Thread: Anyone dealing with gout.

Originally Posted by outback

Yep, had a kidney stone once. Was at work when it hit me, told the boss I was headed to the ER, he replies that I'm a pu$$y. A year later he got one, cried like a little baby. I still work with the guy, and we talk about it all the time. . Found out how much we like morphine.

Unfortunately morphine doesn't do much for me. I am apparently quite resistant to pain meds. Whatever they gave me after my cancer surgery had 0 effect on pain but boy did it make me nauseous. 1 year later I got pancreatitis and they gave me morphine for that. I was expecting flying rainbow unicorns but all I got was a very small reduction in pain for about 30 mins but could only get doses every 3 hours

Aspirin/Tylenol etc all seem to do both diddly and squat

Hey guys, been a while.
Sorry to hear about that Mike. I developed gout after I had my kidney removed. Add to the list organ meats and game meats as triggers. My doctor said, "We'll test for uric acid but that's not conclusive. I can draw fluid from your joint but if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. If it persists we can do some treatments." He had me soak my foot in hot water with Epsom salts. I can't remember exactly what it was but the Epsom salts really helps. I think it was mainly reducing inflammation.
Amen to that about kidney stones. I've had more than one woman tell me that was worse than childbirth. I used to get them a lot in my left kidney until they removed it. Have never had them in the right one. Hope never to. Drinking lots of water and exercise to increase circulation in the legs seems to help prevent flares for me.

Oh yeah, wearing shoes which cramp the toes or squeeze the feet restrict the circulation in the feet which doesn't help.

Originally Posted by AlanQ

Unfortunately morphine doesn't do much for me. I am apparently quite resistant to pain meds. Whatever they gave me after my cancer surgery had 0 effect on pain but boy did it make me nauseous. 1 year later I got pancreatitis and they gave me morphine for that. I was expecting flying rainbow unicorns but all I got was a very small reduction in pain for about 30 mins but could only get doses every 3 hours

Aspirin/Tylenol etc all seem to do both diddly and squat

When I had the nephrectomy I had an anaphylactic reaction to something, presumably a pain med since I have had a reaction to codeine. Spent 5 days in ICU because my blood O2 wouldn't level out and the reaction kept coming back. Anyway they didn't want to give me more hydrocodone or dilaudid so they gave me intravenous Acetaminophen which was fabulous. They kept asking me what my pain level was on a scale of 1-10 and I said 0. Only problem was they didn't want to keep giving it because it is apparently quite expensive. Boy did it work though and none of that opioid haze which I HATE.

I’ve had gout / high uric acid for a long time. It runs in the family.
Once you get a definitive diagnosis, high uric acid labs is the usual
The classic treatment is allopurinol. Which will help decrease blood uric acid levels

During gouty arthritis flare ups, colchicine early helps dramatically (especially if you catch it early ) and indomethacin which is the only NSAID, that helps when I have a flare up.

There some more modern medications available but I can’t personally vouch for those.

For persistent flare ups I have received steroid shots both Intramuscularly, and even directly in affected joint.
There is also a direct needle biopsy to drain ecxess fluid from affected joint, which usually provides instant relief of pain

If pain is bad enough I ll take tramadol which I think is the lowest level controlled substance and only became controlled in 2014.

Knock on wood I haven’t had a major flare up in years. I’ve learned what foods/ drinks trigger my gout attacks, And I have greatly increased my water intake. I try to get in 1 gal of water a day. which I think has helped greatly

Paul above talked about IV Tylenol, (Ofirmev) which is very effective pain relief, but I understand is also expensive. I’ve also seen doctors treat the acute pain with tornadol, IV or IM effectively.

I don't suffer from gout but if you want some sensible information it is here:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-...s/syc-20372897

Originally Posted by Kees

I don't suffer from gout but if you want some sensible information it is here:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-...s/syc-20372897

Good read.

One thing that hasn't been brought up in this conversation is check your meds.

I changed blood pressure meds and no more issues.

Yes, If you are on water pills for high BP you are way more vulnerable especially HCT.

Meds can help but where do we draw the line?

Just thinking

For the short term meds is the only thing you can do. Long term you can go on a low-purine, low-calorie diet. Not one of the most pleasant diets around.