Wellness

[kitty60]

My son who is in his late 20's recently went to emergency due to an inflamed hot knee.  He was told it was gout and prescribed a few meds including steroids.  It has been three weeks and his wife has drastically changed his diet hoping to help.  He has an appt with his dr this week to go over blood work and be sure this is what it is.  After three weeks on meds he is now breaking out must be a reaction to one of the meds and knee is still inflamed.

Reviewing foods many of the triggers he doesn't eat (no shell fish, alcohol) although he does like red meat.  He has replaced junk (chips, etc) with fruits and granola bars.

Any suggestions for those who have dealt with this to keep under control?  I have read there has been an increase in occurrences in people late 20's and 30's.

[Havarti]

I recently had such a severe attach of this in my left knee that I just sat in a chair with tears pouring down my face from the extreme pain. I did go to Urgent care at that point and got a little relief but it took a while for it to totally subside.

Long term, other than diet changes, I have found taking 2 of the 1,000mg vitamin C tablets daily (not just when it hurts) has helped a lot. Also, eating cherries (not the bright red Maraschino cherries you had in Shirley Temple drinks as a child) but the dark cherries (like Bing) that are in the stores right now. You can also buy them dried on Amazon so you can have them on hand all year. You can also buy pure cherry juice concentrate in the dairy section (about $22.00/bottle – but it last a long time). You can add cherry juice concentrate to beverages or to just plain water as an added way to take it daily. These things actually helped me far more than the medicine.

I have had gout before in my toe, and could solve that by eating bananas, but this time the pain was in my knee and it was so very painful - the bananas didn't do the trick for me.

I hope your son finds relief soon. Try to get him off those steroids ASAP as they can do so much damage.

[JeanLouiseFinch]

My niece's husband has gout and his flare ups are miserable for him.  My brother-in-law ended up in the doctor's offce last week in severe pain and gout was his diagnosis as well.  The niece's family has gone gluten free (mostly) and it's helped.  I've suggested the same to my sister and suggest the same to you.  You might look into going gluten free and watching sugars.  That includes overdoing it on fruits.  If he's going to eat fruit, it's best to do berries because they provide good antioxidant bennies. 

[tends2dogs]

Google Pantothenic Acid (B5).  This helped my sister.  You need to remove excess uric acid.

[kitty60]

Thank you all for taking the time to answer, I will pass along. 

[hopi]

Braggs organic Apple cider vinegar - a tablespoon mixed with a cup of water couple of times a day.

Cherries, eggs and brussel sprouts are some easy ways to start.

Drink more water.

[Mindy D]

Does he take a thiazide diuretic for high blood pressure? This used to bring on my father's gout attacks. The attacks stopped when he went on different blood pressure medications. If he's extremely athletic and profusely sweats during activity, this can remove water from the body and uric acid crystals can accumulate in the joints. The kidneys and electrolytes such as potassium and sodium play a role in fluid regulation in the body's cells. When the balance is upset, and the uric acid isn't carried out with urine, uric acid crystals which would have been eliminated via urination remain and accumulate in the joints. These crystals are irritants and inflame the joints. Protein foods break down into urea and when the excretory system is working correctly, is carried out with urination. Eating less of certain protein foods, such as red meat, result in lower levels of urea following digestion. Tart cherry juice helps some people with inflammation from gout and in some people it prevents flare ups. Medscape, Mayo Clinic, WebMd and other trusted sites list foods to avoid. They also give good background on gout for reference. Hope your son feels better ASAP. My dad was always in excruciating pain with gout. It would hurt him just to lightly touch the skin. He would get it in a foot and he would not be able to walk on it.

[151949]

Excessive uric acid can do a lot worse for someone than giving you gout. It can and often does cause kidney failure. It is not something to fool around using diet and cherry juice because you don't like to take medications. The normal and accepted treatment for high uric acid levels is to use a drug like colchicine or allopurinol that will lower the uric acid levels quickly.While diet restrictions are sometimes needed , usually one of these two drugs will take care of the issue completely. It is very unusual for someone this young to have this problem.There are probably other issues that have not been discussed here.

[AnikaBrodie]

Avoid eating organ meats on a regular basis.  Okay to have them on rare occasions.  They elevate uric acid quickly.

[esmeraldagooch]

We go the natural route. I bought DH some
Natures Herbs celery seed capsules
Now brand black cherry capsules.
One each daily, two weeks the pain is gone and blood tests came back to normal. Can't stop but the Uric acid levels are normal and no pain.