Interested in gout

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please forward your email to the Human Resources team: James Lavin, Charles
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Hello all,
I have just joined this group. I'm not familiar with exactly how it
works, so I just figured I'd post a bio of sorts. I'm a 41 yr old
male who has had gout and now permanent joint damage for 16 years. I
am quite familiar with the disease and the various problems that
develop when you get it young. The acute attacks get worse and more
frequent as time goes on. The permanent joint damage that occurs
after having it a long time causes chronic pain. My main problem
areas are my ankles and big toe joints. Sometimes the knees also. I
take medication to control uric acid and pain. I have had stomach
problems from some of the cox 1 and cox 2 inhibitors I have taken,
so I had to stop taking them. I live in southern Calif. and wonder
if there are any fellow sufferers in my area. I would happy to hear
from anyone regarding this issue, especially if your experience is
similar to mine. I know very few people who got it the age when I
did, and have had similar problems. Finding an understanding and
knowlegable doc can be difficult. Thanks for listening.
Marty

I have had gout attacks for 9 years. I did not know what was
happening and was not diagnosed till 2 weeks ago, when a joint fluid
test came back positive. (Told the doctors a couple of years ago that
I thought it could be gout, but they refused to treat me for the gout
because they had done the fluid test before and got no crystals.)
Right now I am having a major problem because the attacks fill my
knees with fluid and I am stuck in bed for a week or more. Once the
knees no longer are red and warm I can have the fluid sucked out, and
get back on my feet fairly soon. The problem now is the reluctance of
my doctors to do this. I would do it myself if I could get my hands
on a 20 gauge syringe (just kidding, kind of). Any suggestions? I was
put on 300mg of Allopurinol and hope it does the trick.

Hello, my name is Jon,age 33, and last year I was told by the DR.
that I had gout.He didnt put me on any meds except for some type of
sterroids.He just told me to change my diet and give up beer.Well
last week I had my 2nd flare up.So I started looking stuff up on the
web and came across a link to this website.Im still a bit confused
about the diet part.It seems there are alot of conflicting ideas out
there.Does any one know what is good vs bad for you? I think I have
the basic understanding of it (no organ meats.no beer.ect...).but the
little details are what im looking for.
Thanks,
Jon

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just an interesting note.
i was talking with someone, who suffers with rhumotoid arthritis.
she was saying, that if she eats, some of the foods, that, the gout
people are not suppose to eat, she can hardly walk, or use her hands
the next day.
just thought i would mention that, thought it was interesting.
sheryl

The orion project is for the Sharing of information . This
information some of which has actively been submerged by vested
interest parties more concerned with profit rather than your health.
From the Edgar cayce research papers
Never eat any food, which your body does not agree with.
An incorrect mental attitude produces more poisons and toxins than
does eating bad food cayce said.
One of the hall marks of the cayce philosophy is to keep the system
alkaline by maintaining eating a ratio of about 80% alkaline reacting
foods to about 20% acid reacting foods the reasons for this were that
cold germs and many other germs cannot even live in an alkaline
environment.
That is real protection. Alkaline /acid reacting foods! What this
means is this, all foods produce certain reactions in the body for
instance fats with sugars will produce for an acid reaction. Where as
most vegetables produce an alkaline reaction, things like lettuce
carrots and celery produce an alkaline reaction. Indeed he said that
if we were to keep alkalinity in the system it would maintain such a
condition so as to immunise a person against certain contagious
diseases.
He also mentioned that it was not good to combine certain foodstuffs
with others such as alkaline reacting foods with starches except for
the one example of wheat. Things like citrus fruits with certain
cereals are not recommended. In fact he said that to most people that
it was the combination of different categories of foodstuffs i.e.
proteins, fats, starches and vegetables which gives most disturbances
to our bodies.
Also emphasised was to avoid certain combinations of food stuffs at
the same meal, things like starches and proteins at the same time,
starches with vegetables are fine as are proteins with vegetables.
This is the basis of the modern term of food combining, the reasons
for not combining starches with proteins is because to digest
proteins requires one sort of digestive chemicals and to digest
starches requires a completely different sort. so as you can see when
you eat both food stuffs together digestion can be more problematic.
In fact cayce said it was the leading cause of stomach/digestive
upsets
Acid and alkaline forming foods
Alkaline forming fruits
Apples, Apricots, Avocadoes, Bananas, Berries all except Blueberries
and cranberries, Cherries, citrus fruits like Grapefruit, Lemons,
limes, Oranges and tangerines, Dates, figs, Grapes Melons, Papaya,
Passion fruit, Peaches, Pears, Pinapples, Pomegranates, Tomatoes
Alkaline forming grains
Amaranth, millet, Quinoa. All other grains are acid forming.
Alkaline forming vegetables
Alfalfa and other sprouts,Artichokes, Asparagus,Bamboo
shoots,Beans,Beets,Bell Peppers,Broccoli,Brussel
sprouts,Cabbage ,Carrots ,Cauliflower,Celery, Chard, Chicory,Collard
greens,Corn, Sweet cucumber,Dandilion,
Eggplant,Garlic,Kale,Kohlrabi,Leeks, Lettuce,Mushrooms, Mustard
greens,Okra, Onions, Parsnips,Peas, Potatoes,Pumpikin , Radishes ,
Rhubarb,Sea vegetablesSpinach,Sqashes,Watercress,Yams and Sweet
potatoes.
Alkaline forming nuts
Almonds, Chestnuts and coconut all others are acid forming
Alkaline forming miscellaneous
Agar-agar, Applecider vinegar, Coffee, Egg yolks, Fruit juices,
Gelatin taken with fruit or vegetables, Glcothymoline, herbal teas,
Herbs fresh and dried, and most spices, Honey raw unpasturised and
mineral water.
Alkaline forming dairy
Buttermilk fresh, Milk - raw, Whey, Yogurt.
Acid forming fruits
Blue berries, Cranberries, Plums and Prunes and Sulfured dried fruits.
Acid forming Vegetables
Beans -dried, Lentils and chickpeas.
Acid forming Dairy
Butter, Cream, Cheese, Cottage cheese, Milk pasteurized, Homogenized,
boiled canned dried
Alkaline forming grains
Amaranth, millet, Quinoa. All other grains are acid forming.
Alkaline forming nuts
Almonds, Chestnuts and coconut all others are acid forming
Alkaline forming miscellaneous
Agar-agar, Applecider vinegar, Coffee, Egg yolks, Fruit juices,
Gelatin taken with fruit or vegetables, Glcothymoline, herbal teas,
Herbs fresh and dried, and most spices, Honey raw unpasturised and
mineral water.
Acid forming Misc.
Alcoholic drinks, drugs- most presciption, Egg whites, Gelatin, Soft
drinks, Tea black, and Tobacco. Some vegetable oils, Vinegar. All
meats, All fish.
Also as ever Spiritual healing has been shown to be of huge and
extreme benefit in many illnesses, as millions have testified, this
can also help those who are just about to pass to the other side of
life
Further information on cancer and other ailments and therapies will
be found at my web site.
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/seventhmoon/orion/
I do not sell anything here related for the cynics amongst you, or
you can e mail me on pho@n... for further information on
other ailments dealt with by cayce research which I believe total
over 350 from stuttering to Parkinson's. Those who would like to go
on our healing list free- just e mail me. Do copy and share this
information

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hello to everyone...
I am so happy to find this group, as my husband has just been
diagnosed with gout. I will be looking forward to learning more
about gout and reading about everyones expierences with this
condition. Thank you, already for all the information i have
recieved.
Have A Nice Week,
Shaila

Hi there,
I had my first attack nearly six weeks ago. The severe drug
treatment was effective but lots of side affects. Does it attack the
crystals or lower the swelling only?
I think I had gout because I drank wine and beer (with food) every
evening for years and didn't take enough water before bedtime so as
not to 'trot' in the night! I've put myself off alcohol for 6 weeks
(this is the sixth).
I'm also in my forties and my father had it (much later in life) and
I had a previous injury to the leg with gout (swollen and frozen
knee for 20+ years) but the doctor said this was irrelevant. Walking
is my main exercise, but my occupations are sedentary/office based.
Recovery seems very slow. My foot seems very weak and 'twingy'
following the attack. Does it take a long time to get back to normal?
Diet advice is conflicting (beer good or bad, cauliflower good or
bad, and why is cod and haddock banned?) but I'll look out for
cherry juice, Turkish if possible.
With friendly greetings

going camping, for a week. i asure you that hubby will not be
drinking any beer.
by the way, what the heck is pronitis??
check when i get back.
think we need to set up an appt. with the arthritic dr. can't think
of the name right now.
sheryl

arnold, what you said about forming tophi on the nerves.
made me thing, about hubby's condition.
he has been dizzy, on/off for 12 years, have no idea, what the
problem is, been to cardio's, neurologists, endocrinologists. ear,
nose and throat dr.
only one dr. has came up with a theory, but, cannot go back to him.
it was almost 12,000 bucks, to see him three times. he is a pain
intervention dr. he is one of the top ones in the country. he said,
he thought it might be, arthritis in the third occiptical nerve.
most people, get pain, but one out of??? might get dizzy. his other
symptoms are, numbness in his face, sometimes his whole head, his
eyes will go blurry.
he zapped my husband nerve, and he was better for four months. than,
he kept getting worse again. very frustrating, not knowing for sure,
what you are dealing with. anyways, wondering, if it could be gout
related, and if it was what the heck, would you do about it, unless,
the allupurinol, would take care of it.??????
just a thought.
personally, i think it is my hubby's back, muscles, disks, he is
extremely big, in the chest, for his age, 40 years of shoeing horses,
just massive in the upper body. that i think, he, had an injury, in
his back, with ?? and healed over it.???who knows.
thanks
sheryl
hubby's hand is still, hurts so bad. been almost two weeks. downing
the colchicine, indomethacin. the only thing that is helping, a lot
is DMSO. so, that leaves me to wonder, was there an injury there
first, than the attack. it is in his knuckle by the index finger.

