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Good link and article, thanks. I eat a lot of these as well, especially potatoes , peppers, and cherries of course. All items on these lists however never gave me the joint pain I got from eating meat and since going vegetarian, until recently, have had many fewer symptoms of joint pain whether it is gout or osteoarthritis acting up I’ll find out later this month with a dual acting cat scan. I’ve since gone back to eating a small amount of meat, mainly chicken, which has caused no problems at least so far. Hope to be able to solve this puzzle.
Gout & Tomatoes – Good or Bad?
Tomatoes and other nightshade veggies are generally not recommended for people with osteoarthritis as they may make the inflammation worse. The question here is, how many with gout also have osteoarthritis, as I have.
Also, I found that tomatoes in particular caused acid reflux that was also the worst side effect I got from allopurinol, so I tend to limit them, sad because they are supposed to be healthy for most people.
I am considering getting food allergy and sensitivity testing done to see if that helps give me some answers as to why I get such an inflammatory reaction from some foods. Anyone else done this?
Achilles tendonitis, yes, had it years ago was treated and went away but gradually came back. Went on allopurinol, after 6 mos of that, swelling and soreness in affected tendon gone. I didn’t make the connection till I read the article on here about uric acid deposits occurring in Achilles tendons and patellar tendons (kneecap area ). Go figure, but 6 mos later soreness/swelling is still gone. I often had a hip bursitis irritation but never really bad, just got a shoulder bursitis injected with cortisone plus lidocane, wow what an improvement there. Radiologist said significant arthritis in that joint. I don’t think there is any link to gout there just caused from years of wear and tear. I’m currently waiting for dual energy ct scan on hands and feet to determine presence of uric acid crystals or not. Rheumatologist I finally got sent to doesn’t think it is gout? because I didn’t have massively swollen, red, hot joints like his pictures, it was always more subtle than that. He couldn’t answer why 6 mos on allo. would bring down toe swelling and pain, eliminate the tendonitis, and random finger pains, and why eating red meat especially, and sugar would make symptoms worse .I hope he is right, that it is not gput, but then what, inflammatory arthritis? food allergies causing inflammation
Your symptoms sound a bit like me, multiple sites, sometimes mild but still “there”, sometimes in 1 ankle, or maybe the other, various finger joints, big toe, always come and go, always come on with eating meat, especially beef, add sugar to that, then it would start with hot, burning feet, then pins and needles turning into sharp stabbing pains. 2 plus yrs out, turned vegetarian, did 6 mos stint on allopurinol but stopped bec of sideeffects. Finally got apptment with rheumatologist, who said you don’t have big, swollen, red, inflamed joints. Well not now bec I took antiinflammatory especially and changed diet. Osteoarthritis is in all these places, the gout symptoms always went to places of existing osteo. He doesn’t think it is rheumatoid, am waiting for dual ct scan to see if uric acid crystals are there.
Better numbers, good! Sounds like you might have to balance amt of febuxostat with your symptoms, too much gives you side effects, less you can tolerate but will take longer to dissolve existing crystals which have probably building up over 10 yrs plus. It would seem logical to me that any exercise to result in increased blood flow would help eliminate the crystals. I know if I walk a lot 15 to 20000 steps, I am much better than inactive days, good shoes or boots with lots of cushioning help me, because of osteoarthritis too. Any exercise that caused excess flexion of sore joints didn’t work for me, ie. Cross country skiing was awful, snowshoeing not so bad but walking is the best as long as the ground is not too rough. Keep moving if you can, good for overall health I think!
You sound much like me with the random pains in different sites. When I finally got a rheumatologist appt. he looked at my now normal looking joints, said it doesn’t look like gout, well no, not now after 26 mos of no meat or booze taking anti inflammatories and getting everything under control. Xrays and blood tests showed no rheumatoid arthritis which is good, shows osteoarthritis which I knew, am waiting for ct scan to show if there are uric acid deposits in joints or not.I get the feeling this doc thinks it is all in my head, but if it is not gout then what the heck caused all those symptoms and joint pain when eating meat? Are symptoms from lupus?fibromyalgia?leaky gut? allergies?
Thanks, nobody, it is a shame I think that it takes so long to get gp to refer me to specialist. I’ve spent the past 2 years working really hard to get this under control so now, no obvious symptoms. Even when I had attacks, I took the anti inflammatory celebrex, that I already had for occasional use for osteoarthritis pain as soon as I got symptoms so likely was able to only get a relatively mild attack with pain but only some swelling and no redness. I know that gout will tend to migrate to joints already damaged by osteoarthritis, that only makes sense. This might be difficult to diagnose. I hope the ct scan will provide some answers as to what existing damage is present if any. The thought of trying to induce an attack and then seeing if colchicine stops it is rather horrifying to me. The rheumatologist doc didn’t think it was rheumatoid arthritis but did blood test for it anyways. I might be waiting a while for a ct scan so answers might not come for a while, thanks as always for your comments.
So today I got my long requested rheumatologist appointment which raised more questions than it answered. Because right now I have no hot, red, swollen joints in active flare mode, and when I have had joint pain, there was very little redness and swelling, mainly just pain, the doc is wondering if I even have gout. More blood work today, xray of both hands and feet and ct scan getting booked to see what is going on? He has prescribed colchicine for me to take if I can initiate a gout flare and see if it works on it. I am not looking forward to this, but after 2 yrs on very restricted vegetarian diet, I guess a meal of roast beef, big slice of the sugary cake and a bottle of sugary pop will see if it initiates a gout attack as it would have done in the past. Also was tested for rheumatoid arthritis, he says I definitely have osteoarthritis. Wonder if it could be pseudo gout, some kind of food allergy response to meat and sugar? No answers, just more questions?
