Injuries can trigger and complicate gout attacks. The point of order is to kill the pain and inflammation due to gout attack. Podiatrists will not operate on the bunion when you have the gout attack anyway. Are you taking any med to treat (uric acid?) kidney stones?

No, I am not taking anything to reduce uric acid. When I had the kidney stone in august, we were unaware that my uric acid was high. Seven weeks later I got symptoms of gout (first time ever) and still have them. I know it's not advisable to take alpurinol during an attack and have also read that it is advisable to wait for further attacks before "jumping the gun". I am mainly concerned, at this point, that I may not have gout at all. I cannot believe that I would still be suffering five weeks from diagnosis!

What kind of kidney stones do you have? Uric acid (ua) kidney stones? If you have ua stones, high ua level (hyperuricemia), and the symptoms of gout, the chance you actually have gout is very, very high. You don't want to start allopurinol or the like at this time. But you need to give the gout an effective treatment. Otherwise, gout attacks can linger for prolonged period of time. I suggest that you see a rheumatologist.

I had only one kidney stone and they determined that it was a calcium/oxalate stone, but when my urologist found out that I wound up with gout, he stted that it probably had a uric acid core. Seems every time I try to wear a shoe everything flares up again. But five weeks?

Before gout is completely healed, it's better not to put a shoe and walk on it. They will aggravate the gout and put you back to square one. You can soak it in warm water and raise it above the heart level as often as you can. Without an effective treatment and with intermittent aggravation, gout attack may linger on for a long time.

me again. Back in october, when I got gout for the first time, my uric acid was 8.1. I immediately changed my diet, increased water to 2 qts. Daily, began losing weight. Didn't take any pills though. One month later, although my gout attack continued, my uric acid level had dropped to 7.1. No further problems ....Until now. For a while now I have noticed that the same big toe would have some discomfort every now and then. No big deal, until yesterday when I got a full fledged gout attack of that same big toe. Although the area is red and swollen and painful like last time, it is much less severe this time. Just for the heck of it I had the Dr. Check my uric acid level and to my surprise it is now 6.3!! I thought it would go sky high during an attack! This is the first time it has ever been normal. What are your thoughts?

About 50% of gout patients have normal blood ua levels during the gout attacks because kidneys excrete more ua during the gout attacks. Very glad you are able to lower the ua level to 7.1. But you need to lower it to 6.0 to reduce the frequency and severity of attacks. You may find useful info in section 2 of http://www.Icuredmygout.Org . Good luck.

in other words, you don't think I actually did lower my ua to 6.3 from my change in lifestyle? You think it's only lower becaue i'm in a gout attack? Due to the fact that it was 8.1 during my last gout attack and then (three weeks into the attack and after i'd quit eating meat etc.) it dropped to 7.1, I figured my continued efforts were the reason it was down to 6.3 no? So in all probability it will rise again when this attack has subsided?

one other question - - - -if my kidneys are busy excreting more ua does that mean i'm more or less prone to getting another kidney stone right now?

A strict low purine diet can lower the blood ua level by about 1 mg/dl. It's unlikely your new diet alone actually lowered the ua level from 8.1 to 6.3. Have ua tests periodically (every 6 months?) when there is no gout attack. They can assess the ua level more accurately.

Two factors can increase the chance of having ua kidney stones --excreting more than 600~700 mg of ua in urine a day and the urine ph is less than 5.5. You can test the ph of the first morning urine yourself. But it may need a doc's prescription for a 24-hour urine ua excretion test. It's unlikely the temporally increase of the ua excretion during a gout attack can actually cause kidney stones. You can increase the urine ph by avoiding acidic food and drinks, taking mineral supplement, and drinking baking soda in water.

thx for your reply. What are your thoughts on this??? I not only stopped (or nearly stopped) eating meat and purine rich foods, I also increased water to 2 qts. Per day (from zero) and lost 35 pounds. Could those factors have lowered my serum ua by more than a point?

Congratulations for losing 35 pounds in 3 months! Drinking 2 quarts of water a day (from zero) and losing 35 pounds can certainly lower the ua level. But I can't tell if your present ua level of 6.3 is due solely to what you have done, or in part to the gout attack. We have to wait for future ua tests to give us the answer.

Rapid weight loss is known to trigger gout attacks. To be safe, avoid losing more than one pound a week.