Posts: 14,163
9/16/12 4:12 P

Hello BEACHBARBY, welcome to the team. I have a lot of the same issues.. less of them now. For gout, they putme on Allopurinol, along with Colchiine for severe falre-ups. Luckily, no issues since getting strict on low carb ( 40 net carbs or less ). Amazingly, meat, fish, or mushrooms hve not been an issue. Sugar was. I was limiting that already due to being diabetic, but still sneaking pop. Not enough to be on diabetes meds, but enough to aggravate my gout. March 20 th was my last attack, and my Uric acid levels are in the low part of normal range.

I eat a lb of meat daily, cheese, eggs, butter, and a lot of veggies. I tend to eat older cheeses to limit lactose, and no other dairy, and fruit ( fructose ) is a rare thing for me. So, I get a little sugar from my vegetables, but nowhere else. I had an increase in gout attacks when I first started, last October, and was put on Allopurinol , in December. Started doing low carb on and off in February, and attacks started slowing down. I am happy with 0 attacks since March 20 th. Maybe it is just a coincidence, but as long as I can keep attacks from happening, I will stick to low carb. I got the idea from a show about the link betweendiabetes, and gout. I figured since low carb did so well for diabetes, might as well see if it helps with gout. Diabetes was manageable with a drop in carbs, but gout requires me to be a bit lower to not get attacks. I guess time will tell, whether it is coincidence, or just luck, and timing. After 2 months of weekly, crippling attacks.. 6 months pain free, with 90-150 minut walks daily makes me want to keep doing everything the same..lol. I am also hoping my doctor will lwer my diuretics at next doctor visit, which is a factor in gout attacks. Stay hydrated, and hope you can avoid as much pain as possible.

Swimming is great exercise, as well as fun. I walk door to door a lot, fliering for a friends pizzeria but the rest of my exercie is basketball, swimming, and walks along the river. I force myself to do 3 resistance band workouts a week to maintain muscle, but as winter approaches, I dread the gym, and treadmill.

Your plan sounds good, and I would just enter the foods you eat into your tracker, and make them favorites. Pretty soon, you will know what adds up to a healthy day. You probably want to avoid most foods high on the glycemic index, as they raise your blood sugar. You could probably get th book at your library, and get yourself a list of acceptable foods.



Edited by: RUSSELL_39 at: 9/16/2012 (16:13)

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9/10/12 9:07 A

Ugh. Uloric (feboxostat) seems to be prescribed for long term control of gout, not short term symtpom relief. This quote from the NIH site explains why you're having more pain instead of less:

"It may take several months before febuxostat begins to prevent gout attacks. Febuxostat may increase the number of gout attacks during the first few months of your treatment. Your doctor may prescribe another medication such as colchicine or a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) to prevent gout attacks during the first 6 months of your treatment. Continue to take febuxostat even if you have gout attacks during your early treatment."

Also:

"Febuxostat is in a class of medications called xanthine oxidase inhibitors. It works by decreasing the amount of uric acid that is made in the body."

If at all possible it is much better to reduce your body's production of uric acid naturally. Uric acid is an antioxidant substance and in many cases is produced in excess in response to inflammation. Long term inflammation seems to generally be driven by diet - high insulin levels in particular. Cutting your sugar/fructose levels to the bone might bring some relief.

I'm curious as to why you weren't prescribed Allopurinol, which seems to be the front line medication. You may want to bug your doctor about that. And yes, diuretics tend to either bring on flares or make them worse, so keep drinking your water.

When you do South Beach how are your other important numbers - BP, blood sugar, triglycerides, etc.?

And, thank you Bossman, but let me remind everyone that I'm not a gout physician, I just give good Google. ;)

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9/8/12 5:03 P

Consider asking your Doc whether Indomethacin might help reduce the pain of occasional flare-ups. Not sure if it fights with uloric but Woubbie will know. She knows everything about gout! And, of course, welcome!

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9/8/12 3:27 P

I have been on South Beach on and off for several years and this year had a total knee replacement and lost touch with the beachy way. Found Spark people and on and off used it to track food intake.
Thought I had a bunion and went on with that for a long time. Finally they checked my uric acid levels and said it was gout I was given uloric and have been taking that for the past several week's I got carried away with icecream. Today I am in extreme pain and decided to read up on gout. I also had a bad kidney infection and now blame it on the gout take diuretics so drink a ton of water. I had given up on soda and fruit and really watched my sugar intake. I also have celiac so no wheat rye or barley...As long as I watched there was no problem...
So I suppose to be pain free it will be a very strict diet of veggies and meat and fish, Sugar below 5 per serving..Takes a long time to read labels on everything but probably worth being pain free..
Well I tend to be a bit long winded I suppose..That's my story and I am sticking to it..