Comments on: Is Your Doctor Killing Your Health?

By: vegetarianGuy

vegetarianGuy — Sat, 23 May 2009 12:32:58 +0000

GPs are clueless.

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:33:18 +0000

For a layperson, I have a pretty good idea of the issues involved. I have pretty much done all that I can do to get my serum urate level down and to keep my serum ph level up to keep the crystals from forming. I have lost all the weight I can. I know the foods to eat and not eat. I know the herbs and supplements that help. So far, I haven’t gone on medication. I am not so much afraid of the acute attacks but I am experiencing minimal joint pain in joints I have not experienced before. I feel like I am about 85 to 90% of where I need to be. If I could get that extra ten to fifteen percent, I would be alright. In fact, all of the changes that I have made to avoid gout will help with my overall health.

There are three areas that I think I could benefit from but they are not part of the standard treatment program. Checking the body iron load and if necessary lowering it. Lowering the heavy metals in my body to increase the uric acid excreted from the kidneys. Eliminating sleep breathing disorders to keep my ph levels higher while I sleep to reduce the formation of crystals. I think there is another potential there to solve my problems. Some of this, I might be able to do on my own but some will require a physician’s participation. Since it is not part of any standard treatment, the physician would have to justify it to my health insurance provider. The problem is to find the right physician.

By: Gregory A. Buford, MD

Gregory A. Buford, MD — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:28:30 +0000

In all fairness to the treating physician, if you are concerned with your diagnosis (or lack thereof), seek a second opinion. Most physicians have good intentions and would welcome this if you ask for it.

By: GoutPal

GoutPal — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 07:49:17 +0000

Well said.

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 08:44:06 +0000

Point taken. When you set yourself up as an expert as some of these guys have done, you need to really be able to deliver. If you don’t know the answers, don’t give an answer. Some of these souls have suffered with this disease for decades and they deserve better. I believe the answer is there but scattered among the scientific studies that have been done. What is needed is someone who is very knowledgeable about the body and organic chemistry and who can write so people can understand them. In addition, that person would have to have the money to buy the most recent studies from the different subscriber services. It is certainly not me. No matter how hard I try, I cannot penetrate the “medicalese” and the “organic chemistryese” to get to it. If the person who writes up the research is a good writer, I can understand maybe twenty percent. Fortunately, the conclusions are better written than the rest of it. Even if you could find someone who could do this, it would still need to be published in one of the better read medical journals. Maybe, just maybe, it might help some people. While I really like my family physician, I can’t picture the day that I will walk into his office and hear him say something like “Brian, I have wonderful news! We know what causes gout and hyperuricemia! We can cure you!”. Not very likely, is it? The best that you can hope for is “There is a new medication that will control the gout flareups better.”

By: GoutPal

GoutPal — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 05:17:05 +0000

Whilst I see your point about the average family doctor, I certainly cannot forgive a doctor who publishes the type of drivel I saw.

The duty of care to patients does not disappear just because you cannot see the patient you are writing for.

If these so-called professionals spent a fraction of their extremely well-paid time doing a fraction of the research that you have done then my mailbag would not be overflowing with tales of gout patients who have suffered years of neglect.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 21:41:33 +0000

In fairness to the family physician, gout is only one of the many conditions they deal with. After my last attack three months ago, I have spent a lot (and I mean a lot) of time on the internet trying to understand gout, hyperuricemia, monosodium urate crystals, sleep apnea, etc., etc. etc. I’ve been studying medical books and made I don’t know how many searches of the web on obscure medical terms. Only someone who has a gout problem can understand how motivated it makes you! God have mercy on those poor souls who have progressed to tophaceous gout and suffered serious joint damage! Imagine how frustrated they are with the medical profession after so many years! I have learned a lot but there are still a lot of questions that I still have. The feeling I get from physicians is that I am extremely presumptious to ask. I think that I have arrived at the right questions. The trouble is that I am not sure that anyone has the right answers. I’m pretty sure that the average family physician doesn’t know.

By: GoutPal

GoutPal — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:49:06 +0000

And for those of you who think this is just another rant from GoutPal that has nothing to do with the real world, read the terrible story of Chris, the disgruntled gout sufferer.