Gout Pal Interactive

vegguy,

We seem to have concurred that you are not likely sufferning from gout (if I remember the past post correctly…the site is very slow to do much navigating backwards.) Vegetarians rarely get it and your feet don't look at all typical of an acute attack. But gout is gout and there are a lot of atypical cases so you can never say never.

Don't fiddle too much more with your diet, it's probably as good as most people cna ever achieve goutwise. Maybe a little more dairy protein instead of legume protein if conveneient?

Get a uric acid test next month and if it's under 6.0, forget about gout for awhile.

Now let me put on my iconoclast hat and give you another option. Tell your doctor you want 60 colchicine tabs (very cheap) and take maybe 4 per day for several days. If any foot discomfort seems vastly improved you have a clue for YES on gout becasue colchicine is extremely gout specific…almost to the point of diagnostic ala: If colchicine works it”s gout! If you doctor has a fit, just tell him to humor you, what's to lose!

If it turns out that the unlikely happens and you DO have gout you will join the rest of us with daily allopurinol…but I think that's unlikely. Keep up the excellent vegetarian diet!

Nope not hypochondria. Hypochondria is :”Doctor I'm having another heart attack” (when you're not.)  Hypervigilant is “Doctor my heart occasionally skips a beat” (when you are but it's not significant.) Or “Doctor, my toe looks different than it did last year!” (I couldn't resist.)

Zip-OK I wish ex-guests could delete their stuff!

Interesting site.  [This post replaces earlier due to faulty email ref:]

Difficult illness this Gout – I've had attacks for years and only used Colchicine mostly in the attack stage- but be wary of more than 4 mg/day! ( 8 x 500ug tabs). That could be over the limit for this Alkaloid toxin - useful though it is ! it doesn't mix with Statins either-I found out the hard way.

The iron connection (bad) seems valid, posted in another thread.

Too much iron is bad for men in particular, anyway- as we can't get rid of it, like women can , in their fertile years.

Now, this post ! – Veg Guy – I couldn't believe you have blandly posted an 'Out of Date'  test strip in your discussions!

How can this be sensible- to use old test strips?   – especially in such a contentious area where the maker allows +/-18% error in the first instance.

trev said:

Now, this post ! – Veg Guy – I couldn't believe you have blandly posted an 'Out of Date'  test strip in your discussions!

How can this be sensible- to use old test strips?   – especially in such a contentious area where the maker allows +/-18% error in the first instance.

Is it July 2010 already?  I missed the New Year party again I re-checked and like zip2play said they are not out  of date. I am thorough with my tests and even opened a second  box of strips

I better watch it though or I will need a bank loan just for buying the test strips.

vegetarianGuy said:

 Btw I went gym first time yesterday after 3 weeks. Did only for half an hour of weights (no cardio). Tested one hour later and my readings were 16 and 11 Must be the lactic acid in my blood. This morning my readign was still 10.6 I did a control solution test and it came as 5. So monitor is working ok.  All this is just screwing with my mind so I will just act as if nothing is wrong with me unless  I get hit by a proper Gout attack. Till then I will stay away from the forum as all this is not good for my mental health.

I guess this could also indicate certain chemistry from body exercise could probably either increase the solubility of UA in blood or release certain anti-inflammatory agent which could tolerate the UA crystals, however, provided such exercies isn't so intense to physically traumatize any already inflammed joints and sets the inflammation on fire.

Zip:

I did post some links with covering text but it seems to have gone west!

Google 'Colchicine statins' and you'll see a few refs. including this one

http://www.theannals.com/cgi/c…../40/7/1466

Maybe I picked the wrong quick reference Zip- there were others. I know you use the combo.

I did think myself that it was incredibly bad fortune for the poor fellow.

However it does raise the point about such interactions and like all thesedrug side effect questions can raise anxiety when we get to the small print- both on the drugs leaflet and sometimes in prime research issues.

It would be really good if drugs worked as expected, had no side effects and didn't end up needing more to correct damage done- but as recently said- it's not a perfect world.

Incidently I stopped the statin to restart Colch. as the galloping gout was hunting for more sites-on the way to joint3 in the ankle. {after your comment about Statin half life being 3 hours only]

I've not withheld Colch. before and I wouldn't recommend stopping midway – if nothing else, pain thresholds don't improve second time around    - and as we know 'G' don't take many prisoners!

