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I have had Gout for the last 3 years. Initially, it was self diagnosed.
I suffered the usual symptoms in my Ankle when I lived in South Africa. Seems half of my friends down the pub had Gout and they said go to the Chemist and get some CataflamD which is a prescription drug. But I was in pain and the pharmacist gave me over the counter which sorted it within a few days when ever I had an attack. I haven’t really looked into it till now
Since returning to the UK to live, I had the usual attacks say every few months, and the doctor has prescribed Diclofenac Sodium 50 mg which I have in the cupboard. But when I get a flare up I reach for them. I have to double up on the dose as the pain is so bad, usually the attacks will last 3 days
I’m 41 5’11 17st 5lbs so overweight, I’ve always been a drinker till new year when I decided to go on a diet and stop beer completely for a few months till I’ve shed a few stone, so I was very surprised when I had the latest flare up till reading this great website, as snack food I’ve been eating a lot of seafood sticks (crabstick) as they were fish and lo cal so maybe that was a cause this time, or maybe Lysine and Zinc supplements which I took for a cold sore.
I’ve still got a lot more reading of this website to do, but what should be the correct steps when I hobble to the docs tomorrow, they’ve never tested me and the Dicloflex I’m taking are just an anti-inflammatory painkiller as I understand it, also not too good for the stomach lining
Also, I have just started brewing Kombucha. It is claimed among tonnes of other things supposed to help with gout, I have drunk it before and think it helped. But I’m not sure how much as I was drinking a fair bit back then.
Cataflam is a brand of diclofenac, same as Voltaren.
This and other NSAIDs, like ibuprofen and naproxen, usually help with pain relief, but they all carry heart disease risks that increases the longer you take them.
Pain killers for gout need to be used as a short term measure until uric acid is brought under control.
The doctor will arrange uric acid tests, and will probably wait for the results before prescribing something like allopurinol to get uric acid under control. He might suggest colchicine for the pain until your uric acid has been low enough for a few months to get rid of all uric acid crystals.
Doctors have different approaches to gout, so it will beinteresting to see what yours recommends – do let us know how you get on.
Hi went there, she did pretty much just as you said…. gave blood and more dicloflex and mentioned when I go back on the 9th feb that a course of allopurinol will probably be prescribedafter the gout has died down. she did mention if I wanted to take parcetamol for the pain at the same time as Dicloflex it was fine
so will have to see on the 9th
Gout is a funny one, as when I'm not in pain it's easy to put to the back of my mind and almost forget about, but when it hits you its like no other pain in the world, this time though I plan to get rid of it for good I notice today my wight has dropped 4 lbs so onwards n upwards
do you have any opinion on Kombucha?
paulevans said:
do you have any opinion on Kombucha?
There is little scientific research on this, and certainly no known connection to gout (at least that I can find). Up until recently, the scientific view was that there was no evidence of any benefits, but it seemed safe. However, a report from Los Angeles last year states:
INTRODUCTION: Kombucha “mushroom'' tea is touted to have medicinal properties. Here, we present a case of hyperthermia, lactic acidosis, and acute renal failure within 15 hours of Kombucha tea ingestion.
CASE PRESENTATION: A 22 year old male, newly diagnosed with HIV, became short of breath and febrile to 103.0F, within twelve hours of Kombucha tea ingestion. He subsequently became combative and confused, requiring sedation and intubation for airway control. Laboratories revealed a lactate of 12.9 mmol/L, and serum creatinine of 2.1 mg/dL.
DISCUSSION: Kombucha tea is black tea fermented in a yeast-bacteria medium. Several case reports exist of serious, and sometimes fatal, hepatic dysfunction and lactic acidosis within close proximity to ingestion.
CONCLUSION: While Kombucha tea is considered a healthy elixir, the limited evidence currently available raises considerable concern that it may pose serious health risks. Consumption of this tea should be discouraged, as it may be associated with life-threatening lactic acidosis
Personally, I would have nothing to do with it.
Is kombucha a fermented product? If so could kefir cause the same reaction as this too works by fermentation? We have been using this for a few weeks, usually in dried milk as it is claimed to help implant “friendly” bacteria into the gut &is also apparently rich in B vitamins. Does Kombucha work in the same way?
Somewhere on this site I read, ( I think Zip2play) that kefir may help with the breakdown of uric acid, albeit only a little, reducing the amount available for reabsorption.
i tried Kefir a while back and found it too acidic. Like Cider vinegar.
