Gout Pal Interactive

Though most common in men over 40, and women after menopause, gout can strike at any age. I get mail everyday from frustrated under-30’s, including teenagers. They are frustrated because nobody accepts they can have gout at a young age.

Even in the more accepted gout age-group, gout sufferers are frustrated by other medical conditions and a general feeling of being unwell.

Sometimes it’s just a general feeling of being run-down, other times it’s a desire to find natural products to help with, for instance, weight loss.

For whatever reason, many people feel better when taking natural supplements to complement the medical treatment they receive.

Here is a selection of some of the concerns that my readers have:

herbs, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, vitamin c, vitamin e, soy tablets, echinacea, aromatherapy, essential oils, green foods, herbal tea blends, homeopathic remedies, natural beauty care, weight loss, diet, lose weight, immune system, menopause, menstruation, prostate, mens health, womens health, spa, bath, spa products, herbal, herbal remedies, natural remedies, natural diuretics, natural laxatives, natural weight loss, natural weight loss remedies, all natural weight loss, yeast infection, herbal supplements, natural vitamin d, poor circulation, leg ulcers, exhaustion, bloodshot eyes, viral infection, benefits of apple cider vinegar, hyperthyroidism, nervous breakdown, natural remedies for menopause, natural cholesterol recuder, detox systems, immune system booster, pinched nerve in the neck, thyroids, treatment of vertigo, histamine levels and hair loss, prostate problems, natural aphrodisiacs, hormonal imbalance, natural healing, herbal detox teas, pancreas problems, treatments for sciatic problems, natural cure for hair loss, natural hair loss treatment, poor circulation, all natural weight loss, benefits of apple cider vinegar, natural anxiety treatment, viral infections, treatment of vertigo, natural ways to lower cholesterol

Gout Herbal Coupons

I’ve been using a company called Botanic Choice for herbal teas, which I love, and I can see, from their search facility, that they have a range of products related to “celery seeds”, “uric acid”, and “ACV”. It’s well worth a look if you’re searching for natural gout remedies.

Try these and other search words that are important to you, but also notice the important section - Medicine Interactions - near the foot of each page. This free tool helps you quickly lookup medicines that you are taking to check if they have interactions with herbal supplements.

The best news for the New Year is that Botanic Choice are offering GoutPal readers 3 special offers. All you need to do is enter the Coupon Code into the appropriate box when you place your order.

Gout Herbal Promo 1

$5 off any order of $10 or more PLUS 99-cent shipping
Offer Valid: Dec. 26 – Jan. 31
Enter Promo Code: NEWYOU09
New Year’s Sale! $5 off any order of $10 or more PLUS 99-cent shipping. Use Promo Code: NEWYOU09

Gout Herbal Promo 2

Free Shipping Plus $5 off orders of $25 or more
Offer Valid: Dec. 26 – Jan. 31
Coupon Code: JAN0525
New Year Sale! Free Shipping Plus $5 off orders of $25 or more. Use Coupon Code: JAN0525

Gout Herbal Promo 3

$10 OFF $25 – Coupon Code JAN1025
Offer Valid: Dec. 26 – Jan. 31
Coupon Code JAN1025
Botanic Choice January Sale! $10 OFF $25 – Use Coupon Code JAN1025

Remember: You can trust BotanicChoice.com - their products are doctor recommended and always carry an unconditional 100% money-back guarantee.

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Tags: all natural weight loss, antioxidants, aromatherapy, bath, benefits of apple cider vinegar, bloodshot eyes, detox systems, diet, echinacea, essential oils, exhaustion, gout herbal, green foods, herbal, herbal detox teas, herbal remedies, herbal supplements, herbal tea blends, herbs, histamine levels and hair loss, homeopathic remedies, hormonal imbalance, hyperthyroidism, immune system, immune system booster, leg ulcers, lose weight, menopause, mens health, menstruation, minerals, natural anxiety treatment, natural aphrodisiacs, natural beauty care, natural cholesterol recuder, natural cure for hair loss, natural diuretics, natural hair loss treatment, natural healing, natural laxatives, natural remedies, natural remedies for menopause, natural vitamin d, natural ways to lower cholesterol, natural weight loss, natural weight loss remedies, nervous breakdown, pancreas problems, pinched nerve in the neck, poor circulation, prostate, prostate problems, soy tablets, spa, spa products, thyroids, treatment of vertigo, treatments for sciatic problems, viral infection, viral infections, vitamin c, vitamin e, vitamins, weight loss, womens health, yeast infection

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

Regular readers will know that personally, I avoid this treatment as I already have raised blood pressure, and have read that sodium bicarbonate can make this worse.

Other people have complained about the taste of baking soda. To an extent, you can mask this with, for example, fruit juice. Or just get used to it.

