Gout

Sometimes, gout is genetic. Gout and T2 diabetes often go hand in hand. First comes the gout and then comes T2. You can avoid all of the trigger foods and still have it. The only thing that makes that kind of pain go away is an Rx from the doctor.

https://gouteducation.org/health-conditions/gout-and-diabetes/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4861921/

https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(16)30724-0/pdf

This is from gouteducation.org:

""Diet – Many foods can raise the level of uric acid in the blood. Chief among these are beer, beef, pork, shellfish and foods or beverages sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (which causes uric acid to go up). High-fructose corn syrup is also found in sweetened soft drinks and juices; certain cereals and pastries; ice cream and candy; and processed foods at fast food restaurants. In some people with gout, eating these foods can trigger gouty flares.

"Medications – Use of certain medications—especially diuretics or water pills and certain anti-rejection medications used in transplant patients—can increase uric acid levels in the blood."

The Gout Education Society has lots of good information on their site and this page discusses dietary recommendations: https://gouteducation.org/diet-lifestyle/

The science now suggests that diet has little to do with gout flare-ups, although you should eat a healthy diet in general. But I'll tell you what helps my hubby. He's a biochemist, and went about it in a scientific way. He thought, gout is caused by uric acid crystals in the joint. What do you do when you want to dissolve crystals? Well, you put them in warm liquid and stir. Obviously you can't add liquid to your joint, but he borrowed my foot spa that has heat and two vibration settings, and soaked his foot in really warm water while running the vibrating bit. Between the shaking and the heat his pain was relieved. Recently my bro-in-law visited, and his flare up was so bad he could barely walk, so we gave him the same treatment. He said it really helped.

I think diet does play a large role in gout flare ups. I’m not saying it is the only cause, but it does play a role. I work in the ER and most people who come in with gout flare ups admit to recently eating trigger foods or drinking beer.

I have been on 300 mg Allopurinol for 10 years and no flair ups. Yes, it’s a prescription drug.

I forgot this yesterday. The only reason I know this is my wife had Fibromyalgia for years and one quack doc believed that Mucinex (Guisefen, I believe is the generic name) cured Fibromyalgia (it didn't, BTW). But his theory was that Fibromyalgia was caused by a Uric Acid buildup. Seems that Guisefen is very good at ridding your body of excess Uric Acid, which is what causes gout.

Guisefen is a pretty safe over the counter drug (and cheap). For really bad cases of gout, something to consider. I don't personally like OTC medications, but if it was really a bad flare, something to think about. But check with your doc to make sure there are no interactions.

rushed2it wrote: »

Does anyone have ideas on how to avoid gout flare ups and recipes?

I've been dealing with Gout for about 7 years. I do understand the pain. At times, I'd just rather cut my foot off! LOL. After trying so many "so called" remedies, I only found a few that really work. The key is to eliminate the uric acid out the body so that it doesn't crystalize. That means drinking a lot of water daily and adding lemons to it to neutralize the uric acid. What I found out is that gout is more if a kidney issue. We all have uric acid, but the problem is eliminating it. Tart cherries only helps to lower the uric acid amount, but it still doesn't get rid of it. It's great to have some Tart Cherry capsules as a daily supplement. There's days I forget to take those.

The next is diet. My gout usually triggers if I have fructose (sugary drinks), or high fructose corn syrup foods, and beer. It's not the red meat. I did a carnivore diet for the last 11 months, and only had 1 gout flare up and that was because of lack of water. Also if you workout, be sure hydrate, because dehydration causes the uric acid to rise as well. So anyways, I was eating red meat daily and never has any issues.

I also tried the keto diet, but i had more gout flares on the keto. I think the reason is that with the high protein carnivore, you're not deep into ketosis, because the protein can turn into carbs, but with keto, you become in ketosis which the ketones are acidic and causes gout at the beginning. I still keep colchrcine and allopurnol for emergency cases only, but so far I didn't need it.

I'm currently off of the carnivore and adding more carbs in, but more complex carbs such as sweet potatoes and and lowering my protein intake.

Last thing is always have handy some Ibuprofen, if I feel a small tingle of a flare (and now I know when they are coming), i'll pop these every 4 hours until it goes away.