It was out of date mind 😉 [I'm a bloke!]
I felt my teeth enamel wouldn't take too much of it, tbh!
However, to be fair, probiotics and soured milk products are supposed to help with gout and are therefore on the 'good' list. io do a lot of yoghurt and take a coated proBio which delays action to the lower digestive system where it does its best work.
One has to take account of personal circs. & /or reactions to various products in all of this !
GoutPal said:
paulevans said:
do you have any opinion on Kombucha?
There is little scientific research on this, and certainly no known connection to gout (at least that I can find). Up until recently, the scientific view was that there was no evidence of any benefits, but it seemed safe. However, a report from Los Angeles last year states:
INTRODUCTION: Kombucha “mushroom'' tea is touted to have medicinal properties. Here, we present a case of hyperthermia, lactic acidosis, and acute renal failure within 15 hours of Kombucha tea ingestion.
CASE PRESENTATION: A 22 year old male, newly diagnosed with HIV, became short of breath and febrile to 103.0F, within twelve hours of Kombucha tea ingestion. He subsequently became combative and confused, requiring sedation and intubation for airway control. Laboratories revealed a lactate of 12.9 mmol/L, and serum creatinine of 2.1 mg/dL.
DISCUSSION: Kombucha tea is black tea fermented in a yeast-bacteria medium. Several case reports exist of serious, and sometimes fatal, hepatic dysfunction and lactic acidosis within close proximity to ingestion.
CONCLUSION: While Kombucha tea is considered a healthy elixir, the limited evidence currently available raises considerable concern that it may pose serious health risks. Consumption of this tea should be discouraged, as it may be associated with life-threatening lactic acidosis
Personally, I would have nothing to do with it.
Oh Pur-leeeze….this kind of hysterical nonsense is quite ridiculous
“Lactic acidosis is a serious side-effect of the nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) class of anti-HIV drugs. This class includes AZT (retrovir), 3TC (lamivudine, Epivir), d4T (stavudine, Zerit), ddI (didadosine, Videx), abacavir (Ziagen) and FTC (emtricitabine, Emtriva). The drugs most linked with lactic acidosis are d4T and ddI.”
and if it wasn't that, I wonder what a 22 yr old gay guy might have been taking that would be more likely to cause those symptoms…?
Kombucha fungus tea is perfectly safe. It's been drunk for thousands of years; it's good for your tummy and makes you poo like a horse.
More scaremongering at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/previe…..039742.htm and a fuller review by an MD at http://www.raysahelian.com/kombucha.html
The MD reckons it's OK once or twice a week, prepared under hygienic conditions.
No human benefits found, yet risks are not proved, which still leaves me wondering if it's any good or not. Until somebody shows me some properly prepared before and after results showing reduced uric acid levels, I'll take my fermented beverages in the usual way.
Well, OP Paul seems to have survived using it!
Perhaps like Kefir it acts lower in the gut . A good immune reaction requires a 'stronger' organism that will pass through the upper acidic digestion without degrading.
Kefir is said to be capable of this duty and the ProBio I take now is designed for this.
I think it's all a matter of degree- natural products aren't like drugs, with an expected result in so many days- but rather, a test it and see approach. In the LONG run they may well be as much good and more than drugs but –
a)Mixing with drug therapy [so often the case] &
b) taking alcohol which flushes everything through, whatever
is not likely to help, as Paul describes.
ROFL. ROFL, ROFL…
Looking for fermented tea as the cause of serious new problems in someone recently diagnosed with HIV is like blaming a bad breakfast menu for the sinking of the TITANIC.
Yes, kombucha is indeed the kefir grain used to ferment almost any sugars into vinegar-like components. The kefir grain is filled with dozens of different probiots, principally lactobacilli (milk fermenters) but the acetobacters and yeasts come into play strongly with Kombucha. It really ISN'T a tea in the traditional meaning of the term.
So to an extent, I would imagine K could transplant some useful bacteria to the gut, but it seems a shame not to use all the lactobacilli that real kefir could confer.
But Kombucha, kefir, or any other probiotic will NEVER be a substitute for allopurinol in treating gout. When are they going to start you on alopurinol, Paul? What kind of uric acid readings did they get at the doctor's?
With the new diet, weight loss (which we know will cause twinges at the very least) and losing the crab sticks particularly !! – it will be interesting to see if the Kom. brewing kit has moved to the back of the cupboard, after the visit to the GP last week.