Now where the fuck did I put them?

thanks for info
he has had gout attacks on/off for about 15 years. he did used to
drink lots of alcholol, now he does not, only when we go camping.
but, after this last attack, he said he is done.
what is the controversy about taking alluprinol anyways?
the last time, he had an attack on his hand, we had a blood test
done. his regular doc was not in at the time, went to someone else,
he said he injured it. than a week later, went to someone else, and
said, yes it was a gout attack, and had his uric acid level checked,
at the time, it was at 8.6. he finally has mobility, on his index
finger and thumb. so, he thinks he is going back to work tomorrow.
he thinks that he actually, injured his hand at work, and caused
trauma to his hand. but he does that all day long, anyways. he is
extremely strong, been shoeing horses for over 40 some years. plus,
being a pipefitter, welder, plumber all that time, so, you can see,
he overuses his hands alot.
thanks again.
i can only remind him, but i am becoming a nag, about his water
drinking.
sheryl

one in five gout sufferers will not change their life style so the A-
Train becomes a bit like the British bus service. Like twins -
You know
I
V
I
V
I
V
I
V
I
V
I
V
YOU WAIT AGES FOR ONE AND THEN TWO COME ALONG !!! lmao

I will be out of the office starting 14/06/2004 and will not return until
17/06/2004.
I will respond to your message when I return. If the matter is urgent,
please forward your email to the Human Resources team: James Lavin, Charles
Freedman, Rosalind Thomas or Geoff Mitchell.

just signed up.
my husband sufferes from gout attacks.
the last few times, have been in the hand. he takes colchicine, when
he gets an attack, but when it is in his hand, it really does not
help. usually, if he gets a colchicine shot, it will go away
completley by that night. but, can only find one dr. in the area,
that will give them, and we cannot go, cuz of insurance reasons.
he usually gets a couple of attacks a year, usually in the spring,
and than, he is fine until the following year. he does not drink,
anymore. although, we did have a few beers when we went camping.
i know, that if he eats asparagus, he is a goner. i think, ham,
bothers him also. we went into the walk in clinic, today. we told
him, that his colchicine was not working, and have been drinking lots
of smoothies with lots of strawberries and concentrated cherry
juice. he said, sometimes the cherry juice, can either for some
help, others, it can make it worse.
there are two sides of the fence, conventional/alternative. it gets
so confusing.
have not seen a rhemutologist yet. doc said, you might want to think
about allupurinol, but have to wait until you clear up.
so just wandering, what everyone else thought. his gout attack, has
lasted 5 days now, w/o any sign of clearing. unless, the cherry
juice has made it worse.
right now, he is taking indomethacin/vicadin/colchicine.
thanks
sheryl

Did you know that only ONE in FIVE gout sufferers modify their
lifestyle - diet, exercise, etc.?
Pretty alarming hey?
Charlie

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The orion project is for the Sharing of information . This
information some of which has actively been submerged by vested
interest parties more concerned with profit rather than your health.
You may have noticed the enormous lengths with which people will go
to acquire material wealth, many at last are realising that to have
real wealth is to have good health as just about anyone who has
suffered anything serious will tell you. Following the principles
outlined in the Orion project will lead you to real wealth=health.
Basic nutrition
Many of us are still taking in food to sustain our bodies of course.
These are some of the nutrition principles taken from the Edgar cayce
research papers.
Cayce cautioned against combining starches with sweets as this can
cause an alcoholic reaction.
Cayce advised people to use vitamin pills and the like for a duration
and then to leave off and then to resume, stressing the point that
the body must not get dependant on them and thus fail to make the
necessary substances required for the digestion of proper food.
Vitamins do not, will not supply the energies as well as a meal a day
which consisted of raw salad.
Cayce also gave the principle that fresh food energies decrease in a
matter of hours after being picked in fact he said that food picked
should be as fresh as possible.
He also said that it would even be better to have foodstuffs from the
local area to acclimatise the person to that environment.
Also mentioned was that freezing destroys much of the goodness in
vegetables.
He cautioned that no one can hate his neighbour and not have stomach
or liver trouble and jealousy and the anger of it will be damaging to
the heart.
People should eat slowly giving time to the process.
The specifics of cayce nutrition
Wheat [rolled crushed or cracked ] featured highly in the cayce
regime stressing that it would be good for the body and the mental
forces acting on the body.
Beware of all fried foods, fats of any kind and greases.
He cautioned against using any white bread at all.
He cautioned against too much red meat.
He was against too much sugars and starches saying sweets should be
obtained from natural sources like fruits, grapes, honey.
Highly recommended were fresh vegetables such as Cabbage, celery,
lettuce, carrots, watercress, onions saying that one meal every day
should compose of fresh if not raw vegetables.
Potato skins and plenty of the legumes, peas beans and the like
should be taken
The ratio that was given on the consumption of vegetables was three
above the ground to one beneath.
More of the vitamins are obtained from tomatoes than any other
growing vegetable.
Vegetables will build gray matter faster than will any meat or sweets.
There is no supplement to green foods that can be eaten they appear
to be unique in the properties they have within them.
Almonds have some fantastic property which according to cayce taking
2-3 of them every day will ward off any inclination towards cancer
and he said that almonds carry more phosphorus and iron in such a
combination which is the most easily assimilated than any other nut.
Water was to be drunk and about 6-8 glasses a day was recommended,
the water was to be spring or distilled and not of the tap variety.
Coffee and tea should never be taken with cream or milk because it
forms a curd, which hinders your digestion.
Fruit juice and milk should not be taken together.
Cayce often advised people to leave milk alone.
Apples should not be eaten raw, cooked or boiled is fine unless it is
a part of the detox plan outlined later.
Salsify is a vegetable recommended by cayce, which also has
properties, which are advantageous like gold, phosphorous, iron and
silicon.
Cooking methods
Cayce said that you should not use aluminum cookware for some people.
A Recommended method of cooking was to use the steam pressure
cookers as this preserves the value of foods.
The cooking of condiments destroys much of the value of foods.
An added thing not mentioned by cayce is bin your microwave ,a gag
order was tried to be placed on two swiss researchers because they
found more carcinogens from microwaved food.
Assimilation and elimination
These are the two key stones of what makes us tick in fact cayce
said if we could control these aspects of the human form we could
extend life to whatever we chose, that's how important these two
principles are.
Assimilation is defined as the measure of the ability of any body to
utilize foods that we eat, some people think that having massive
doses of nutrition will give them all that they need, they could not
be more wrong, it is all right shoving nutrition in but it is quite
another thing if the body can absorb it and use it in that form.
Typical assimilation rates might vary from 20% to 80% and nutrition
supplied in some forms will not be absorbed at all.
What happens to the food after you swallow it depends to a large
degree on the other three principles of your body namely circulation,
relaxation and elimination. Circulation is crucial if assimilation is
to maintained at high levels circulation is helped greatly by some
important factors; exercise, massage hydrotherapy treatments and
osteopathic adjustments because the blood stream carries the
rebuilding forces to the body it is these channels which need to be
clear and stimulated so that the blood will flow to feed the cells
and tissues.
Elimination
Every thing which your body does, every activity produces waste and
we get rid of that waste through the skin, the lungs, the kidneys and
the intestines. Major problems start to occur when any of these
channels are stopped from doing their job, we start to accumulate
waste, bacteria start growing at alarming rates which leads to all
sorts of problems as we become toxic.
The fact that poor eliminations are the most cited cause of disease
within the cayce papers totalling over 14000 gives you some idea just
how important this aspect really is. gives you an idea of the
importance of getting rid of toxins.
In extreme cases of toxemia cayce recommended a controlled fast or a
three-day apple diet to clear the system and restore balance.
A great deal of elimination takes place through the lungs by means
of deep breathing and cayce placed great emphasis on this aspect
recommending some of the breathing techniques as used in yoga.
Of course exercise pays a very important role here driving out wastes
into the lungs and speeding up circulation, helping digestion,
helping elimination of wastes through the skin.
Cayce used certain foods to help elimination such as leafy vegetables
and in the mornings or evenings stewed figs, raisons, apricots or
pears occasionally. Cayce said that it would be good for everyone to
have a colinic occasionally.
Circulation
Just impeding the flow to the brain for a few minutes will cause
permanent brain damage such is the importance of good circulation.
The blood feeds our cells our tissues, the better the circulation the
better we feel .For all the bodies rebuilding forces come through
quicker with good circulation. Not only does the blood carry the so
important chemicals, which feed our cells, but also the lymphatic
system carries away our wastes. Exercise helps circulation in a big
way as does massage hydrotherapy, osteopathy and other manipulative
therapies.
The cayce detox
Recommended in hundreds of readings was the cayce detox, the
elimination process was found to be poor in thousands of people and
the subsequent build up of toxins and poisons was found in hundreds
of people. The cayce detox was to help rid the body of these wastes.
As the lay person can easily appreciate the situation in your very
own kitchen if you did not clean up after every meal, bacteria would
have a great time multiplying and contaminating places every where.
So many thousands of people have been helped greatly by helping the
body get rid of waste the importance of this action cannot be
overestimated.
Cayce prescribed the three day apple diet where for three days you
would eat nothing but apples of the sheep nosed type preferably
organic types like Johnathons, Delicious, Oregon reds, Arkansas black
and water. At the end of the third day a two spoons full of olive oil
was taken.
The success that people described having done this regime was
uplifting, revitalizing, feeling great, an euphoric feeling, greater
mental clarity and physically more energy. It is one of the most
effective ways of preventing disease. In fact cayce said that it
would cleanse all toxic forces from any body. According to Harold
reillys book he himself tried to detox three times a year.
Massage
Frequently prescribed by cayce in hundreds of readings, massage has
been used for thousands of years with extremely good effects, some of
the benefits are increased circulation, increased elimination. It can
provide relaxation or stimulation depending on how it is given it can
help with emotionally affected people and children have developed
better from its use it will help with depression and a hundred more
complaints. It affects every part of the body nerves organs, glands,
circulation and muscular tone. Massage will help all people and cayce
advised having one from thirtyminutes to an hour and a half-using
cold pressed peanut and olive oil at least once a week. It can free
up joints, relieve pain and soreness.
Cayce often said that the person giving the massage have some
affinity with the patient. It can also build bridges of brotherly or
sisterly love between people. Children with major behavioral problems
have shown marked improvements in their behavior. Cayce said those
who would take a peanut oil rub each week need never fear arthritis.
Also as ever Spiritual healing has been shown to be of huge and
extreme benefit in many illnesses, as millions have testified, this
can also help those who are just about to pass to the other side of
life
Further information on cancer and other ailments and therapies will
be found at my web site.
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/seventhmoon/orion/ I do not sell anything
here related for the cynics amongst you, or you can e mail me on
pho@... for further information on other ailments dealt with
by cayce research which I believe total over 350 from stuttering to
Parkinson's. Those who would like to go on our healing list free-
just e mail me. Do copy and share this information