A baking soda fan wrote about an alternative:

I have used baking soda regularly for my gout for years. Please tell people that you can order empty gel caps online to fill and eat the baking soda in pill form without getting sick. The saltwater taste is what makes most people sick. Godspeed!

This sounds very interesting to me.

As I’ve said, I’m avoiding baking soda at the moment, and looking at dietary ways of alkalizing my body.

I’d love to hear about your experiences with baking soda, so I’ve started a forum topic to discuss this issue.

Please share your thoughts and discuss your theories, experiences or questions about baking soda for gout.

Tags: baking soda, sodium bicarbonate

Allopurinol intolerant gout sufferers in the USA moved one step closer to an alternative gout fixer yesterday.

The FDA’s Arthritis Advisory Committee voted 12-0, with 1 abstention, in favor of approving febuxostat for lowering uric acid in gout patients.

Though this does not bind the FDA to issuing approval for febuxostat, it represents a highly positive outcome and bodes well for a new treatment sometime in the next few months.

In this part of the approval process, evidence is considered by the committee. I’ll present some of the evidence in detail over the next few weeks. To set the scene, here is the summary, from “Briefing Document for Febuxostat” by Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc.

Summary and Conclusions

Febuxostat is a potent, nonpurine, selective inhibitor of Xanthine Oxidase (XO), which has been shown to be effective in reducing and maintaining serum uric acid (sUA) <6.0 mg/dL at doses of 40 mg and 80 mg. Maintaining these sUA levels is associated with the clinical benefits of tophi resolution and reduction in gout flare.

Febuxostat 40 mg and 80 mg provide an effective treatment option for patients with hyperuricemia and gout. Based on the clinical data, 40 mg and 80 mg are effective doses with 80 mg providing added benefit for patients with more severe disease.

Febuxostat also provides benefit in this patient population with comorbid conditions and has an advantage over allopurinol of not requiring dose adjustment in patients with mild to moderate renal impairment.

Febuxostat doses of 40 mg and 80 mg are well tolerated and have a similar safety profile as the currently marketed allopurinol. The rates of cardio-vascular (CV) events observed in the febuxostat clinical program were low. The potential CV risk was prospectively evaluated in the CONFIRMS Study and no difference in the rate of CV events was observed between febuxostat 80 mg and allopurinol; whereas, with its known risk of AHS, the risk in terms of severe rash is greater with allopurinol.

Febuxostat 40 mg and 80 mg doses are both recommended for approval to allow clinicians individualized dosing options. The 80 mg dose is more effective than 40 mg, especially in subjects with more severe disease as defined by the presence of tophi or higher sUA levels.

Overall, the benefits of febuxostat 40 mg and 80 mg clearly outweigh the risks and support approval of febuxostat for the treatment of hyperuricemia in patients with gout.

Tags: allopurinol, febuxostat, hyperuricemia, Xanthine Oxidase

If you’ve coped with gout for a long time, MSNBC’s health reporter, JoNel Aleccia, would like to speak to you.

Jonel has thousands of health articles dotted around the Internet. Wouldn’t it be nice if one of them featured you!

She writes:

Hi, my name is JoNel Aleccia; I’m a reporter with msbnc.com. I’m
putting together a story about gout, specially timed to run during the
holidays, when many people are triggered. I’d like to speak to a
couple people who’ve coped with gout for a while. Phone here is
425-705-1839. E-mail is jonel.aleccia@msnbc.com

If you are interested, please get in touch with her, and mention GoutPal.

Tags: your gout

Do Not Be Ruled By Food

“What food should I eat with gout?”

“What food should I avoid with gout?”

“Will [food] make my gout worse?”

The gout sufferer’s diet questions are endless, and the gout doctor’s diet advice is monotonous.

No Alcohol. Avoid purines. Lose weight.

Not particularly bad advice, but too general to be helpful, and too restrictive to be accepted.

The real danger here is that gout patients focus on food, and not on what really matters - controlling uric acid.

It’s heartening to see that some doctors are realizing that strict low purine diets are not the right way. “In treating gout, don’t overdo diet restrictions” is a refreshing article from Dr Robert Shmerling. He does not…

recommend strict dietary modifications after an initial attack of gout.

Like me, he points out the research showing weaknesses in strict low purine diets. Significantly he continues:

these studies looked at people who had not had gout before. They did not assess the effect of diet on people who already had gout.

In a nutshell, you need to stop obsessing about specific foods. Eat a healthy varied diet that satisfies you. Enjoy what you eat, but just eat enough to maintain a healthy weight, and exercise as often as you can.

Drastic changes simply do not work, and some can make your gout worse. Small improvements every few days soon make a big difference. Most importantly, you feel better because you’re in control.

To feel even more in control, learn more about gout. When you understand how gout pain is caused, and why uric acid control is so important, you are much better placed to help yourself, and ask the right questions of your doctor.

