Gout Forum - gout affecting over 5 joints

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Gout is a common type of arthritis and accounts for about 5% of all cases of arthritic condition. But what is gout and what are the stages of this condition?...

Q: gout affecting over 5 joints

asked by: SLEEPYAL on August 7th, 2008

New User

i am a 28 year old male and i have been experiencing pain and swelling in my feet for about 4 years now. recently my big toe on my left foot swelled, red, and painful. some of my small toes swelled along with it. my doctor took a blood test and told me the uric acid level in my blood was 12.4 which is high considerably. my doctor put me on allopurinal 100mg. after i took my first pill of allowpurinol my knee swelled up lke a cantalope, next day my right foot swelled up in my ankle and a few of my little told, it exhibited redness and warmth and extreme pain. i am completely immobile right now, i'm 28 and i am walking like i'm 88, i'm in alot of pain and this attack has lasted for about 3 weeks now and i can't do anything about it. i had my knee aspirated and they did in fact found crystals in the fluid. now my doctor has prescribed me 300mg of allopurinol daily along with .6mg colchicine daily. i will start taking it today and will keep everyone up to date of my progress. this condition is very debilitating and painful and depressing my whole life is on hold and i'm ionly 28 years old. from what i've been reading here it seems that nobody has had a successful recovery from this. i'm gonna fight this to the end. i'm gonna change my diet, i'm gonna take the medicine, and i will keep everyone posted on my progress. i was to be completely crystal free and pain free and i want to run again some day and play sports that i so dearly love such as basketball and handball. i am determined not to let this get me down. If anyone has any comments or suggestions i would greatly appreciate it.

Replies(9)

painfree

replied on August 8th, 2008

Experienced User

Make sure that you don't have sleep apnea, which leads to increased generation of uric acid, plus it makes its formation into urate crystals more likely.

Read food labels so that you don't eat foods sweetened with sugar, high fructose corn syrup, honey, molasses, or cane juice. They all contain significant amounts of fructose, which causes excess uric acid to be generated. Eat no more than a couple of pieces of fruit a day, and make sure that you have 250 mg per day of vitamin C. This is all in the book "The Sugar Fix" by Dr. Richard Johnson, Chief of Nephrology at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

SLEEPYAL

replied on August 8th, 2008

New User

any specific fruits that i should avoid? i was told that pineapple is really good since it contains bromelain, but i also believe that it is acidic. I eat cherries as suggested. i drink strictly water and green tea now. and i am going to see my doc about the sleep apnea and will keep my progress posted. first day on allopurinol and colchicine i already feel like the inflammation is subsiding and on the way down but i do have extreme pain in my left ankle on the inner side i really can't figure out why, could it be the crystals are dissolving?

JYY2

replied on August 8th, 2008

Experienced User

Hi SLEEPYAL,

FYI, methylprednisone injection can relieve the inflammation and the pain in a matter of minutes, narcotic pain relievers can substantially reduce the sever pain, initiation of Allopurinol during the gout attacks can exacerbate the attack, colchicine dosage for acute gout attacks is o.6 mg 3~4 or more times a day, rheumatologists are the best to treat gout ...

It will take too long to describe all remedies here. You can find them in "Emergency Gout Treatments" section of http://www.icuredmygout.org . Take care.

SLEEPYAL

replied on August 8th, 2008

New User

thank you very much jyy do you think that i should give the baking soda a try asap as the other medications are really taking a while to start working. and if so how do i take the baking soda? how many times per day?

JYY2

replied on August 8th, 2008

Experienced User

BS dosage, side effects and other info can be found in paragraph 2.7 of the above website. Many bs users mentioned that bs made their gout meds work better. Should you decide to try bs, I suggest that you get an ok from your doctor before trying. Good luck.