Don't know if this has ever been posted but it is good:
http://www.mdadvice.com/library/drug/drug7.html
C

I was really far into debt.
Like Most I was in Financial dispair.
I could not seem to get ahead no matter how hard I tried.
Untill I found this place.
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If you are in debt they can help you out.
Check them out today I did.
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I will be out of the office starting 07/06/2004 and will not return until
14/06/2004.
I will respond to your message when I return. If the matter is urgent,
please forward your email to the Human Resources team: James Lavin, Charles
Freedman, Rosalind Thomas or Geoff Mitchell.

How true do you think these things are? I mean are they rare,
definite, or probable. How much causes these? Is it scare tactics?
http://www.mindbodysoul.gov.uk/alcohol/alcoholandthebody.swf
Charlie

Hi Group,
After 8 months on 300 mg Allopurinol have recently had two separate
remissions of
4 days each within the month of May, both away from home. No pain on waking
whatever the hour = bliss; in spite of eating roast beef and Yorkshire
pudding in
Yorkshire, with carrots, leaks and broccoli on two occasions. This is
predominantly
a carboniferous (from trees) limestone area. We return home to our Cotswold
oolitic
(from shell fish) limestone and the nasty twinges return, now unpleasant
indeed, but not crippling. I still have to eat low os non purine foods, fish
only
rarely but there is light at the end of the tunnel and i am so pleased to be
on the A-train. I had no relief
from herbals or cherries.
Recently I had a brochure froma health food mail order company in St Helier,
Channel
Islands inviting me to try a new product to help gout sufferers. Surprisingly
they stated that this was not a cure but a remedy to keep the uric acid in
suspension and
so prevent crystals migrating to the joints. onderfully honest and probably
what many
herbal. Perhaps Chanca Piedra under another name ? (which I cannot
remember... sorry)......I binned it ! !
I thank Walter and Arnold for their excellent appraisals and without these
research
and personal experiences and Bryam Emmerson's book "Getting rid of gout"
(Oxford
University Press) I would not have been ob the A-train at all after 4 years
of excruciating pain. Now my elbows are so much better and lees sore , another
bonus.
was shocked to know one of our group cannot take NSAIDS. Neither can I but I
teke
Warfarin and understand why. Could it be that the bulking agents or
suspensions to
encapsulate the medication, of which there are many in a single tablet give
rise to an alergic reaction ? Or that you have an iontolerance to one of the
ingredients. See how
many there are in Vit C pills for example....Just a thought.
Most valuable to note from Walter the relevance of time of day in takling
Allo. since they must be taken with or after food. I take mine at 13.00 and 1.5
hours later I fall
asleep. When Allo is at maximum serum levels, sometimes I work through the
sleepiness but often succumb, it is so overwhelming.
I am sorry to see outbreaks of petulance in our post of late. We are all here
to
support each other and learn form shared wxperience. We who are on the A-train
are so grateful for the medication, live in fear of joint damage and eventual
crippling incapacity, remember only too vividly the mind-blowing scream of an
attack when
you cannot bear your foot to touch the ground and have no idea when the pain
will stop....if ever. Then you wlli do anything, swallow anything and we are
only passing on what works for us.
Best to all
Freda

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I posted this on gout, if you dont want to be a member anymore just email

Six weeks on A-train. Couple of attacks. Think I might I have
found a cause for recent bouts. Broccolli. B*****d stuff! I love it,
my wife loves it and it's supposed to be good for you. Oh well. At
least I can walk. Bit of alcohol, no probs. 6 heads of broc!!! Yeow.
Funnily enough it has got me twice - in my right foot - which until
this point has generally been OK. Started in my arch, then into
ankle. Previously I've had two slight goes at it over 5 years. Not
bad.
I've been reading previous emails. Feelings and emotions have
been on the up! Quiet for a couple of days...nice.
Hope all of you are well.
David

I was really far into debt.
Like Most I was in Financial dispair.
I could not seem to get ahead no matter how hard I tried.
Untill I found this place.
http://debthelp.place.cc
If you are in debt they can help you out.
Check them out today I did.
This email was sent because you joined our group.
If you do not wish to recieve any emails, unsubscribe.

I have just been reading back the last week posts about how people
view newbie's, like myself as being simplistic in our newly acquired
information on Gout;i.e. Cherries and Cranberries. In the short time
I have been on this site I do appreciate the information about
drinking a lot of water, reactions to alcohol, about the allopurinol
my doctor prescribed for me and not testing the crystals on my feet
first, and the need to go to a specialist to have the crystals tested
properly. I never took the Allopurinol because my doctor gave very
little information other then telling me to not start taking the
medicine if I get an attack. He did not tell my what an attack was,
so when I recently had one, it was frightening to see my foot swell,
hurt to where I could hardly walk and had to hang it off of the
mattress so nothing touched it to be able to sleep. Well, I have been
drinking a lot of water, eating very little meat and eating huge
amount of cherries. Maybe I am naive but at least I had got some
information on this site to try and stop the episode from getting
worse- and just maybe it worked! Sandra

NOSIREE! they are NOT! Naive..1 of the MAJOR problems with
gout/information is that almost ALL of it is OLD!..OUTDATED..gout
info goes back at least 2,500 years..PROBABLLY much further if you
dug into the Oriental dynasty..SOOoo ladies and gentlemen we have
2,500 years and what..colchicine..yes very good..what else??..other
remedies that may or may not work to relieve symptoms..DEPENDING on
what stage the disease has been allowed to progress to.
Consider that allopurinol is only 40 years old..being new..
Blending on OLD and new information.
After 2,500 years allopurinol deals with the root cause(for all
intents here)
I USED to have a FAR greater degree of difficulty in researching
gout information..UNTIL I started to question the year(s) of the
sources..
This can be a HUGE source of MISINFORMATION..especially to
newcomers..MOST dangerous if the article in question was written
RECENTLLY..and THEN part way through..an expert on gout(reading it)
starts saying.."Hey..wait a minute..that isn't CORRECT..Where did
they get that from.."SOMETIMES the references are
there..OLD..sometimes ONLY the idea is..OLD..
Along comes this new kid on the block(allopurinol)..SHAKING up
pretty much EVERYTHING that was EVER known about gout(It was VERY
recently prior to allopurinol that gout was discoverred to be a uric
acid problem)
Even from the 1960's to the 1980's..there were STILL a great many
gout experts that were "Old School"..
The rhuematologist I see says that pretty much all gout
information more than 20 years old..is..just that..old/too old.AND to
add to that..pretty much all the information of the last 20 years is
just a rehash of what was learned about allopurinol from the 1960's
to the 1980's..
There really has been NO new knowledge on gout since the
1950's...allopurinol.
The BASIC problem of how the excess uric acid finds it's way into
the joints/area..crossing the interstitial cellular membrane.. in the
first place..as of now..has NOTHING to go on.
Be WELL! Arnold..