Your added bonus is that, when you are learning about gout, it helps you to stop worrying about food.

Tags: food, purines, uric acid

Uric Acid

Quite simply, if you have too much uric acid you increase your risk of gout pain. The reasons for excess uric acid are many, but one essential point is that uric acid is our own natural anti-oxidant. It is very easy to stress your body to need anti-oxidants, and I discuss some of these causes elsewhere. It is also easy to supply anti-oxidants from foods, supplements and other treatments.

Essentially, if you boost your anti-oxidant supply from external sources, your body is under less pressure to produce its own anti-oxidant - uric acid.

Urate Crystal Deposits

There is very little you can do directly to affect uric acid crystal deposits. You do however need to be aware of their existence, as they will often cause gout pain both when they form (bad), and when they dissolve (good).

Essentially, gout pain relief is important when you first get gout, to help you cope with the pain from new uric acid crystals. It is equally important when you lower uric acid, to help you cope with the pain from old uric acid crystals dissolving.

Immune Reaction To Uric Acid Crystals

Uric acid crystals don’t hurt in the same way as sticking a needle in your body. They hurt like a flu virus, as your body fights what it sees as an infection. When your body recognizes and fights an invasion of uric acid crystals, it produces an inflammatory response that you see, and feel, as swollen, red, painful joints.

Essentially, anything you can do to minimize the inflammation will minimize your pain.

Your Reaction To Pain

When the inflammation starts, your nerves carry signals to your brain which we know as pain. There are many treatments, both natural and manufactured, that can interfere with these pain messages to reduce or block them. There are also techniques, popularly hypnosis and distraction, that can help you cope with the pain signals and block them out.

Essentially, your last resort to dealing with gout pain is to block it.

Essential Oils And Essential Fatty Acids

Whilst researching gout pain relief, I’ve stumbled across various natural substances that act on different parts of the gout pain process. A significant number of these substances are classed as essential oils or essential fatty acids. I am producing a series of articles on these natural pain relievers.

Keep dropping by here, and also subscribe to my gout mini-blog.

It’s essential reading for gout pain sufferers.

Tags: anti-inflammatories, anti-oxidants, essential fatty acids, essential oils

I’ve just seen some more out-of-date medical advice on a doctor’s website, and it’s making me seethe.

Everybody trusts these guys to give sound, current health advice, but what do they churn out?

Disproved speculation that at best does no good.

At worst, it condemns you to years of pain and discomfort. Years of low quality of life.

I’m tempted to name the offending site, but that would only single out one miscreant among the many - online and in their consulting rooms.

Instead, I’ll analyze a few quotes, and allow the diligent among you to guess where the site is by virtue of GoutPal’s Worldwide Search Engine.

The Symptoms

Our doctor starts with:

severe pain in the big toe…condition affects the age group 30 to 50 years old

So it could be gout. But what about 48% of gout sufferers who don’t get pain in the big toe?

What about the small number of people under 30 and the massive number of people over 50 who get gout? Will they not even be considered for a gout diagnosis?

The Diagnosis

Fatal Flaw #1.

To be sure therefore if your joint pains are due to this disease [gout], a simple blood test called uric acid can easily be determined in any lab

All that a uric acid blood test will tell you is how much uric acid is in your blood.

If it’s high, it suggests that you are at risk of uric acid crystals forming in your blood which may induce a gout attack in the near future (a bad thing).

If it is not high, and you are having a gout attack, it suggests that you might be suffering from a reaction to new uric acid crystals that have formed recently (a bad thing). Or you might be suffering from a reaction to old uric acid crystals dissolving (a good thing).

If it is normal, it tells you that your uric acid level is normal (a waste-of-time thing, but reassuring to some people who don’t understand gout).

A uric acid blood test, though useful as part of a program to reduce uric acid, will not tell you if you have gout.

Because a uric acid test is inconclusive, our inexperienced doctor will prolong the investigation, and repeat the inconclusive test, until he can conclude, rightly or wrongly, that you have, or do not have gout.

Find the last paragraph incomprehensible? At least it’s not in Latin.

Get a rheumatologist to perform a proper test for gout. That way, if you have gout, you can get treated fast. And if you haven’t, you won’t waste your time and money on gout cures when you have pseudogout, septic arthritis, bursitis, or one of the other conditions commonly misdiagnosed as gout (presumably as a result of an inconclusive uric acid test)

Our doctor should learn that:
A uric acid test can play an important role in managing the correct treatment of gout as part of a urate lowering strategy, but plays little or no part in the diagnosis of gout.

Let us assume that, by chance, we have a correct diagnosis of gout. Surely our doctor can prescribe the right treatment.

The Treatment

Fatal Flaw #2

Taking simple steps starting with our diet can go a long way in improving our health

I’m not sure it’s a starting point, but anyway, let’s consider the doctor’s gout diet advice?

