Managing gout with natural and alternative remedies

Hi everyone,

I visited this forum a couple of years ago as the beginning of my own research into managing my gout episodes. I tried many of the natural remedies recommended but ultimately I came up with my own approach since I believe that the causative elements for gout is different for each individual though the manifestations may be similar.

My initial episodes were very severe lasting months or weeks and relatively frequent. Lately the episodes are very infrequent and very mild. It is well under control and I am not using and never used any pharmaceuticals since I was most interested in identifying causes and not just relieving symptoms. I thought I would relate my approach with the hope that it may provide some ideas for other people who have episodes of gout. These are the primary causative factors for me and how I manage them:

1) Stress: This is the primary causative factor in my cases. I now regularly practice yoga and Tai Chi to help relieve stress. I also try to look at things differently and "not sweat the small stuff". This is easier said then done since there are so many sources of stress, particularly in today's economy, but the first thing I did was become aware of how stress was related to my gout and things I can do to try to address it.

2) Alcohol: Pretty much eliminated all alcohol. It could just be the sulfites in the wine I use to drink but I didn't want to experiment to find out.

3) Meats and refined sugars: Minimize meat in my diet. Greatly reduced eating sweet pastries and such.

If I have a mild episode I immediately use these natural remedies which are designed to reduce the amount of uric acid and drain it from the body (all are over the counter and based upon Chinese herbal formulas):

a) Uracid-ease Herbal Tea
b) Uri-PH Forumula
c) The Original Trinity Tea Gout Formula

None of the above is a magic cure. They all work together to minimize an episode and can be used proactively if one likes. Anyone who uses herbs should first consult with a specialist. These herbs were recommended to me by a person trained in Chinese herbal medicines.

I hope this provides some ideas for other individuals.