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 17:13:24 +0000
From: "tim smith" <t1m_sm1th@...
Subject: RE: allo side effects
did the allopurinol make you that stupid, or were you
born that way?
<sarcasm
obviously removed at
birth, thats all </sarcasm
d
===========================================================
Message: 4
Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 12:10:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: Joe <jdadmin@...
------
wow, i'm an off kilter fanatic?! never been called
that before!! btw i'm not a newbie
as you suggest, been here a while, but i only ever
lurk, usually.
the fact you find my comments comical shows you almost
got my point.
i'm not being that serious,in terms of technical
discussion. i just dont think that
many newbies who sign up are going to want to hear in
depth technical arguments about
gout that continue for paragraph after paragraph after
paragraph. i would like to
disagree and say that that was the point i wanted to
make, so there was a point, but
i'm happy for us to agree to disagree.
regards
d
==============================================
no i'm not going to leave. i get benefits from this
list, i suffer from gout.
i wasnt calling the entire list assholes, i was making
a point that the
people who are unsubbing/have unsubbed might think
this because nobody on the
list allows newbies to make their own decisions. i
cant recall reading a post that
says "this is my opinion, it is right, but i respect
your decision to follow your
own route, let me know how it goes", but i can recall
many that say "not a chance,
get on allo, you need to get on allo, have you gotten
on allo yet?". maybe a bit of
resetting the scales is required. we know that allo
relieves gout long term, maybe we
should be looking for something that does the same job
shorter term, natural remedies
(if there are any that work), and so on. i mean, has
anyone actually come to a conclusion
as to whether a cold or a hot compress is best on a
gout afflicted digit?
no, dont leave, that isnt what i, or anybody else on
the list, wants.
its a joke. assholes rhymes with allo, just like very
little rhymes with snake oil.
an off the cuff remark that you have taken to heart.
asked..
apologise to the dog for me, please. maybe give him a
treat as well.
i have actually posted previously, yes very
infrequently, but part of that
is because of the essay followed by dissertation,
thesis, book, encyclopedia
and i just dont have enough hours in the day. christ,
i would have had little chance
to reply to this email if i didnt just happen to be
working today.
i think more people on the list should shoot their
mouths off. maybe then we would
find out for sure why everyone is leaving. all i have
done is offer my opinion as
to why that may be the case.
why you were here..
of course thats why i am here. hands up all those on
the list who are
NOT here to "take" information and "use" it. and there
is lots here for me.
now now, no need to goad me. but no, i wont be
unsubbing. and if its written by
assholes, guess im one of them too, by virtue of my
posting that message.
ASSHOLES..
i will compose a message asking for help, just like
any other person. yes, i will apologise.
I APOLOGISE TO THIS LIST FOR HAVING MY SUBJECT LINE
TAKEN
SERIOUSLY, CAUSING DISTRESS AND CONCERN TO OTHERS.
no sneaking back, because there's no sneaking away in
the first place.
not needed help, i'm on allo. i'm an allopurinol
asshole!
i have nothing of great importance to offer this list,
except occasional
bouts of ill advised humour.
i dont know if they would or not. hell, i know allo
works. I like the
"risen out of the ditch of gout" comment tho, made me
laugh
help,information,support.
i dont think anybody had any respect for me as no-one
knew i was reading. if
anything i think it will have risen, as i am now at
least in some peoples
awareness. but no that was not the whole point. i dont
intend to scare anyone
off the list, and i dont think i have done.
good on you. i never said you werent a sharer, i put
forward the notion that
perhaps sharing on a wider scale of topics, or in
slightly less technical
detail, could lead to more people being interested in
staying on the list.
i met him too, wouldnt be here in the first place if i
hadnt
of course i will, i thought it might shake a tree or
two, if you dont want to
respond to me, fine, thats your choice, but to repeat
what i said earlier, i AM
sorry if anyone thought I was calling them
individually an asshole.
one last point tho, your email has just taken an hour
to read and respond to. i am
sure that a more conscise version could have made the
same points. not that i want
to pick on you, as my response is certainly no one
liner, but the length and detail
of posts was one thing i think should change, IMvHO
d

I had my first painful Gout attack two weeks ago and on a scale, of
1 - 10, it was probably a 5.5; or at least at best of what I can tell
from my reading about other peoples on this site. I have two large
cherry trees in my yard and thank God they have been ripening right
along with my Gout problems. I have been eating so many cherries that
I worry my eyeballs are going to turn red.
I really don't know if that is what did it for me but I do believe it
sure helped. I wish I could send you all a box of these wonderful,
organic cherries from northern CA. Sandra

I'm a 21 year old female. I realize how rare this is but i was
diagnosed with gout a few days ago. I was just wondering if anyone
could give me some information about gout in laymans terms so that I
might have a clue about what is going on. Thank you.
Jo

good luck tim, let us know how you progress.

Im right behind you i have my 2 pack of 56*100 but am waiting for my current attack to finish & get a holiday out of

the way (in case the A-train causes a trigger).

I've finally decided to take the plunge as i've had attacks in my left ankle area 4 out of the last 5 weekends

quite interestingly its moved around to about 3/4 spots.The current attack has lasted 10days.

The causes for this last attack using my unprofessional analysis are

riding a bike for 10mins (i got carried away the one weekend i could walk normally)

i ate a burger (same weekend as bike ride, 1st one this year though & it lloked tasty across the hotel bar)

i carried my sleeping 5 yr old daughter to her bed from my bed (seemed like a shame to wake her)

Over the last 5 weeks i've come to the conclusion this is no way to live, i'm trapped in the house.

& yeah i can walk with a slight limp, but last sunday after 3 days i thought i was recovering & past

the worst of it (being very careful) & i had a relapse.

obviously iv'e not been able to drive my manual car in this period.

for the record my uric acid level is approx 0.58 mmol / 680umol / 9.6

in 2003 i had 2 major attacks & 1 minor. i was not being particularly careful in 2003 (newly diagnosed etc)

in 2004 i've had 2 major & 7 minor. I have been as careful as humanly possible following all the guidelines within reason.

gallons of water daily

minimal meat & fish etc (this year 1 burger consumed / 1 sausage / no steak etc.etc)

lots of fruit & veg & salads, cherry yogurts etc (avioding peas, lentils etc)

zero alcohol (no big deal never was a big drinker, but in hindsight always got clobbered by gout monster at christmas)

again quite interestingly very little weight lost during this period, i put it down to always being hungry because i'm eating so little meat or anything really tasty.

So i've done my time trying lifestyle etc & will bail out shortly with the allupurinol

questions for the group.

Any advice from anyone on using colchinne as a prophylactic with allo ?? (i'm allergic to NSAIDS)

when should you look to increase dosage to 200?

how many minor attacks can i expext in the 1st 3 months ?

First let me state I am not a doctor ,And I dont wish to lead anyone
astray,,,I DON'T DOUBT ALLOPURINOL WORKS !My point sunscreen works in
filtering harmful uv rays ,,hmmm I wonder if a heavy long sleeve
shirt works also.When I stated many different types of gout ,I guess
I should have said "We are all on different diets ,so our gout
triggers may differ"
Walter said "We have more uric acid in our bodies than our natural
regulatory system can handle " "End of discussion"(What an
angry /intolerant statement )Well you made my point for me .Our
natural reg. system isnt natural anymore but damaged goods .So
everyone with high , normal ,or a uric acid level over 4.0 has
gout .Really?
I said One size fits all dangerous ?Well I guess not since walter
said so .We are all the same and every drug out there affects us all
the same .Allopurinol is 100per cent effective .Quite a stack of
paper to review.
It doesnt matter What I "feel"about it .Statement stands alone
I have read info on allopurinol.So everything pro allopurinol must be
the "Truth".The FDA gets drug info from drug manufacturers ,so there
is a conflict of interest.If allopurinol is much like the chemical
our bodies produce ,,,Well what happened to that chemical,,where is
it ,,you think possibly that our systems may be damaged and we dont
produce it ,,why?
Amalgams that I refer to are "Dental Amalgams ",silver fillings
comprised of 50% mercury.The second most harmful substance on the
planet.But the ADA has deemed them safe since 1800s
You call me an ignorant idiot ,ridicule me .I have never responded to
you that way.You got an anger issue with me and my abstinence from
allopurinol.I stated I would take it
You are trying to help me . You could'nt give a shit about me or my
condition, so save it and quit using it to get your point across.I
dont have all the answers(or any acording to you )Get a hair analysis
done quick,you have other issues than gout .
I dont profess knowledge , but ask that people keep thier eyes and
ears open .I only mention things I read asking that maybe there is a
chance something out there works not to cover up , lower ,or inhibit
uric acid production,, I want to know where the natural chemical my
body produces to excrete uric acid and why I might not produce
enough of it ,,But since you are all healed . leave ,I thought this
group is for gout sufferers ,,, you dont suffer so go

I have been taking 25mg atenolol for last 3 years for heart palps.
Just started allo at 200mg daily after initial 100mg for 30 days. I
have noticed feeling a bit sluggish and dizzy. My blood pressure is
unchanged but my pulse was down to high 40s low 50s from normal for
me in the 60s. My doc has asked me to cut atenolol to 12.5mg daily
and see if it helps. He feels that the allo is causing slower
excretion of the atenolol and this is why heart rate is dropping
(beta-blockers slow heart rate). Has anyone had similar experiences.
Any insight (Arnold,Walter,etc) would be appreciated. Never read any
literature stating that allo could do this. Gout seems controlled
but I am guarded in my enthusiasm right now. Please help!!! Only 34
and within past 3 years had all the ekg's,echo's,holter test,stress
test and all were benign. Doc prescribed low dose of atenolol to
control PVC's. Addition of allo slowing my heart rate, or so it
seems.

hi list :)
i'm not unsubbing, but i can see why others are.
most of the posts are individual essays, replied to as
a dissertation, which is then replied to as a thesis,
which is then replied to as a book, which is then
replied to as a encyclopedia, and so on and so on....
sometimes the posts go into far too much detail about
whether gout is caused by crystal formation, stripping
crystals of their proteins, evil magic fairies,
whatever. at the end of the day, we all want a
solution to the agonising, "cut my foot off now
please" pain, allo appears to do that, good. but why
are there people prepared to spend hours responding to
one post when they could be spending those hours
researching potential solutions, finding clinical
trials of new drugs, corresponding with experts in the
field, anything like that.
anyway, time to go do some work.
d

Black cherry extract . . . $15
Allopurinol prescription . . . $100 per year.
Undamaged joints and a pain free existence . . . priceless.
The "Allofans" knowing when to shut up . . . impossibly expensive.
Ciao,
Rick.

