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I have seen several comments stating that there is pain during debulking. My question is – does your UA% go up during debulking? I have previously posted an excel chart showing my almost daily readings. I was pretty happy that I was able to get down in the 5.5-6.0 range, just by going vegetarian and cutting out alcohol, with some supplements, etc. I had a recent ultrasound, where my UA stone went from about 9mm to 6.5mm. I was thinking everything was going in the right direction. My diet has been VERY consistent and out of the blue my readings started going 6-8 and I have some pain in my toes. It’s not bad pain, but it is definitely there. I have been OK by taking an Alleve before bed. It would make sense that if these crystals broke up and had to be eliminated, you could see a spike in UA%. Just wondering if this would be over about a week’s time?
Thanks in advance for any comments and I am very grateful for this forum.
Sorry Keith, I am the guy who posted the excel chart with all of my results. Just haven’t updated it in a while.
I have a home tester and I check it almost every day. I have found that taking it right when I wake up is the most consistent. If you do hard exercise it can get quite high, but then come down in 12h or so. Also, if you do not get a nice, fat drop of blood it seems to screw up the results. If the drop is thin and spread out and you try to “sweep it up” with the strip, it can give weird results. I think mine is called “good life”. I had one day where I checked it at home right after at a doctor and it was within 0.2 mg/DL. A few times, I have done back-to-back and gotten pretty close numbers. Also, checked mine and someone else’s back to back and have shown that a non-gout person can be very low compared to mine (I was starting to wonder if mine read the same number all of the time – no luck). I am going to guess that taking it every day is overkill and can be disappointing, but I have been doing it anyway, trying to learn the effects. For the last 5 months I have drastically changed my eating and drinking habits and started taking supplements. I would say it is a very slow process, but since Oct – no real flare ups. It had been almost 3 years since my first and only “big toe” flare up (which I wrote off as an injury) and my huge flare up in every joint, plus a kidney stone and 5 lumps showing up on my leg. That big flare up was 5 months ago and as far as I know is my second and currently last bout. I am not a doc, and as Keith says, some people can go years between flare ups with no effort at all, so I would not place any merit in my results as far as saying something works or doesn’t work. If going vegetarian and eliminating almost all alcohol doesn’t keep me in the clear, I am definitely going to go the prescription route next.
Finally got down to 6.0 and now 5.7. Not sure exactly what is the most critical, but went 90% vegetarian, no beer, almost zero alcohol and taking milk thistle and tart cherry. Drinking tons of water. Also, probiotics. I think that has been a big help since I was on a huge dose of antibiotics right before my major flare up. Also, I drank quite a bit (especially beer) and ate lots of beef, etc before all of this happened in October.
I had similar results. I have taken my test right after hard mountain biking and I have gotten 10-11. My normal level has been 7.4. That’s my chart in “Blood UA Results” post.
Thanks Guys!
My flare up is 95% gone. Right now, my only real sharp pain is in my left wrist. Other than being a bit stiff in the elbows when I wake up, I am feeling better. I will look into the Mg. I have not had a drink in 17 days and other than a little bit of chicken a few nights, I have been strictly vegetarian and very hydrated. I have been riding my bike and it seems to really help. I have a home test kit now and it is a bit discouraging. I am doing a regular morning test and was at 9 this morning. So, I vary from 6.8 to 10.5 (the 10.5 after exercise). I was hoping with the big load removed of the beer and meat that I would have seen a drop. I am going to stick with it. I am hesitating going to a doctor until I get back from a 4 week overseas trip. If I wind up on a UA lowering medicine I am worried it will trigger attack while I am working overseas. I cannot afford to miss work. I feel good now, so I think I will set an appt for my return. Am I overtesting with the home kit and expecting too much too soon? The diet change has caused about a 10lb drop. I know you are not supposed to crash diet, but I have to admit, removing all of the beer and meat must be a shock to my system, but unavoidable. I am hoping to even out here weight wise soon.