SLEEPYAL

replied on August 9th, 2008

New User

day 3 now on 1 does of 300mg allopurinol and 2 doses of .6mg colchicine. swelling has went down, pain is still there in my ankle in my instep and my arch of my right foot. still don't have the kind of strength and umff in my feet that i would like. my left knee still has some fluid in i can feel that. but overall i feel much better, i am able to walk around a bit. every now and then i will feel a little pain in parts of my feet but nothing serious feels like its on the way to getting better now ( i really hope i can be rid of all this pain sometime soon its really no way to live for a 28 year old perfectly healthy athletic male) I don't feel any particular side effects from the meds so that is ok. i'm not trying any specific diet, just drinking water, no soda or juices. i'm eating cherries throughout the day, blueberries, strawberries, cotttage cheese for breakfast. Eating various veggies for lunch with a little potatoe and fish, not eating alot overall trying to keep food intake low. I am going to start to monitor my urine ph soon i'm waiting to receive a kit. and i'm going to start the BS today with half a teaspoon twice a day, don't know if its enough but will start with that, and i will keep things updated here. appreciate any comments, questions are welcome, support is greatly appreciated. originally i think the allopurinol triggered my attacks but am not sure i'm going to assume thats what did it. it started with my foot and went to my knee and my other foot within 2 days of starting allopurinol.

pr0230

replied on August 10th, 2008

New User

watch you food(s)

Fish for me (telapia) is deadly... I would avoid all meat , fish, chicken... until you get things under control...

Fruit is good , but strawberries, oranges, grapefruit, apples should be avoided.... keep it simple for now... bannas & canteloupe...

for cerial - eat rice & corn cerials - avoid the whole grain for now...

String beans, potatoes, corn are good for basic vegies....

Simple first... expand later....

lsdemme2001

replied on January 26th, 2009

New User

sleepyal

I am sorry that you have gout at such a young age. I didn't get my first attack until I was about 43 years old. I am 49 now and have been living with gout flareups for six years. It started in the big toe and now the attacks are in my left knee.

You should not have taken the allopurinol while in the throes of a full fledged gout attack. Any doctor should know enough to tell you not to take it until all symptoms from your attack are completely gone. Taking allopurinol while an attack is occuring just makes the pain worse. Additionally it is very common to have an attack as a RESULT of taking allopurinol. The drastic lowering of the acids that cause the crystals will actually cause a flare up. This only happens when you first start taking allopurinol, after that the medicine will hopefully keep the uric acid levels in check and prevent any future flare ups.

I am sorry that your doctor didn't instruct you to delay taking the medication until after the attack subsided. You were caused much pain and discomfort needlessly. Hopefully by now you have thngs under control. Don't get discouraged, but remain vigilant and take steps at the first sign of an attack. I swear by cherry juice. If you feel an attack cominng on drink cherry juice. It seems to work for me. Good luck.

JBR70

replied on March 17th, 2009

New User

Light at the end of the tunnel

I had my first and major gout attack 18 months ago (I am now 40) and have never experienced such pain and never want to again. I spent almost every second of the day directly afterwards for weeks trying to find things to eat and drink that would help. I ate lots of cherries, avoided bread, beer, etc. but with little beneficial effect. I started taking Allopurinol and yet still had the pain so decided to see a professor of rheumatology who prescribed me colchicine and suggested I take this together with Allopurinol for 6 months. I did just this and experienced no pain nor attacks during this period, whilst playing squash at a high level and nearly every day and maintaining a fairly balanced diet avoiding 'danger' foods. I subsequently stopped taking the colchicine and still remain gout free (still take Allopurinol for the time-being at least). My specialist in fact told me that sport and maintaining general good health will help the situation in and up to now I say without hesitation that it has. Just FYI, my specialist also told me that 70% of people who suffer an initial gout attack and take Allopurinol will have to take the drug forever (without sounding dramatic) but small price to pay to avoid the complete and utter misery of gout I would say and if you're lucky it is possible to stop taking it and not need to take it again at all.

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