How do Patient Reactions affect Gout Management is second in my Gout Patient Concerns series. So before reading this, I recommend you read Help The Doctor Fix Your Gout. Because this is my detailed review of the first of three themes I described in that introduction.

Purpose of Gout Patient Reactions Review

The purpose of this review is to help gout patients who are beginning to come to terms with their gout diagnosis. In that situation, you have a mixture of positive and negative attitudes towards your treatment plan. So you need encouragement from your doctor to continue developing positive reactions. Also, you need explanations and help to avoid negative reactions.

So this review supports my Purpose of GoutPal.com. Because it helps you improve the dialog with your doctor that leads to better gout management.

Gout Diagnosis Reactions Report

Now, I will describe the first theme identified by Howren and colleagues study of gout patients concerns[1]. That is Processing the diagnosis and management of gout.

First, the report looks at how patients react to gout diagnosis. Next, how they make medication and lifestyle changes. So these are mainly practical changes. But many newly diagnosed gout patients have strong feelings. Especially “Why has gout attacked me?”

Through processing the diagnosis and management of gout, participants gain an understanding of the causes of gout and discover methods by which to adapt to it.

Then, the report explains the specific categories of reactions that the authors identify. So I will list them with quotes from the report below.

Note that the authors stress the importance of interaction between different concerns. Especially how some reactions can push patients towards or away from better involvement in their treatment. But, for now, I will describe the concerns in isolation. Then in a final summary article, I will explain more about interactions. Also, I will include practical ways you can improve gout management. So subscribe to my update service to get an email notification when I publish:

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Adapt/modify lifestyle

The report category is “Adapting to gout” which identifies several ways that gout patients modify their lifestyles. I have included patient quotes from the report here. Then in my final summary article, I will add similar real-life quotes from my gout forum.

  1. Practical changes:
    • Adjusting activity levels based on gout status: “You plan your day around how you feel.”
    • Changing footwear
    • Using mobility aids
  2. Diet changes:
    • Identifying and avoiding personal gout triggers: “I’m very careful for what I am eating or drinking.”

Search for Gout Reasons

The report category is “Searching for reason” which is when gout sufferers are concerned about:

  1. Finding information about:
    • Causes of gout
    • Links between diet and high uric acid: “I don’t know whether it was because I was particularly dehydrated when I took the blood test or maybe I’d consumed more of the triggers leading up to it.”
  2. Emotional reactions:
    • Why do I have gout? “If I have a, a gout what’s this, a flared up, I always have tears in my eyes, why me, why me, I ask myself, why me.”
    • Why must I endure gout pain?

Gout Lifehacks

The report describes the third reactions category as “Testing the waters”. Because this is about self-experimentation. Usually, after people become comfortable with managing their own gout. Or during periods without gout flares.
Examples of self-experimentation from the report are:

  1. Gout diet changes: “Because I hadn’t been having flare ups, I, I felt I could indulge a little bit more in some of the foods that I knew that were triggers.”
  2. Gout medication changes: So I took it [allopurinol] every other day for a while and I held my own and then I tried every second day for maybe a couple of weeks.”
Patient Reactions & Gout Management mind map
How did you react to your gout diagnosis?
Click for an interactive map
.

Your Gout Diagnosis Reactions

It’s interesting to see how many examples of diagnosis reactions from this report are mirrored in my gout forums. So I will add some examples in my review summary after my detailed reviews of the other two themes.

For now, I recommend that you discuss your reactions to gout diagnosis with your doctor. Remember, many gout sufferers feel more comfortable asking fellow gout sufferers before they consult professionals. So use the gout forum to help formulate your questions. Also to help understand your doctor’s response.

Leave Gout Diagnosis Reactions to read the introduction to the Gout Concerns Review.

Gout Diagnosis Reactions References

  1. Howren, Alyssa, Susan M. Cox, Kam Shojania, Sharan K. Rai, Hyon K. Choi, and Mary A. De Vera. “How patients with gout become engaged in disease management: a constructivist grounded theory study.” Arthritis research & therapy 20, no. 1 (2018): 110.

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