Just wanted to bid the new members that have decided this group isn't
for them a farewell. Sorry to hear that your skin wansn't tough enough
but reality is a warm cup of joe that not everyone drinks at the same
time. I hate to see you suffer but I welcome you back when your journey
brings you back this way.
Ciao
-J

Love to see, read, hear, whatever, credible information about
something besides Allopurinol that works to fix gout. Not to relieve
the symptoms, heck, enough water will do that, culcchine, NSAID's in
enough quantity-ever check into the rate of kidney dammage from
NSAID's, ask Alonzo Morning.
Celery seed, Cherries, how about some special rub it on ointments and
on and on.
I would love to see one alternative to allopurinol that has solid
clinical information that has been tracked for over , what... 5
years.
There is a mountain of information that shows that allopurinol stops
gout in its tracks in each and every human body that can tolerate it.
There is very little documented information that shows long term
problems from allopurinol and in almost all cases if you are going to
have a problem with it, it show up in the first three months.
We are talking about more than 50 years worth of people taking it and
the side effects are relatively minor compared to such notorious bad
acting drugs like, oh lets see, how about aspirin, or how about
ibprophin, or tylenol or even things as radicle as penicillin or
erythromycin, well there are also some other drugs that people cannot
tolerate statistically as well as people tolerate allopurinol,
warfrin is one that comes to mind and then there are also the more
enjoyable drugs, lets look at alcohol or cannibas or even heroin...
compare it to any of the other drugs and you will find that it is a
very mild, very well tolerated drug.
I really cannot figure out why there is so much resistance to it. It
is not logical.
If there were one alternative then the one sidedness of this group
would be narrow minded. The fact is that the general consensus of the
group is like it is because that consensus is 100% correct. Not 95%,
not 99% but 100%.
Kuel, you got your feelings hurt and I disagree with you. I think you
are being stupid, not silly, not foolish but stupid and I am certain
that after you hafe been through your third month of pain and realize
that you will never walk normally or even think about really running
because you konw that your joint would not take it, you will remember
just how stupid you and your pride were.

This is a bloody silly group.
I have had my lot from it.
Cheers.

is there a LARGER component to some people that want some sort of
JUSTIFICATION..camaraderie..turn their gout into some sort of self
righteous martyr campaign..the misery loves company..and OFTEN goes
looking for it..finding others so that they can ALL sufffer as
one..like some brotherhood..oh me and my gout..can't do that/eat
that/drink that..got gout..gout is acting up AGAIN..
Some people come just a little too well armed..TOO QUICK with
their rebuttals..almost like they came with ALL "THE" answers..and
ALL they wanted was someone/group..to agree..CRY IN THEIR BEER
together..like a little too quick to paint themselves as being
attacked..a little too quick to have their defenses ready..
Shakesperean "The lady doth protest too much"..
I mean..someone that has complained about "Their Gout"..for
EVER..they get a ticket for the "A" train..they get shut up..plain
and simple..for almost 100% of gout sufferers./they get on this
train..and it becomes one of.."Now you don't talk so loud"..
Just logic..you have gout you complain..you take allopurinol..NOW
you have NOTHING to complain about..
I REALLY LIKE..how they have to take a few pot shots..make a few
derogatory remarks..persoanl attacks..AS they leave.."OHHhhOOoo...
pleeeze stop that..it sort of tickles..OHHOOooo..I like that..do it
some more..."
AND..SOB sob..I am taking 2 or 3 other members with me..BOO
HOO..a few emailed me..
I've been doing this gout thing for a LONG time..sure I have had
a few emails that were nasty/critical..quit..seen a few at the group..
Take those few emails..the ones soaked with tears..moribund self
pity..loathing? maybe just sheer stubborness..stupidity..oh no I said
a bad thing..OOHHHhh bring a fetching wench to spank me..print them
on some tissue..have a good commiserating cry..
Me..I'll take the hundreds and hundreds I've received/seen over
the years..from people who have..HAD A NEW LIFE HANDED TO
THEM..thanks to allopurinol..these people GORGING again at the trough
of life..
Those emails..they'll be printed on INDESTRUCTIBLE
cloth!..they'll be SOAKED with LIFE.. PINTS!! of the ol Guinness..
quarts of vodka..bottles of the best VIN'..kegs/drums of rum..flasks
of whiskey..gallons of gin..there'll be barbeques..MEAT cooked by
FIRE!..chile hotter than Dante's Inferno..
I'll help/supervise..we'll take those emails..we'll have tugs of
wars..we'll WRING THEM OUT..AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN..others..ME may
want to lay under the wringing out..we'll FIGHT! over the last DROP
OF LIFE LEFT IN THEM!..
and when it's over....
WE'LL FILL THE CUP AGAIN!!!!!!!
Gentleman..bow your heads to the others that WON'T join us..WE
WILL SHARE THEIRS!!..pity they won't join us..
Gentlemen:my brothers
RAISE YOUR GLASSES HIGH!!!!

My email account has never been so busy!
Update: I have been on Allo for 27 days (get new 'Script in 2 hrs).
I have had 2 attacks (40% strength) and numerous twinges in
my bad areas (toe, arch, achilles, knee, finger and elbow). All
manageable, at last. I can put the attacks down to too much beer
(about 4 pints). Very miserable.
My views after nearly a month: I can handle the side-effects - less
pain, being able to walk, getting life back. I can now, with some
confidence, plan a walking trip 4 weeks ahead without the fear
that I wouldn't be able to get out of bed, let alone walk 10miles
through part of the Peaks.
I understand people who want to take a natural route. I tried a
Chinese remedy that cost about £25 per month (x6 months and
about 8/9 attacks). Cider vinegar is a good general one, and one
I might continue. BUT, the only thing I have tried that has
lessened the pain is Allopurinol.
I am no advocate of medication for life, but medication to have a
life is a different matter. I have changed my diet dramatically over
the past 5 years, but the attacks got worse. I read up on new
techniques and 'the latest wonder cure-all' and persued a
number of them. That still led me to this point, and i feel that the
pain and the damage my body has taken is quite enough, thank
you. If I am copping out by taking a medication promoted by, and
paraphrasing, the 'bullies and vendors of Allo' then my thanks
and best wishes go to Arnold, Walter et al.
That's all for now. I'm off for a quick walk round the lake with my
bible and back in time to see my GP (as Lou Reed once sang
"I'm waiting for my MAN".
Cheerio.

yeah but two of the "occasional" side effects i read
last night
were male breasts and wet dreams. i've upped my dosage
to 2KG/day!
d
p/s - just in case anyone takes me seriously, READ THE
LABEL BEFORE YOU TAKE YOUR ALLO. - should stop the
court case in its tracks :)aaaaaaaa

There have been several posts recently and perhaps some have had
their feelings hurt. About that I am not sorry if it ends up helping
someone else get rid of gout.
But that is not really the subject I have been thinking about all
day. You know, the old saying about the reformed sinner is really
hard to take and all that...
Well, I am trying to reform my life, that is, I am trying to reclaim
some semblance of my former shape and now that I am not wracked every
other week with pain from gout, I think I may actually have a chance
at doing it.
I know from statistics and I know from the posts on here that most of
us here, Arnold excepted, are over weight and we indulge in things
that we know are harmful to us long term.
The fact is that even though we know that long term it will hurt us,
we do it anyway.
Why?
I'M NOT ABOUT TO TRY TO PROVIDE AN ANSWER BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SPARK
SOME KIND OF INSPIRATION FOR ALL OF US.
To those of you who know you need to lose weight and who want to try
it, lets set a target, set the time and lets see how many of us make
it. I weighed in today at 219 lbs and my target is 190 lbs. That is
30 pounds and I plan to lose it at the rate of a pound a week.
30 weeks, that's about 8 months so since its May, I should be well on
my way by January 1 of next year. I'll be happy if I can tip the
scales at under 195 by then.
Don't knowwhy, really, but some of us need some kind of reward and I
guess you will haved to set your own reward. However, losing the
weight will, in reality, be its own reward.
And by the way, I am really hungry right now.....damnit....

I have read many posts here. I am an herbal suitcase luggin' non-
newbie to the gout. Attacks are getting more frequent, and much more
painful. I have read (not here) that Allopurinol has to be taken
every day for the rest of your life. Here, you all seem to suggest
it can be taken for a brief (relatively) time and then stopped. Have
any of you taken Allopurinol, continued to drink heavily, eat
seafood, and stopped the Atrain without getting the gout?
Thanks

An emergency room Dr. pronounced me with "Chronic gout"..WITHOUT
seeing my feet..(coverred by a sheet)OR any other PART of me..WITHOUT
seeing ANY medical history,WITHOUT ANY conversation with me..WHILE I
was in laying there in agony!!!
I go to the horsepistol..tell the receptionist that I am in
HORRIBLE/TERRIBLE AGONY!! in my foot..I think it is a gout
attack..she just calls a Dr. and they wisk me away..a while later in
walks the TWIN for the "Man From Glad Garbage Bag" commercial..
He is BRUSQUE/NOT friendly/polite..has a bunch of other stuff in
his hands..and just says.."Yup..CHRONIC GOUT"..WITHOUT so much as
saying hello/looking at me..
I LASH out at this MORON!..(ME..at the time great tree bark
licker..NO allo. for me!!!).."HOW DO YOU KNOW??? YOU HAVEN'T EVEN
LOOKED AT ME?????"
He turns to me..equally as quick/hostile and says..
"ANYONE who comes to a hospital emergency room..in the MIDDLE of
the night..in the MIDDLE of the winter..in the MIDDLE of a RAGING
snowstorm..in MINUS 20 degree weather..with one or two buttons on his
shirt done up CROOKED..his pants not done up/holding them up..NO
SOCKS?..HOPPING/HOBBLING across the parking lot..after leaving his
car running..having to stop and switch feet..take off a running
shoe..THEN hopping on the other foot while holding the other
shoe..HAS CHRONIC GOUT!!..
Then he was REALLY,REALLY apologetic..and REALLY,REALLY
NICE!!!!..admitting/conceding..and LAUGHING!!! LAUGHING???? HUNH???
this is funny???????FUNNY????????...that him and a "FEW" others were
LAUGHING as they watched this on the security tape...he says they
REALLY liked the part where I was hopping on the one foot with the
shoe..THEN I had to take that shoe off(The attack was "flashing" from
foot to foot)because of the swelling..)I thought my foot would BURST
in that shoe(My feet used to swell from size 8 1/2 to WAY,WAY MORE!
than 14/15..NO shoe/boot would fit)..THEN I was hopping CARRYING the
shoe..like a little kid carrying a doll..
EVEN I SORT of laughed at the time..I laff a LOT about it now..my
friends..some in the medical proffession..and other people LOVE IT!!