BTW: I don't think anyone is proposing ProBios as a single approach to helping gout- but as an assist in a non-meds approach [or- even with meds, come to that].
However, in this latter case, the good effects of other measures will be nigh on impossible to judge, being swamped by the undoubted UA lowering effects of AlloP, or similar med.
well I've still got a sore kneen and cant put my full weight on it but I'm not in pain unless I over do it, this is the longest flare up I've ever had, but I put that down to being a single parent, having to do housework and walk my 5yr ols to school (100 meters)
when I went back to the docs on Tuesday, she said my acid levels were slightly high, then gave me the talk about the comitment of going on Allopurinol….. I rufused chose not to go on it, I think with my attacks having been better in the last year that weight loss and better diet will help more, I dont think I'm bad enough for the stuff, besides I want cure rather than a course of tablets for the rest of my life
Kombucha, I did read your response some days ago, and I take where you are coming from, in that no trails proper have been done, but I dont see and danger for me as I'm not HIV or preganant, diabetic or anything else….. but I had held off on the first brew I prepaired till last night when I had a mini flairup, (ie can just about bend me knee, where as earlier in the day I was walking whitout a limp) anyway I took a dicoflex then still in pain and frearing the worst was on its way tried a Half pint of Kombucha and went to bed around 10 pm, and the pain died down and I slept through till 7.30 this morning feeling back to having a slight limp when I got out of bed.
I cant say for sure if maybe I just cought in in time, or if the Kombucha made all the difference.
From now on I'm logging all my gout activiy and medication/diet and making prescribed drugs as a last resort
also the first 10 litre brew of Kombucha had 250ml of Cider vinegar added which gives is a nice bite
I'm not going to shout from the roof tops about Kombucha, as a miricle cure for all known ailments, but I am a bit of a beliver of the stuff
I'll keep you updated as time goes by…… but if anyone wants a mushroom I'll gladly give out babies as long as the postage is covered
Off topic….I'm loving Windows 7 just loaded it today
paulevans said:
when I went back to the docs on Tuesday, she said my acid levels were slightly high, then gave me the talk about the comitment of going on Allopurinol….. I rufused chose not to go on it, I think with my attacks having been better in the last year that weight loss and better diet will help more, I dont think I'm bad enough for the stuff, besides I want cure rather than a course of tablets for the rest of my life
Good luck. I sincerely hope that you don't end up with shot out joints down the road. It seems like you are heading down that road to me.
Only for your knowledge I am a very fit 36 year old guy who does not touch alcohol and has been eating very healthy veg diet for last 10 years. It has had ZERO effect on my high UA readings. I know we are all different but if I was in your shoes with confirmed mulitple Gout attacks then I would go on AlloP straigth away.
I agree, allopurinol is a life-saver. But each person must be convinced in his own way. Some will need a boss who says if you take any more sick time this year, that's IT, goodbye. Others will live through 20 episodes of moderate pain and then WHAM, get hit with a swollen foot that can not bear ANY weight without excruciating pain. Others will wait even longer till their fingers begin to look like something out of a horror movie and they are in renal failure.
But, mark my words, everyone with gout, unless he is run over by a bus early in life, will eventually say yes to allopurinol or one of its alterrnatives.
Anyone can bear 3 attacks but it takes real “dedication” to bear 30.
Look at it this way: If you have diabetes, you don't wait until your retinas are shot and you have lost a few toes to begin treatment, why should gout be any different?
OK… I'm starting get conviced, your right as I dont work then it's not a problem with time off
maybe I think I just need to understand a bit more about Gout and AlloP….I'll read up lots more…..but eitherway I'm not a martyr and will go on it if thats what has to be
Thanks
All that is necessary Paul, is a SOUND diagnosis of gout. Allopurinol is perfect and inevitable if gout is the cause and terribly sad if it is not. Nothing is worse than a lifetime of an unnecessary drug.
Some of us are “luckier??” than most in having the sure-fire, absolutely confirmatory attack of podagra in the bunion joint. If I had to ascertain gout or not from my awful knees or my always painful shoulder rotaor cuffs, or mangled lower back, I'd not be able to ever be sure if I had gout or the normal wreckage of age and injury. But once you see that big purple toe, there is no doubt left.
So the worst of the worst of pains is perhaps a blessing, WELL disguised.
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