NO NO if You Have GOUT or High Uric Acid:

* The NUMBER ONE on my list is ALCOHOL!!!!
* Anchovies
* Gravies
* Herring, Sardines
* Mussels or Tahong
* Internal Organs like liver, kidney
* Dinuguan, Chicharon Bulaklak
* Mackerel
* Patis and Soya Products
* Bacon and scallops

Use in Moderation:

* Crabs, Oysters, Shrimps, and eel
* Poultry and Meat [including] soup and broth
* Oatmeal
* Certain Veggies like asparagus, spinach, mushroom and cauliflower
* Legumes like beans or lentils

Let’s leave the alcohol for another discussion - do doctors always advise less alcohol so there is more for themselves?

The doctor’s recommended gout “diet” is the list of high/moderate purines in food that’s been kicking around since scientists discovered that uric acid comes from a certain type of protein in our bodies called purines. The key here is “in our bodies”, not in our mouths. Uric acid comes from cells in our bodies, not in our food. Whilst it is true that an imbalanced diet, rich in purines, can raise uric acid levels, this is true of many imbalanced diets. Including starvation.

This type of food advice is dangerous nonsense. At best, gout patients will stumble into a healthier diet by considering what they eat. At worst, as frequently happens, gout patients believe gout management is simply a food issue, and so they delay proper treatment.

Our doctor should learn that:
Where gout patients are overweight, but excrete uric acid normally through urine, gradual weight loss can reduce the amount of uric acid produced by the body. Patients who under-excrete uric acid will gain little benefit for gout from dietary changes and must focus first on medication to promote uric acid excretion.

The Consequences

As the above is published on a fairly prominent website, it attracts questions from many gout sufferers and their carers. These questions often give scant information, then are met with generalizations that could mean anything. Example:

[edited for clarity/spelling]
I’m 44 yrs old, 5′ 8″, 188 lbs. I first experienced pain in my left ankle 4 months ago w/c was diagnosed I have hyperuricemia. The pain went without medication. Now my left knee & its surrounding areas ached which sometimes makes walking difficult. What medicines should i take to lessen the uric acid?

My response would be something along the lines of:

I’m not a doctor, and can’t give specific medical advice, but my observations are:

• You are 9lbs away from clinical obesity, and excess weight is a significant factor for hyperuricemia.
• Hyperuricemia simply means higher than normal uric acid levels, though you haven’t said what your levels are, so I cannot confirm that diagnosis.
• High uric acid levels are a common cause of, but do not always result in, gout. You need to have fluid from the affected joint(s) tested to see if you have gout, and to rule out other diseases.
• After you have had the joint fluid test (arthrocentesis), consult your doctor for advice on which uric acid medication, or changes in lifestyle, suit you. He will carry out kidney function and other tests, and review your medical history and other medications. He will discuss this information with you to ensure you get the correct medication to suit your circumstances.

Instead, we get, from a doctor who is presumably qualified to give medical advice:

If the problem is really due to high uric acid and you have an inflammed joint, a specialist like a rheumatologist will do certain tests including getting a sample of your inflammed joint and to look at the fluid if they indeed contain uric acid crystals. Drugs like NSAID e.g ibuprofen, and Colchicine can reduce inflammation; But you may need drugs to reduce the production of uric acid like allopurinol Talk to your doctor about these drugs.

I think “You need a rheumatologist as I’m not really up to explaining the complexities of gout” is a bit poor for an MD.

It is sad that ordinary people feel that they cannot trust their own doctor and seek information on the Internet. Perhaps the doctors busy lives mean they cannot explain conditions and treatments well enough to give patients the confidence to follow their advice.

It’s sadder still, that where doctors do have a platform on the Internet, and thus the resources to fully explain causes and effects of complex conditions like gout, they still fail to measure up.

Come on doctors. Raise your game.

Take a little extra care to keep up-to-date.

Take a little more time to check latest research.

Take a little more notice of all the needs of your patients.

Please stop killing our health.

Tags: gout diagnosis, gout symptoms, purines, uric acid test

Maybe it’s the gout pain in my wrist that’s making me tetchy.

Or maybe it’s the amount of BS I’m seeing today.

New gout research means hope for new gout therapies?

More like new gout research reaches new heights of BS.

Actually, the research I have seen, is probably of massive interest to those who need to understand how gout pain works. It’s just not relevant to us poor gout sufferers. We need better treatment using the therapies already available rather than wasting time and money on inflicting gout on mice.

Let me explain

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: gout research, gout treatment

Not a day goes by without a request for gout food lists.

Today’s was:

Can you give me a complete list of foods that should be taken by a gout patient, as well as the food not to be taken?

How I wish it were so simple.

But it’s my job to make it simple.

So here is a simple explanation of gout and food.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Gout Diet, gout food lists