So tree bark licking is out of the question, yes?

Why do I do this?..when pretty much ALL gout sufferers..REALIZE
their mistake(S),foolishness,STUPIDITY..call it what you want..after
enough sufferring..enough licking tree bark or whatever they
think..or have been TOLD(sold) will work..they lick their
wounds..pack up whatever is left of their health..take their
allopurionol and RETREAT quietly like
MICE..QUIETLY..beaten..BEATEN??..they NOW have to face the
music..they were wrong..WRONG..you know they made choices..and YES I
hate to inform some people but SOME choices are not just
foolish/wrong..they are STOOPID..I made them..I KNOW that I was
STUPID to not adhere to PROPER medical advice..go ahead..call me
stupid..at the time..AT THE TIME..I was stupid..I have NO problem
with people calling me stupid when I was..and CLEARLY I was..
New people come to this group..OFTEN they bring the "Herbal
suitcase"(rofl/lmao)..OR else they SOON go get it..almost INVARIABLLY
someone else comes out with "HEY GO LICK TREE
BARK..here..here..lookeee see..DO NOT!! take "drugs"(allopurinol)"
Follow this to the extent that I have..it is NOT the new people
that get attacked..quite the contrary it is the REGULAR posters here
that get attacked..the regular posters are OFTEN quiet/polite..and
point out..and maybe often(that's me) say.."SHOW ME THE MONEY"..there
ain't no proof for this tree bark..a VERY familiar pattern
emerges..NOW WALTER is accused of being the "drug
pedlar".."allopurinol salesman"..ALL I have to say to that is.."Na
nana NAH NAH.." to Walter..HEHEHAHA..Hey Walter..how do you like
your "new" position??HEHEHAHA..Walter is SMART..he PROBABLLY
manoueverred himself into position to USURP MY previous
position..HEHEHAHA..
I KNEW that I had hit a VERY RAW nerve..OR the truth..when I was
put into the "allopurinol rep." position..HEY..I kinda liked it..I
miss it..HEHEHAHA..
I think the very fact that someone is here..at this group..says a
LOT..they are most likely pretty close to the end of their
rope..their gout attacks are MOST likely a LOT worse than they
say..or want to admit..they have NO way home..the MIGHTY allopurinol
is their LAST and ONLY hope..AND if it doesn't work..WHAT THEN????...
The patterns are almost IDENTICAL..
Listen in on a conversation I had with a rheumatologist..NO
spring chicken..he has seen this stuff FOREVER..
Rheumatologist: "Gout is almost as much a psychological problem
as a physical disease..I have sat in this chair forever..white middle
aged male..in the prime of their power in life..gout attack..these
guys..are almost guaranteed to be carrying too much weight..don't get
any exercise..eat badly,drink too much..SOooo they "know" have been
told that THIS!! causes "the gout"..their not the men of their
youth..they THINK they can still do it..they can't..REPEAT gout
attacks..are/have been blamed on old/macho sporting injuires..they
are too old they tell themselves..to do that/try that anymore..they
eat poorly..drink too much..they KNOW this will fix their gout..it is
their fault..NO WAY are they going to take drugs!!! for the rest of
their lives..I tell them about gout..dangers..allopurinol..they have
been to he hospital..clinic..family doctor..and WAITED 6 months to a
year to see me..they head off..the things they have LOVED!..a bit of
exercise,sport,mobility..they slough of these losses as "old
age"..they may give up other things..a drink..a few
drinks..drinking..a social glass of wine..a few few almost meccessary
drinks with business associates..family,friends,a cold beer after a
hot day..a nice steak..a nice homemade hamburger on a barbeque..AFTER
A GOUT ATTACK...AFTER..they lay off this stuff..the attack QUIETLY
goes away..THEY have found the bogeyman..their joint(s) get
worse..they put this off to "arthritis"..some say that old macho
sporting injuries caused it..time MARCHES on..the EVIL gout is doing
what it does BEST!!..latherring the uric acid to the joint..laying a
REAL nice fertile bed..for the next attack..they guy may have slipped
a bit with the diet/alcohol..the next attack..he KNEW it was that 1
beer..and that 1 chicken wing..see see see..this attack goes away..
The game of life is pretty much over now..he OF COURSE ends up
back to see me..after having given so much up..practically everything
of pleasure..he's done..ain't gonna be no comeback now..NOW it's too
late..there are NO options left..allopurinol is NOW not ANY matter of
choice..and THAT is worse..he HAS to take it..the assessment of
permanent damage is done..
Some are ELATED!! that they can dance at their daughter's
wedding..they can have a beer with an old friend..have friends over
for a barbeque..they can WALK..live pain free..they gave up so much
of their life..for what? gout..the days are over when gout did
that..up until allopurinol..you got gout..you know the rest.
People have come here..to this group..they have emailed me..they
WERE going to do all this fantastic stuff..diet/tree bark..ya ya ok
ok..I'll MONITOR my uric acid levels..the attack goes away..so do
they..the attack is gone..they beat it..do they monitor their uric
acid levels...NOooo..they feel/SAY they don't need to..and some othet
tree bark licker said that they only have to do that right before an
attack..so there..
I feel TRULY sorry for those that have come here..emailed me..with
NOW permanent joint damage..
I guess for me..a big part of it is almost like a
Biblical/religious thing..at the end of the day..ALL you can do..is..
"Scatter the seeds"..
I watched someone I knew..nice guy..reasonablly close to me..go
through gout attacks..NO DRUGS FOR HIM..NO WAY..to me his health,gout
wasn't that bad..ya knee problems..gout..at times immobilized..
His next attack..clogged his renal tubules..kidneys shut
down..stroke..
This UPSET me a LOT!!/botherred me..
In a subsequent conversation with my rhuematologist..he said..
"You and your friend have gout..you will have it until you
die..you BOTH had choices..armed with the best health care/knowledge
that world has known..you both made choices..he made his..you made
yours..
I interrupted him and said.."You think he made the "right"
choice??????".
he just replied.."Doesn't matter..it was HIS CHOICE NOT YOURS..he
lived with his choice..you live with yours"...

BB guns will chase squirrels out of your yard, but don't try it on a
bear.
Let's talk about a minimalistic approach to gout for just a few
moments. If your gout can be described as a sore toe once or twice
a year, then lifestyle and dietary changes may do the trick for
you. My father only got gout after holiday binging on rich foods
and alcohol, and then he got it only in his big toe. SOMETIMES he
would take colchicine for it, but most of the time he just "rode it
out" with lots of fresh water and no red meat for a few days. He
did this his whole adult life. He is now 84 years old, and NEVER
gets gout anymore (due primarily as I observe to the fact he is on a
rather restricted diet, can't drink alcohol anymore, and lives a
stress-free life).
When I first started getting gout, I was able to stave off attacks
through dietary and lifestyle modifications- BUT, in my case the
gout was/ is highly progressive. In recent years, no matter WHAT I
did or did not drink or eat made no difference at all- the attacks
kept coming- monthly, weekly, daily until I hurt all the time and
developed knobby tophi all over the place. Who knows what kind of
permanent damage gout has done to my joints over the past coupla
years? I KNOW the damage it has done to my life. Going from being
a guy who could throw jumping spinning kicks over 7' in the air all
day long to a guy everybody now calls "gimp" is just one example.
(I used to be a quite a dancer as well- now I am learning to just
walk again).
Anyway, my point is this- there ARE cases of gout that can be
treated with changes in diet and lifestyle, BUT don't be stubborn
about seeking aggressive medical treatment if the gout becomes
chronic. If avoiding "triggers" and drinking lots of water does not
prevent your attacks then seek treatment immediately and stay with
it because every day with gout hurts your body irreparably.
Unfortunately, we have only one true proven preventative treatment
for gout right now and that is allopurinol. (Remember- NSAIDS,
steroids, narcotics all only MASK pain and inflammation- they do
nothing to treat the underlying illness)

Hey Tim,
In answer to some of your woes, I found and posted an article saying
that wine is alright in moderation, but not beer or spirits. Although
I cannot atest to the validity or accuracy or anything about that
article, I have moved away from beer to become a wine connosseuer and
with a healthier lifestyle, including cranberry juice, I am doing
well. Far less pain and it is mangeable - that is what it is all
about. However, I am still continuing self-analysis and looking
further into the wine is OK theory. I am trying to do it with minimal
medication. Medication is good when you really need it and it is good
we have it. I think the benefits might diminish though long term.
Anyone have any thoughts on that with respect to the allopurin?
I seriously think that the technology is out there to genetically
modify us to correct our bodies and put us back into chemical
balance. It will be a matter of time before we see it............and
then having the money of course.
Charlie

