my right big toe, multiple attacks in both heels, and most recently, I’ve had attacks in both knees (one earlier this summer, the other going on currently). I rarely go more than a couple of weeks without an attack. At least my feet have been feeling much better.
Are these new gout attack locations due to “stealth” deposits of uric acid crystals that would have eventually caused a “bad” gout attack? What’s next after my knees? My hips? And then? My UA number is well into the therapeutic levels (has been checked monthly). Is this discussed someplace else in the forum? I’d like to know more.
It has been touched upon many times in discussions, so a permanent guide is long overdue. Lowering Uric Acid: What Are The Pitfalls? should answer these questions, but if it does not, let us discuss the management of uric acid lowering treatment here. Please read the Lowering Uric Acid: What Are The Pitfalls? before you add comments or ask questions.
If you are concerned about your treatment for gout, but your concerns are not directly related to gout attacks when lowering uric acid, please see the Gout Treatment Forum Index for live discussions, or the Gout Treatment information guide.
Gout Support Service Improvements Debate
Prompted by a recent nonsensical request to improve my gout support services I have improved my gout discussion guidelines, and added extra information to make it clearer how you should complain, request extra services, or suggest service improvements. All these aspects of discussing how to use my websites are covered here, so whenever I use the term improvements, I include complaints and suggestions.
Please note that this is about the content of the site and how to find it, or how to contribute to discussions in the best way. It is not about specific gout diet, treatment, or diagnosis/symptoms. However, if you see information on the site which you think is wrong, or can be improved, then you can discuss those issues here.
To emphasize how important it is to me when you help me improve my gout support services, I shall soon introduce a competition for the best suggestion.
If you cannot wait for that announcement, or you do not want to compete for prizes, then simply add your comments below, or use the Gout Question Service.
If you use the Gout Question Service, please select the Gout Related category, then select the Using GoutPal sub-category. Don’t forget to search for your question in the Search Box at the top of the screen before you ask it.
Please read the Gout Support Service Improvements guidelines before you ask your question or add your comments.
Black Bean Broth Debate
I am moving debates about black bean broth (a Natural Remedy For Gout) to the new forum format. I will add some specific questions that appear to be unresolved, so you can now discuss black bean broth here or in the Gout Treatment Question And Answer pages.
Black Bean Broth as a natural remedy for gout has many fans.
First introduced to GoutPal contributors by metamorph some years ago, it has prompted many lively debates.
It is now time to address issues that have arisen, and look for further improvements and explanations.
Though far from a scientific study, there is overwhelming evidence to suggest that black bean broth can help to relieve (or prevent) gout pain. The accepted wisdom in the GoutPal community is that the high level of anthocyanins help reduce inflammation. Anthocyanins are the natural compounds that give the dark color to cherries and other fruits.
Continue reading the Black Bean Broth Debate
Gout Home Remedies Debate
This Gout Home Remedies discussion marks progress on reorganizing the Gout Diet Section and Improving The Gout Forum. There is an overlap between food and drink topics, and aspects of diet that can form part of your Gout Treatment.
Gout Home Remedies are food or drink products that can help relieve gout pain.
If our gout treatment plan is at a stage where pain relief is still important, natural products can often help.
Which home remedies give you some gout pain relief?
Although we must control uric acid to control gout, it can take several weeks to get uric acid down to a safe level, and several months to dissolve sufficient old uric acid crystals to remove the risk of an acute gout flare. In the meantime, we need a reliable gout treatment, or selection of treatments, to help minimize and cope with gout pain.
To distinguish the different types of treatment, my gout home remedies pages explain natural pain relief products. Medical treatments, and natural treatments to manage other aspects of gout are discussed elsewhere in the Gout Treatment section.
Please continue reading about the Gout Home Remedies Debate
Gout and Gouty Arthritis Definition Debate
Following a question from a visitor, I have written my explanation of “What Is Gouty Arthritis?”
I believe this is a reasonable explanation in the context of the question. However, if it only leads to the question “What is gout?” then I am not convinced that my response gives a good enough answer.
My biggest problem is one of context.
If I know why someone is asking a question, and have an idea about their subject knowledge, I can give a pretty good response. That is why I like questions that include a little background information.
Faced with the question “what is gout?” I have a dilemma. There is no simple answer without knowing a little more. A scientific or medical explanation can easily mean absolutely nothing without pages of explanation about the properties and characteristics of uric acid, the physiology of the immune system, and the psychology of pain.
A simple definition is: “Painful inflammation of joints caused by an immune system response to uric acid crystals.” However, that fails to cover tophaceous gout.
I could add: “Uric acid crystals form in joints and other tissues when there is excess uric acid in the blood. The deposits cause permanent damage to cartilage, ligaments and bones in joints. Outside the joints they cause lumps, known as tophi (the plural of tophus) which are usually painless and harmless unless they restrict movement or grow through the skin.”
If those four sentences form the definition of gout and of gouty arthritis, is anything missing? Can you do better?
Please read the gouty arthritis article linked above, and the gout debating guidelines before adding your comments below.