Hi Guys

Very interesting and in depth reading. I would just like to share my results from my tester that i got in April after being on the appurinol for the last month. The results seem to be reasonably consistent.

23-4-09 0900 5.2 after breakfast 1 hour ealier

27-4-09 1000 5.0 after big week end

30-4-09 1700 4.8

4-5-09 0900 5.2 had seafood night before

5-5-09 new paket of strips and tested with solution came within range

5-5-09 2030 5.9 after dinner highest reading to date

11-5-09 1530 5.8

12-5-09 0800 3.7 before blood test by proffessional it was cold seemed unusual reading

12-5-09 0830 4.9 after blood test by proffessional as i thought the one before wasn't right probably not enough blood

my DR said the result was .39 must be in other units not sure what the conversion is

21-5-09 0830 5.7

25-5-09 0830 4.3

30-5-09 0820 5.4 thought i was having an attack as ankle has swollen and accillies is sore

10-6-09 0800 3.9

15-6-09 0900 5.3 Ankle swollen again played squash  4 days ago

The Dr gave me Colgout 0.5g and indocin 25mg to take 3 times a day for 10 days to get rid of the pain in my ankle and it seemed to clear it up straight away. Ihave been having problems with my ankle on and off seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.

Dr said my UA level was fine obviosly the allpurinol working but I have a lot of other problems with my blood test High blood sugar, High colesterol bad liver function test. I have backed right off the alchol now 4 days a week without and cut down on the other days and trying to exercise more.

All in all i think the tester is giving me a gauge that my UA is down, mornings seem to be lower than evenings.

Thanks for that

I'll  just take the colgout next time my ankle is sore and not the indocid as you said earlier in this thread. Just to prove a point (whether dodgey ankle or gout related).

I have only had the 1 lab test on the 12-6-09 which seems high (if i got the values right) in comparison to the reading the UA sure tester gave me all 3 tests are within half hour of each other and had nothing to eat. So that makes a big difference between the lad and the uasure.

I will keep testing it seems to give me where i am. Next lab test in 2 months i will let you know

Cheers

Scotto

Some pain is to be expected until all uric acid crystals have been dissolved. How long you have had gout, and how long you have been taking allopurinol are major factors.

A temporary increase in dose, for a few months, might be a good idea if your medical history indicates that the pain is due to undissolved uric acid crystals. If it is due to joint erosion from years of untreated gout, then there is little you can do about it. You should see your doctor to assess if an increased dosage is likely to benefit you.

Anyone on allopurinol should be scheduled for uric acid tests. The frequency will depend on the length of time you have been taking allopurinol, and the trend of your uric acid levels from “official” test results. Unfortunately, it is not yet a criminal offense to prescribe allopurinol without follow-up blood tests and aftercare, so it is up to you to insist that you get this.

It's been awhile since I posted, but the foot has been doing much better lately.  Started Allopurinol almost exactly 30 days ago.  Learning to use Colchicine as needed and it appears to work well with halting any increase in pain as that has happened a couple of times as I've used the foot more. 

What I thought would be of interest is my experience with the UASure test kit.  I received my kit and started monitoring about 2 weeks before starting Allopurinol and my results really give me confirmation of the drugs effects.  I've seen a marked decrease in UA levels as measured by the UASure:

5/16 – 7.2

5/22 – 7.9

5/22 – 9.5

5/23 – 8.9

5/23 – 8.0

5/25 – 7.0

5/27 -  7.3

5/28 – 8.4

5/30 – 9.9  – Started 300mg Allopurinol

6/1 – 6.7

6/2 – 4.5

6/5 – 5.6

6/8 – 4.9

6/15 – 5.6

6/22 – 4.4

6/29 – 5.4

In the past 30 days since starting Allopurinol as measured with the UASure test device, my SUA levels haven't risen above 7.  I've seeing marked improvement in my mobility and levels of pain.  I've scheduled a visit with a Rheumatologist and will confirm my readings with another lab blood test but I think I'm on the right track.

Thanks everyone for your feedback and abundance of information on this site.