It's always nice to see so many new enlightened faces....especially
ones that come to post the benefits of cherries and cranberries. Such
a wealth of information you now possess and how fortunate you have
found this little group where you can be so generous and share your
newly aquired riches. Hopefully you might take some time to read some
of the older posts, but I really doubt you will - I sure didn't. Time
will pass and you will be stricken with unbearable pain, time and time
again. Lord only knows, maybe your cranberry extract pills were not of
the highest quality...
One thing remains constant since I've been here; there are those of us
who have gout and live normal lives, eat normal things, and live pain
free and there are the other people. Who or what are those other
people you ask?? I'm not gonna tell you. Your going to figure it out
soon enough, just like you found out that you shouldn't eat purines.
You took that information and immediately applied it to your lifestyle
didn't you? Let's see what you do with the next few pieces of gold you
will soon find...
Oh by the way, welcome to the group! Enjoy your stay.
-Joe

spot on, its a reference to starting to take
allopurinol every day.
d

Hi all
I saw Charlie's email, and Arnold's response, and wanted to provide a slight counterpoint to the A-Train that most people in this group advocate. I'm only 41, and as yet not completely ravaged by gout, and therefore I guess you could say I am still optimistic - or perhaps idealistic - in thinking I can make some progress on getting this under control WITHOUT resorting to Allopurinol. Now, before I get shot down, I may well end up on Allo, and I am not against it. I just feel that if there are variables under my control, it is my duty to see how far I get by controlling them.
Now, Arnold talks about snake oil and give cherries a pretty bad rap. The fact is, there are a whole bunch of things we can all do that are just plain good for us. Herbal medicine, for example - or snake oil, perhaps I should say - doesn't pretend to provide a major league alternative to Allopurinol, but much of its philosophy is based on the idea that the body has significant self-healing abilities if stimulated in the right way. Sure, there are some specific herbs like celery seed and Guaiacum which are 'specific' remedies for gout, but other more general ones like nettle, hawthorn, yarrow are tonic to the heart, blood vessels, kidneys, etc, through differing actions. And these actions are being clinically trialled all the time, so science is showing how they work, but there is also 600 years of empirical knowledge telling us that they DO work. Also, let's stop talking about snake oil. These are drugs - not synthetic ones, but potent complex chemical compounds formed
by nature which promote complex changes on our complex bodies!
Herbal medicine is holistic, which is to say it recognises the needs of the patient as a whole, rather than focusing on the disease process in isolation. It also recognises the need for the patient to take on responsibility for their own health. Specifically, phytotherapy (not chinese medicine, not homeopathy) prescribes herbs in combination which aim to restore health by stimulating the body's own capacity to work more efficiently - in gout's case actions of the herbs might include preventing blood statis, keeping the electrolytes relatively dilute, affecting metabolic processes and stimulating efficient kidney function. And a specialist would prescribe a different combination for Charlie's set of health issues than mine. In my case, I'm taking something that is good for blood and kidneys, I'm cutting right back on alcohol, and eating a sustainably gout-friendly diet (ie, more vegetables/white fish than usual and cutting out the high risk stuff, but nothing too
different from a cholesterol-friendly diet).
As I said at the beginning, this isn't about who's right and who's wrong. From what I've read, I may well struggle to get my UA levels low enough to really keep gout at bay long term. But if I can manage a sustainable regime involving herbal medicine, nuts, cherries, or whatever, and I find that I'm not getting gout attacks, then I'll be happy about that. And if I end up taking Allo, I will most probably carry on doing all the good things too, because one's overall health is the major consideration, surely?
So please let's not knock things that are fundamentally good for our health, even if they don't `CURE' gout. And please let's not undermine those people who want to see how they get on with lifestyle changes first, before going onto Allo. To me, it seems an entirely natural thing to want to do. And if we all end up on the A-train, we'll have a laugh about it over a few pints of Dog Bolter and a Steak and Kidney Pie.
Matt

Sorry, newbie question...
What is meant by the 'A' train I have read on this board?
Is it a reference to the drug Allopurin (or whatever?).
Thanks

Gout is an affliction in mammals that is painful and often difficult
to both diagnose and once diagnosed, it is equally difficult to
treat.
It hurts.
It is disabling and it causes a severe loss of self respect, a
dramatic change in a persons attitude on life and it can cripple a
person to the point that they cannot move about on their own
volition.
Other mammals also get gout. For example, the Dalmation is notorious
for having it.
There are two things to you must consider if you have had a gout
attack.
First, your #$%&#ing toe and foot is in terrible pain and you would
be willing to do just about anything to make the pain go away. If
your livelyhood depends on your mobility, you are going to lose a lot
of time at work and even if all you have to do is get to your chair
in the office, a severe attack is going to make it next to impossible
for you to be an effective worker. Gout will affect your ability to
get your job done and it is an ailment that can and often does cause
you to lose your livelyhood.
"Hey, it's just a little pain in your foot, isn't it? How come you
can't get in here on time and get X, Y, and Z done."
So you buy a pair of tennis shoes, usually three sizes bigger than
you usually wear, put the big tennis shoe on your gouty foot and you
start your all too familiar gout walk.
"Hey there gimp, what did you do, kick the door too hard, or did you
just turn your ankle. Is it serious?"
And through it all, believe me, you will begin to lose your self
respect. Maybe you were some kind of athlete, and you enjoyed a game
of b-ball or tennis or maybe golf..well, try it,
Guess what...
That physical activity that you have enjoyed for so many years
actually percipitates an attack of gout and...
"Naw, I'm kinda busy, I better pass on X Y and Z today, maybe next
time."
So you start to read about it... mmm purenes--food high in Purenes,
whatever they are...and I now can't eat liver, and red meat and red
wine and asparagas and mushrooms and shrimp and on and on and ...
What the H&%$# can I eat?
What the H&%$# can you eat that will prevent gout.
Lets say that you have this magic food that has no purene content and
also has all the nurtient content you need for a balanced diet. That
is zero intake of purene in your diet.
Guess what---
You are still going to get attacked by the gout monster. Your own
body is going to manufacture enough uric acid to bring you down..
It is true that eating the wrong food to excess will make the gout
monster rear its ugly head more often and with greater severity but
you are not going to escape just by eating properly. You are not
going to get your self respect back and you are not going to resume
your former life of care free, uninhibited, activity and dietary
habits.
Now what can you do about this gout monster?
First of all, welcome to the club. You are in an exclusive club now
and there have been many, many famous people in the club before you.
Among the famous people who have suffered from gout are Benjamin
Franklin, Socrates, Christopher Columbus, many kings of France and
England... and the list goes on...The list of things that will help
you is equally long and unfortunately it is a pretty bogus list of
ingredients that will supposedly help you.
Ther are two things you need to know and do.
1. You must stop the immediate pain, that is the immediate attack,
and get to where you can walk and move about.
2. You must stop the cause of the attack and that is a long term
proposition.
The problem is that you have too much uric acid in your system. You
have been accumulating uric acid for more than 10 years and if you
don't reverse that accumulation, you are going to get more and more
attacks of gout.
You can monitor your urine and you can exclaim, oh wow, I managed to
get the pH of my urine to go from X.8234 to Z.917. You can also eat
lots of cherries, I love cherries, and often pig out on them during
cherry season to where I even suffer gastro intentinal problems but I
still love cherries...And they do, indeed, alter the pH of my urine
and they do indeed, surpress the serum level of mono sodium urate in
my blood for, what, oh... lets say, four hours, maybe 6. And all too
soon the pH of the system corrects itself and your mono sodium urate
level in your blood returns to its former high equillibrium level and
the gout monster is still there. It is still there, waiting to get
you again and statistically, 99 out of 100 of you are going to get
devoured again and again and again.
And unless you do someting to treat the fundamental problem, that is,
unless you do something to reduce your overall uric acid, you are
going to get attacked by the gout monster again and again and again.
Moreover, each time the monster returns, it will be worse than the
last time, longer in duration and believe this, worse in how much
pain and discomfort it causes you.
Any of course you ae not going to take that pill every day. You are
not a druggie and you just are not going to do it.
Besides, you are not in pain and you have not had any pain now for
three months and you don't need it. You are eating better now and you
have lost some weight and you just had one attack.
See you in a year or so. You will be back and please understand
this...
When you are having an attack, treatment with allopurinol will in
almost all cases, increase the frequency of your gout attacks.
However, it will also reduce the intensity of your attacks and
eventually it will make them go away but the worst time to start on
allopurinol is when you are in the middle of an attack but
unfortunately, human nature being what it is, most of us are only
driven to take that allopurinol after we have suffered too much at
the hand of the gout monster.
I'm going to give you some medical advise now and I'll stand by it in
a court of law if someone wants to challenge me. Particularly if you
are a physician and disagree with me, I am ready, and able, to defend
the folowing recommendation with data, clinical histories and logic.
If you have had one legitimate attack of gout, and all pain and
soreness in your foot is not necessarily gout, but one real attack of
gout...Then you should go on 300 mg of allopurinol for at least a
year, more logically for three years.
You should have your serum urate level measured before you go on
allopurinol and it should be monitored at 6 month intervals.
Your steady state urate level will not fall for about a year and I
believe that you should continue your allopurinol treatment for a
minimum of three years.
In three years time you should be able to flush your body of all its
excess uric acid and it might take another 10 years to get to a gout
state again even if you are no longer taking allopurinol.
Understand this..you have too much uric acid in your body and it is
the crystallization of the sodiumn salt of uric acid that causes
gout. By messing around with the pH of your body, you are altering an
equillibrium point and you cannot do that forever. You are in no way
reducing your uric acid load and the gout monster, that is the
process of the mono sodium salt of uric acid crysatallizing out in
one of your joints and causing you terrible pain, is still there
waiting to get you. And it will get you and it will hurt you and you
will lose even more self respect, and more time at work, and more and
more, you and all the people you associate with, will think of you as
an invalid.
It isn't necessary and it is stupid.
FIND A WAY TO GET YOURSELF STARTED ON 300mg OF ALLOPURINOL A DAY AND
LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER WITHOUT THE GOUT MONSTER.
If you are one of the few that cannot tolerate allopurinol then I am
truly sorry and there are other ways you will have to cope but for
most of you, allopurinol is tolerated nicely and it will give you
your life back. For those of you who have had only one attack, if you
will go on allpopurinol, you can join the ranks of the people who
have only one attack and for whom gout never returns.
YOUR PHYSICIAN WILL RESIST PUTTING YOU ON ALLOPURINOL AFTER ONLY ONE
ATTACK.
YOU NEED TO BE AGRESSIVE ABOUT IT.
HE OR SHE IS WRONG.
YOU SHOULD BE ON ALLOPPURINOL AFTER ONLY ONE ATTACK AND YOUR SERUM
URATE SHOULD BE MONITORED BI-ANNUALLY FOR THE ENTIRE TIME YOU ARE ON
IT.
Ask him or her to look up the statistics of the probability of a
second and third attack after having had only one attack. With the
probability being that 99 out of 100 of you will ba back with another
attack, isn't it good preventative medicine to treat that one person
who does not need the allopurinol to keep the other 99 of you away
from gout attacks?
Make no mistake abou it, gout will cripple you, it will destroy your
joints and it will make it so that you cannot participate in life
normally. If you have had even one attack, you have 99 chances out of
100 that you are one of the ones for whom the crippling future will
unfold.
I say, go ahead and tear up the little pieces of paper, if there are
no elephants around and tearing up the pieces of paper keeps them
away, keep tearing them up.
Smile and join us on the A train, it is a ride back to your life.