When I woke up this morning, it was hard to get out of bed. My elbows and wrists were especially bad. Both thumbs felt broken. I took some naproxen and started moving around, walking the dogs, etc. I felt good enough to go mountain biking, but took it easier than normal. I did 70 minutes with some good climbing and had the heart rate probably around 160 average. I made sure I drank 3L of water during the ride and two bottles on the car ride to the trails. I felt really good. Still a bit stiff and tender, but I don’t know if is the adrenaline, the naproxen, the water or just moving around, but it helped. I went home and tried my new test kit. In the morning (fasting test) I was 6.8 which was exactly the doctor result a week ago. After exercise, I was 9.0. That had me a bit worried. I kept hydrating and going to the bathroom and in 2 hrs I tested again. 10.4. I have to think exercising breaks down body fat and causes a spike, but I could not have been more hydrated. I am going to keep testing and try to figure more out about my metabolism. Sleeping seems to be the worst part. I have been eating only fruits and vegetables for several days and drinking only water and a few cups of coffee. The lead thing is interesting. I work in the metals industry, but used to get Pb tests annually as part of the work safety program. I have never even had a spike. As a metallurgist, I can’t help but think that if 6.8 is the saturation point, the level you are above that would be a driving force for crystallization and maybe because I seem to be right on the saturation point, my crystals aren’t as needle like as some people. I am not getting the extreme burning and redness some talk about, but rather real stiffness and feeling like joints are sprained or broken.
I was just reading through this and saw Andrew’s post about the pain in the pads of the fingers. I have that too. My knees hurt, so I noticed the pain trying to push myself up to stand. I had the pain in my knees, ankles, elbows, wrists and fingers all at once (no feet) and then after one day of Naproxin the knees were OK. Now about a week, it’s mostly confined to my left elbow and left thumb joint at the palm. I bought a home test kit and immediately took two tests 7.4, 7.2. My blood work a week ago was 6.8. I haven’t had anything to drink except water and coffee in almost 2 weeks and I have been nearly vegetarian. I am 44 and do a lot of cycling, jogging, etc. I am very guilt when it comes to my alcohol (especially beer) intake levels in the past and that has stopped. Not skinny, but in the last two years, I’ve lost about 60 lbs. I am going to start doing the test in the morning after waking up and following the advice I have been reading here. I tried to talk to my doctor, but got an assistant and was simply told to call back in a week if the NSAIDs haven’t eliminated the problem. Keith, you already gave me a good response on the “normal” level of 6.8 and thanks for the responses the other day and thanks for running this forum.
About 2 years ago, my big toe was red, swollen and I was in a lot of pain. I finally went to the doctor and he simply said “you have gout”. I thought it was from a time I stubbed my toe. He then said, “does this hurt?” and squeezed it. It did not. So, he retracted and x-rayed it instead and said it was probably sprained. Thinking back now, maybe it was gout? It did not burn like everything I read describes. Now, about 2 months ago, I had a horrible fever and was in the hospital on IV for 4 days. Nothing showed up other than a 9mm kidney stone. I went to a urologist and he thinks it’s uric acid, because it was invisible on the x-ray, but visible on ultrasound. Since then, I have been very active, jogging, biking, canoeing, etc., with no issues. Suddenly, last week, I had all of my major joints swell (knees, elbows, wrists and ankles – nothing in the toes or feet) and the balls of my fingers (in the palms). I could barely get out of bed. Then, small masses (about the size of a bottle cap) started popping up in my legs. I went to the doctor and had blood work (they thought Lyme – but came up negative, as did the test from 2 months ago). Everything was “normal”. My uric acid was 6.8. After reading some things on this site, I see that being 6.8 vs 7.0 is not necessarily normal. From everything I am reading, putting the kidney stone and this joint flare up together, I am really thinking it is gout. The pictures of the lumps on the web and this site are hideous. Mine were barely visible and if I massaged them, I could make them almost go away. Also, when my joints flared up, massaging them felt good, whereas most of the things I read say gout patients are in pain just from the bed sheets touching them. My toes were perfectly fine, which I am reading is a misunderstanding now. I checked out clean for RA, Lupus, and everything else I see in my blood test.
I know I should ask my doctor more, but this site seemed very helpful and if it is gout, I will probably wind up bookmarking this site for tips on diet, etc.
Thanks