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I’m young, only 25 years old. And I sadly have gout. It runs in the family though. My father and grandfather both have it. And sadly, I come from a food culture heavy in meat, especially salted meats.
Alcohol isn’t really a strong trigger for me since I only drink occasionally.
But my first attack hit me this past Sunday. My big toe felt like it had been jammed. By Monday evening it was excruciating and by Tuesday I went to see a podiatrist. They took my blood to test it for gout and by Thursday I got the call from the results that I had gout.
I feel very sad and upset about this. I’m obviously willing to make the modifications I need to live a normal life. But all the diet restrictions seem overwhelming. I feel like I can’t eat ANYTHING.
I suspect shellfish is a strong trigger for me. Shrimp already produces some allergic-type reactions like cold sores on the tongue and lips.
Dietary restrictions with gout only make sense when part of a managed program to reduce uric acid.
This means frequent testing by a doctor, preferably a rheumatologist. You might consider supporting this with your own uric acid monitor.
Now if uric acid is only 8, or maybe 9, mg/dL, you might be able to lower it enough with diet. There is very little food you need to avoid completely. Obviously avoid food that you are allergic to. With meat and other fish, ensure that at least two thirds of the meal consists of vegetables or fruit. And ensure that total daily calorie intake is just enough to maintain your weight in the low-normal BMI range.
Other dietary tips are to eat smaller meals more often, and drink pleanty of fluids.
If your uric acid is higher than 9 mg/dL, then no amount of dieting is going to help. Get allopurinol or other uric acid lowering treatment from your rheumatologist.
I'm 29. First detected with high uric acid when i was about 25 too….
The flares come in probably once or twice a year… as yrs passed, the flare got frequent. So frequently that now it flare continuously every week. I tried to control my diet, drinking habits but still it persist on.
2weeks back, I had a flare on my left wrist, it swell and it hurts…. then since Christmas, I had another flare on my left ankle, the next day, the flare came onto my right wrist concurrently. Now my left ankle is in less pain, it moves to my knee and it swell when i see from behind.
The pain is really unbearable and i cried in the middle of the nite. It hurts so much that i wanted to juz amputed my wrist. My movement have slowed down at least 50% coz i cant walk any faster. The more i walked the bigger the swell is.
There are two reasons why gout patients choose to try and control gout by diet, rather than daily medication with allopurinol or other uric acid lowering treatment:
- They do not like the idea of taking a pill every day for the rest of their lives.
- They do not have medical insurance, and cannot afford the urate lowering treatment.
There maybe a third category of people who have never been advised of the need to lower uric acid, but this is more of a reason for changing doctor.
It is not my place to advise if diet or medication is the best choice for you. In most cases a combination of diet and medication is the best choice, but this can only be discussed and planned with a gout specialist who has access to your full medical history.
There is one piece of advice I can give to all gout sufferers, irrespective of how you choose to manage your gout.
You must have frequent uric acid tests.
Without monitoring your uric acid, you have absolutely no way of knowing if what you are doing has any effect. Many gout sufferers make their lives miserable by cutting out things they enjoy. This is pointless if you do not check if it is lowering your uric acid level.
Even with monitoring, it is pointless if you only succeed in lowering uric acid from, say, 11 mg/dL to 9 or 10. This will do absolutely nothing to help your gout – uric acid must fall below 7 to prevent uric acid crystals forming, and below 6 to dissolve old crystals.
Until you do this, gout attacks will increase in frequency and severity. Get tested today.
GoutPal said:
Dietary restrictions with gout only make sense when part of a managed program to reduce uric acid.
This means frequent testing by a doctor, preferably a rheumatologist. You might consider supporting this with your own uric acid monitor.
Now if uric acid is only 8, or maybe 9, mg/dL, you might be able to lower it enough with diet. There is very little food you need to avoid completely. Obviously avoid food that you are allergic to. With meat and other fish, ensure that at least two thirds of the meal consists of vegetables or fruit. And ensure that total daily calorie intake is just enough to maintain your weight in the low-normal BMI range.
Other dietary tips are to eat smaller meals more often, and drink pleanty of fluids.
If your uric acid is higher than 9 mg/dL, then no amount of dieting is going to help. Get allopurinol or other uric acid lowering treatment from your rheumatologist.
Thanks for the advice.
My uric acid level is 9.3 according to the blood test that they took from me which resulted in my diagnosis.
My doctor, a podiatrist admittedly but she's who I went to immediately since the flare up happened in my big toe, pretty much prescribed me some ibuprofen and said limit red meat, limit red wine and that was it. She didn't want to put me on alluopurinol unless I got another attack which makes no sense to me. I want to prevent attacks in the future and like you said, if I'm not controlling uric acid levels with diet to a point below 7, what's the point? I asked if I should see a rheumatologist and she didn't see much point to that either.
I am however doing a 24-hour urinanalysis test to see how much uric acid I'm successfully excreting.
The home tester is interesting, in the US they don't use those. They prefer you go through labs for some reason.
Jaslyn said:
I'm 29. First detected with high uric acid when i was about 25 too….
The flares come in probably once or twice a year… as yrs passed, the flare got frequent. So frequently that now it flare continuously every week. I tried to control my diet, drinking habits but still it persist on.
2weeks back, I had a flare on my left wrist, it swell and it hurts…. then since Christmas, I had another flare on my left ankle, the next day, the flare came onto my right wrist concurrently. Now my left ankle is in less pain, it moves to my knee and it swell when i see from behind.
The pain is really unbearable and i cried in the middle of the nite. It hurts so much that i wanted to juz amputed my wrist. My movement have slowed down at least 50% coz i cant walk any faster. The more i walked the bigger the swell is.
This sounds horrible. Are you on any medication yet?
fan2001 said:
The home tester is interesting, in the US they don't use those. They prefer you go through labs for some reason.
I should have been clearer – professional lab testing, organized and monitored by a gout specialist, is vital for all gout patients, even if they are not on medication.
The home testing kit is a useful extra – it lets you see how you are progressing between “official” tests. Though the kit is distributed from the UK, they sell a lot in the US, and most other places around the world.
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