Intense exercise

[nokka]

Recently we have seen quite a lot of people asking questions on the forum who exercise quite a lot.

The traditional image of the gouty is of an indolent middle aged guy overeating and hitting the port bottle. Yet, just recently its been fit people asking the questions. My own third and final (before allopurinol) came about after I upped my exercise regime to get super-fit before travelling overseas. I always try to stay fit, but I increased the time I spent doing cardio and the frequency I went to the gym. Plus started to do spinning, which is tough work. I have always rather given it all when exercising; can't see the point otherwise, but was starting to leave the gym feeling pretty knackered. (For those not in UK that means extremely tired ). After a few weeks of that, bang, had the attack.

I've sometimes wondered whether it was that change in exercise regime to a more intense form which caused the attack. I'm not overweight, have a good diet, no family history. I have also read that food only causes 10% of the purines we create each day; the other 90% is our bodies breaking down its own tissue to make purine. Seems to make some sense that if we then exercise in an intense manner we could easily create sufficient uric acid to topple us over the edge.

I have no intention of giving up on exercising. I feel the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. But it does make you wonder. Maybe, in time, we'll see the popular image of the gouty change. On hearing we have gout, perhaps, rather than saying 'Been hitting the port a bit much, old chap ha ha ha' they'll say 'Been hitting the treadmill a bit much; best take it easy, I'd get on the sofa with a beer if I were you '

Any thoughts ?

[zip2play]

There is no doubt that muscle breakdown caused by intense workouts kill muscle cells and liberate large amounts of nuclear material rich in purines.

I've worked with weights unceasingly for the last 51 years. Sometimes it seems unfair.

Here' a thought to reconcile the old indolent gouties and the active youngsters: aging causes muscle loss. Those who were very musclular in youth will naturally lose a lot of muscle mass as they age even if they try to keep working out…I know from painful experience. If that is true, then the most gout prone segment of the population wouolod be those who were formerly in shape who are getting less and less so as the years move on.

Probably, those who never picked up a barbell in their entire lives, or ever swam, ran or bicycled might be those LEAST likely to get gout.

Another unfairness seems to be the increase in gout attacks with weight loss…thus those fatties who NEVER consider a diet might fair better goutwise. Bah, humbug!

[Jeff B]

nokka said:

Recently we have seen quite a lot of people asking questions on the forum who exercise quite a lot.

The traditional image of the gouty is of an indolent middle aged guy overeating and hitting the port bottle. Yet, just recently its been fit people asking the questions. My own third and final (before allopurinol) came about after I upped my exercise regime to get super-fit before travelling overseas. I always try to stay fit, but I increased the time I spent doing cardio and the frequency I went to the gym. Plus started to do spinning, which is tough work. I have always rather given it all when exercising; can’t see the point otherwise, but was starting to leave the gym feeling pretty knackered. (For those not in UK that means extremely tired ). After a few weeks of that, bang, had the attack.

I’ve sometimes wondered whether it was that change in exercise regime to a more intense form which caused the attack. I’m not overweight, have a good diet, no family history. I have also read that food only causes 10% of the purines we create each day; the other 90% is our bodies breaking down its own tissue to make purine. Seems to make some sense that if we then exercise in an intense manner we could easily create sufficient uric acid to topple us over the edge.

I have no intention of giving up on exercising. I feel the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. But it does make you wonder. Maybe, in time, we’ll see the popular image of the gouty change. On hearing we have gout, perhaps, rather than saying ‘Been hitting the port a bit much, old chap ha ha ha’ they’ll say ‘Been hitting the treadmill a bit much; best take it easy, I’d get on the sofa with a beer if I were you ‘

Any thoughts ?

---

The popular myth about gout suffers plagues me on a daily basis. The look of shock and horror when I say that I have gout has been hard to swallow. The person usually follows with some snide comment about how I shouldn’t drink as much. I’m as sober as a judge.

True, exercise can exacerbate the situation, but that should be just as manageable as a more sedentary life style.

I’ll continue to race in all manners that give me pleasure, and I will also get the word out that this is not necessarily what people think it is. I am not ashamed.

This is in no ways intended to be a brag. It’s a vent about people?s assumptions and stereotypes. I am a triathlete, I race bikes, and I run a lot. Only a massive attack will stop that.

It could be worse. We could have cancer. At least gout won’t kill us.

[vegetarianGuy]

Jeff B said:

At least gout won’t kill us.

---

It can

But yeah for some reason I feel embarrased to tell people that I have  Gout even though I am not fat nor ever been the drinking type

[trev]

I blame Henry VIII – and he didn't take much exercise in later life, by all accounts [except of the horizontal type :~]

[zip2play]

Well Henry got his comeuppance…after 4 years they killed him off on SHOWTIME this week (THE TUDORS.) The last year they had him walking painfully with a cane and  wincing with each footfall while trying to look regal for his subjects…a hard act to pull off with gout.

Only problem with the series is the disrepancy between Henry VIII's actual looks and the incredibly handsome Jonathan Rhys Myers.

(Perhaps gout becomes inevitable after the third wife?)

So VG, next time someone doesn't properly respect your gout just bellow in your deepest voice:

“Take care with that tongue, sir, lest you lose the head that it sits in!”

[Author]

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