I don’t understand your post, nobody. Cdn values call “normal” as between 150 and 400 umol/L for what it is worth. All of my values are between 258 and 361 so how is that high? I am hoping rheumatologist appt. this week will provide additional insight. Now many docs here aren’t testing ua levels at all, don’t really understand that one, you would think the more data a person has would be valuable in a diagnosis
Normal Uric Acid But Still Have Gout
Your number is in high normal, I also have numbers in normal range, 308,339,258 and 361 but still have gout.
My doc say to not get hung up on just the numbers but rather the symptoms. Here in Canada they are starting to not test for uric acid levels because you can have high levels with no gout, low levels with gout, everyone is different.
Lots of low fat dairy is good for lowering uric acid levels as well. If you keep getting more attacks you may have to go on an anti-inflammatory such as indomethacin or celebrex. That really helps me.
A drug like allopurinol may be needed to remove old buildup of uric acid crystals from your joints that are causing the attacks. Lots of info on this site to help you.
You mentioned about bunions, now that is an interesting idea, would that show up definitely on your xray? Certainly something to look into. If your brother has gout you may have the hereditary genes to predispose you to it. Try to see a foot specialist or rheumatologist for some answers. This disease is like trying to find all the pieces of a puzzle and each persons puzzle is different.
Here in Canada, docs are not going solely on uric acid levels to diagnose gout. In some cases they are not testing for them any more but rather are needling the sore joint to see if any uric acid crystals are present, to give a definitive diagnosis. Toe and ankle pain are both very common sites, if I understand correctly any damage won’t show up on xray until it is quite advanced. I have gout with “normal” range of uric acid levels, between 258 and 361 umol/litre. I have a rheumatologist appointment next week so it will be very interesting to see what he has to say. Your xray may show bone changes as in osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis and as a result give you a different diagnosis. In my case the first symptoms of gout were hot, itchy sore feet, ankles,fingers, always rotating between different sites. I finally realized that these seemingly random symptoms would always come on with eating meat, beef especially and ingestion of sugar.Good luck in finding your answers.
Thanks, nobody. My doc has now referred me to a rheumatologist which will likely take 9 mos to a year . I will be interested to hear what he/she has to say or recommend. So far 5 mos off allopurinol and symptom free, hope it lasts. Ua levels now at 361 so still within what they consider normal here, for what that is worth!
I am going to throw another couple of thoughts into the ring for you, no answers but perhaps some more questions. Would using febuxostat cause any existing kidneystones to dissolve, would that cause abdominal or back pain, I believe those are 2 symptoms of kidney stones. Have you had an ultrasound or any tests to rule out kidneystones. Abdominal discomfort, pain, gas, diarrhea can also be caused by lactose intolerance for injecting milk and other dairy. Have you upped your dairy as it is supposed to be good to help lower uric acid levels? I take lactic acid tablets to help digest dairy, it is a pretty common condition in adults. Have you ever had any food allergy testing, could it be an allergy or sensitivity to something you are eating? Hope you find some answers. Here in Canada, the docs are not going as much by uric acid results but more on symptoms and needling any affected joints to detect the presence of ua crystals, I just had a friend diagnosed with gout and her doc said they are not doing much testing of ua levels any more because for many people they are not a reliable indicator. Go figure.
Interesting, you are similar to me, I wonder if you got rid of enough store of ua crystals while on allopurinol to leave you symptom free now? If you made dietary changes since the time of your bouts then maybe now your system is not building up high levels of ua. Here in Canada many docs are no longer testing blood ua levels but needling affected joint to see if there is crystal buildup. I had a friend recently diagnosed in that manner. If you remain symptom free, why would you treat with drugs that have bad side effects for many users. It would be different if you were still having attacks, you would need to deal with it but ” if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?” If I develop bad gout symptoms again, will go on uloric but right not am able to control with diet. Vegetarian, black cherry, lots of dairy and alkaline , no sugar, lots of walking, warm socks all the time are working. Will it last, don’t know but the side effects from allopurinol were horrible for me, I couldn’t stay on it. I am waiting for rheumatologists appointment, will be interested in that input.
Beans, peas, lentils are high in vegetable purines which aren’t supposed to be problematic but maybe in some cases they are with some people? I really wonder about that because when I first went vegetarian, I would get some mild symptoms when eating them, that largely seems to have disappeared, as long as I keep sugar intake minimal, that is the hard one for me.All you can do is track what you eat and any symptoms to see if there is any correlation between the 2.
For the milk reference I was just quoting an article on here regarding the benefit of ortoic acid in milk. It appears to work by preventing uric acid from going back into the blood so it then gets expelled by the kidneys as urine. The ortoic acid helps stimulating removal of uric acid by the kidneys. If anyone can explain this more thoroughly on a cellular level, that would be interesting. Meanwhile dairy is my new best friend. Apparently the good bacteria in yogurts which increase the good bacteria in your gut also help to eliminate uric acid too. Good luck with your blood tests btw.