Because of cranberry's action on the kidneys, it may benefit cases of
gout by helping eliminate uric acid which, when crystallised around a
particular joint, causes most of the painful symptoms of this
disorder. In a healthy person, any excess uric acid is normally
excreted via the urine. Gout sufferers may build up large excesses
either because too much uric acid has been synthesised in the body,
or excretion is impaired.
Cranberries may prove invaluable as a natural alternative in the
prevention of this painful disorder. Cranberries are known to be
useful for reducing fever. They are high in potassium, which can help
minimise cramping and spasm of the muscles.

http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/newswire/news2004/0401/newswire041804
-gout.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?
cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=8260567
Hey beer and gambling are 2 of the biggest pastimes in the UK!!

Found this intesting web site:
http://www.healingdaily.com/conditions/saliva-ph-test.htm
pH paper is cheap and easily available.
Also I read that the foods NOT to eat are: organ meats like liver,
kidney, sweetbreads, brains, meat gravies and extracts, sardines,
anchovies, herring, mackerel, scallops and most wild game. Most of
these are very popular foods in the UK in particular. Is that why you
see so many persons in the UK who are sufferers?
Charlie

Hi
Just introducing myself. Please be patient.
I am 43 y/o male from the UK. I have just been diagnosed with gout.
I have had the most agonising pain in my right toe for nearly a wekk
now - you know, the most utterly painful experience... I have
noticed similar pain over the last couple of years...
I am on Atenolol for hypertension, Simastatin for cholesterol, and
aspirin (yeah, I read about that!) for thinning the blood.
I am overweight by 2.5 stones (30lbs), but do losts of
walking/outdoor stuff, so this is a real nuisance, if not a blow. I
have a low fat diet and love LENTILS! I love PEAS and I love
ASPARAGUS etc etc... And I love the drink too (not water,
unfortunately).
But now I am going to modify my diet again. (I had heart bypass in
2000). This will be quite a subtle change, as I rarely eat processed
foods, for example. So now I am on the lookout for sodium nitrates
and other preservatives in my food. I guess I have to go cold turkey
on the beerage/wine front :( Looks like the cherry trade may
benefit in these parts too. Can you simply eat cherries for help, or
does it have to be juice?
My wife and I spend a lot of time/money in the grocer's, but when
it's mid evening, it's easy to reach for the bread and smother it
with Heinz tomato ketchup! Better toasted! Snacking on anything
that comes to hand.
The doc took a blood sample the other day to test for the uric
level. I am loathe to do more drugs than I do already, so I am going
to go head to head with this malady.
I have started reading many of the posts that go back to 2000 on this
forum. Isn't the internet fantastic? All this info available...
Thanks for 'listening'. Hope my story (or part of it) rings a bell
with other people in a similar position.
Tim
UK.

I really like this website. These people are very much anti-
establishment (AAF,AMA,FDA, etc.). They are not funded by the
Government, but by individuals. They helped me to realize I needed
metronidazole and minocycline, which btw my infectious disease
specialist agreed with me and prescribed. Scroll down and read the
article on gouty arthritis. It may or may not tell you something you
don't know, but I hope it helps you in one way or another.
http://www.arthritistrust.org/resources/index.php?type=articles
I also ran across this website and wondered if you had low urine ph,
as this guy did.
It sounds likely that his gout was of particular circumstances which
allowed him to cure it by such simple means. I am going to take my ph
test kit with me to your house so that you can see, just in case your
doc hasn't checked it.
http://homepage.mac.com/jane.yen/icuredmygout/
MadDog

For me , keeping the foot as warm as possible( two socks) and also do not
bend or twist your foot to make it better, as a matter of fact, for me, I
try not to pay attention to the foot. It will call for attention repeatedly,
but do not answer, act as if you didn`t have a foot. Every time I pay
attentoin to it, it gets worse.Know that you must take care of your foot,
but only that. Psychologically, I think there`s more too it.
Davo

I am so thankful for this site and the great people that have given
me information. I am experiencing my first attack and wonder if
swimming would be helpful either in warm or colder water? I see when
I am on my foot too much the swelling and pain gets worse. But I like
to swim at my health club and thought maybe an easy swim in the cold
water would feel good on the painful area, since it is hot? Sandra

Doctor started me on allopurinol at 100mg to start. All liver and
kidney function tests looked good at one month on, however, my uric
acid level was at 9.1? This is up from around 8 range. Obviously
expecting doctor to raise dosage but felt some improvement even if
slight would be noticed after starting. Any advice on why this
reading is going up instead of down?

Hi all
I had a near miss last night. I'm in early stages of seeing how I get on by cutting back booze, risky foods, etc. In other words, I'm resisting allo for the moment. Had two weeks completely fine - down the gym, playing golf, etc - and started to get complacent. Drinking half a bottle of white wine most nights again and allowing diet to slip a little. Before I went to bed last night, I felt a slight twinge round the usual big toe joint. Not pain, just the tell-tale gentle throb. I took a voltaren before bed, and although the throbbing got worse during the night, the attack never happened and I'm completely pain free again this morning. Phew.
What I'm wondering is what is actually happening during an episode like this? Are more crystals forming, or is it just that the crystals that are already there are somehow attracting the attention of my inflammatory cells? If so, how and why do they do this? It makes more sense to me that if I'm creating a UA spike again, that more crystals must be forming. If that's the case, why did the attack never happen at all?
The other question is what is received wisdom on the time it takes for food or drink ingested to convert to UA? From reading people's mails, it seems to be very quick - almost instant in some cases.
Thanks for your help in advance.
matt

Michael,
To convert u mols to m mols divide by 1000.
The other US unit is in milligrams...divide this by 16.6 to convert to m mols
Best wishes
Ted

I have been experiencing a few unpleasant symptoms, seemingly since
I started taking allo, which seem reminiscent of colchicine
symptoms. For the last week and a half (since I "upped" to the full
300mg/ day dose of allo) I have had a perpetually sour stomach
accompanied by horrifically sour sulfur belches. I have also had
chronic diarrhea and enough gas to fill the Hindenburg thirty times
over. No matter what I eat or drink, it remains just the same. I
expect these symptoms with colchicine, but nothing I have read says
anything about these symptoms in regard to allo (and I haven't had
colchicine in a few days, just because I thought it may be the
culprit). Typically these symptoms are gone within a day of
stopping the colchicine, but these persist.
Has anyone else had a similar experience? I could just have a case
of mild food poisoning or a stomach virus, but the coincidence of
that happening just as I started the drug therapy has me wondering.
I am hydrating hard, and taking vitamins to reduce the chance that I
may become anemic again due to the loss of fluid and nutrients.
Let's see, wieghing the balance of sitting on the pot until my legs
go numb from cut off circulation OR laying in bed because my knees
and ankles look like red softballs and hurt like a red hot poker
jambed in the joint... THE TOILET WINS!! Hopefully, this is just
an adjustment period...
Sorry to be so graphic, but things are as they are.

I have just joined this site and have been reading posts tonight and
wonder what is culcchine? I put the word in my search engine and
nothing came up. Where do you get it from? does it have to be
prescribed by the doctor? Thanks, Sandra

I went to the doctor about six months ago because I was getting these
little hard bumps under the skin of my foot. I first noticed them
when there was 3 and now I have 6 of them. My doctor told me I had
Gout and was surprised that I had not experienced a major pain
episode. My mother had Gout and had painful episodes where she
couldn't walk for weeks.
My doctor prescribed Allopurinol 300 mg 1X daily and told me if I
didn't take it regularly and had