Anyone had it? Had a few attacks so far. Got one really bad tonight. They seem to come on whenever I go on a diet/cut down on bad food and drink, as if my system is trying to flush out the uric acid, and I have been trying to lose weight and work out lately. It keeps me at home for days usually and is harming my work. But this time it has come on in the foot on the same side as a ligament tear in my leg. Having trouble walking. Any management tips?
There's a prescription you can get that clears it right up. I can't afford it, so I just ride it out screaming into a towel. You're a lawyer, buy the pills.
I don't need to buy them. Can get them on the NHS, but the GP said last time I don't need them yet and should just take ibuprofen. It's a relatively new thing for me. What bothers me most is that is seems to take at least a week to go. I have crutches from back when I broke my ankle, but it is still excruciating, especially with this strained muscle as well. It's right up there with toothache.
Only positive thing I've found towards it, is when it's winding down, and almost gone, I can speed recovery by a couple days if I grab the joints, and manually work them until they snap and crack, and that gets flexibility back a little faster.
Oh I see. Doctor told me to take it as soon as an attack starts coming on. I tried that last time and kept taking in once every four hours or so and it did help. In fact, I have had a couple of twinges lately that never went full blown so stupidly didn't bother this time, and it is much worse - and yes ibuprofen is not doing shit now that it's well on its way. Trick seems to be to catch it early.
I'll try to remember that. I'm scared to pop too many of the little suckers, too much will make your gut bleed.
Yeah, with you there. My mother and some of my past girlfriends were serial pill poppers as soon as a headache came along. I find they're more effective if you only use them occasionally, a bit like if you drink a lot of booze you become more tolerant to it. If I get a migraine I take two paracetamol and two ibuprofen and it pretty much nukes it. I put that down to only taking pills when it's absolutely necessary. Even before the gout, when the muscle strained I avoided them.
OK, I saw this thread last night on the front page with “Ignored Member” under it. I had to figure out who to unblock so I could respond to it. I’m happy to answer questions and once we get this squared away, you’re going back on ignore, @El Chup. Diacanue, Walmart sells most Gout meds for $4.00 a month. Allopurinol to prevent it, and then many of the other “knockout” drugs to use when you get attacks are also $4.00 there. Colchichine, Indomethacin (be careful with this one, when I first take it I get headaches that are terrible, but they’re better than gout), and steroid packs (prednisone). All these are cheap even with no insurance. Uloric is more expensive, as it is new. El Chip, you need to demand preventative treatment for your gout. Even when you’re not having an attack your joints are being damaged by the uric acid depositing in your joints. I cannot imagine a doctor in the US not putting you on something for it at the first sign of trouble. It is a bad deal. Here is the sad thing though, when you go on gout prevention methods (again, these are typically Uloric or Allopurionol) you are likely to have a gout attack. You need to be prepared to come in behind, only at first, with something like Colchichine, Indomethacin, or a steroid pack to fight off the pain from that attack. Pain is a great indicator of a problem; if you’re having pain, damage is being done to your joint. Irreversible damage. Cherry juice (bitter) is also a great home remedy for gout. I take it in addition to the above meds whenever I feel an attack coming on. There are a lot of things that can trigger attacks. Actual physical damage (falls, impacts, etc) can trigger an attack in the affected joint. As you noted, losing weight can trigger an attack. The reason for this, from what I can tell, is that fat is wonderful at storing uric acid. When fat is burned, it realeases heavy uric acid concentrations. Diet can trigger an attack. Seriously, stay away from shellfish. I love shrimp and crab, so this is hard for me. Spinach and cauliflower are triggers for many people (including me) but you can cook these last two in different ways to lower the risk of them triggering an attack. I recommend a food diary that you can consult to look for patterns in your attacks. Exercise. Even if you’re not “hurting yourself,” you can trigger an attack with gout. My struggle with weight loss has been tremendously more difficult because of the fact that losing weight releases uric acid. They key is to not get discouraged when you have an attack. I’m talking to myself here. Take your emergency meds (I call my doctor the minute I SUSPECT I’m having an attack, his orders), treat the attack, and get back at it. You have to get this under control. If your doctor is ignoring your pain, you need another doctor. Gout pain is more pronounced than Kidney stones or child birth at its normal levels.
Colchicine to prevent and treat, but like he said it actually brings on an attack first (while it's breaking up the uric acid crystals), so usually they will add the allopurinol along with the colchicine and an nsaid. I've never had it, but I have heard it's very painful. So sorry you are going through that.
Yeah, had the same issue a few years ago, annoyingly before a trip to Australia where I needed to walk a lot or spend all my cash on taxis. If it's happening when you are dieting then possibly due to switching to a higher protein/carb ratio. I started eating much more fish, including shellfish, and cutting out rice and pasta. My main carbs were lentils or pulses, or if I wanted anything else I used konjac rice or noodles. I also cut out wine in favour of bitter because I couldn't physically drink much gassy booze whilst I can easily down two bottles of wine a night. End result - massive boost in urea and waking up one day to feel as if someone had stabbed me in the big toe with an axe covered in ghost chili. Now, since then I did a bit of research - hydrate properly, have SOME carbs in the diet and snack on dried cranberries - the vitamin C helps neutralize the urea. If you feel a really bad twinge, take some 1500mg+ Vit C tablets.
We treat plants with colchicine to cause mitotic disorders resulting in whole genome duplication. Plants can tolerate this - tetraploid humans abort due to massive developmental problems. I ain't putting that stuff in myself for any sum.
broke your ankle & had a ligament tear? Were these job related injuries? I've never had a toothache that I remember....maybe 30 some years ago or so I may have. I don't know anyone who has ever had gout, but it sounds like something I don't ever want to get.
The ankle was years ago and it was sort of a work related injury. I was out boozing with work mates and it had been pissing down with rain. I slipped off the pavement into the kerb twisting my ankle. Didn't know it was broken until I woke up the next morning and couldn't walk, sending me to the hospital. The strain was my groin suddenly giving way last week. I dunno what caused it. A particularly aggressive wank? No idea.
If you mean like not something simple like not handing out antibiotics when someone feels a little sick, possibly. Humans can build up a rapid tolerance to things and it's best to not cross that bridge until one comes to it. It's also possible that the medication is really only effective when the condition reaches a certain point. I don't take a painkiller for a papercut, even though it hurts to some degree. That's sort of like nuking your house because you found a spider in it. Yank a tooth, however, and painkillers make a whole lotta sense, just like nuking a city makes sense when zombies are overrunning it.
No, Poodle is trolling those who believe in universal healthcare with the "death panels" myth - i.e. such systems ration healthcare.
Fun Fact: We're in the Green Room, so I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt, rather than calling him a cockgobbling thundercunt who doesn't understand shit about how the rest of the world works.
This. When I started a follow up thread to this in the Blue Room he carried it on, although after two requests not to he seems now to have stopped it. So I let it slide.
