Silly hats and whistles

Are there any New Year's plans afoot?

Well, I'm sure you drank something Monday night/Tuesday morning. What was it?

Since I'm just getting over my most severe gout attack in some few years, I've unfortunately had to curtail the alcohol for a while. I had lots of Iced Tea (another beverage seriously implicated in gout, go figure) in a failed attempt to see me still awake as the New Year came in.

Just a side note any interest in opening a group to discuss gout and gout related literature? Seems to me one of the protagonists toward the end of Pickwick suffered seriously with gout. One of the treatments before modern medicine was to drink away the pain, which of course made it that much worse.

Switch to herb tea and try black cherry juice as a gout cure. When you get better use it as a mixer.
;-)

I think a gout group might be interesting. There does seem to be a lot of literature out there, particularly 19th century, where gout sufferings plague many a character.

geneg (#3) I've had a sore foot for the last three weeks or so although it's only painful at times — for a time I thought I was burning it on a hot water bottle during sleep as it's often worse in the mornings. Once it was quite discoloured and swollen (as it still is but not to same degree). I have to say gout is at the back of my mind. Now the holiday is over I'll get off to see the doctor. BUT I'm resisting so far any possible link with alcohol.

I'd like to see if we get any more interest in gout before setting up a group. LT is littered with dead groups, some of them I've set up myself.

varielle: If I have to look at another cherry or drink another drop of cherry juice, I think I'll scream. Cherries are one of my favorite treats in the world, but enough is enough. I've been drinking a mixture of cherry juice, apple cider vinegar, and water. Have you ever tried to drink vinegar, even when its disguised so you can't taste it? Oh, believe me, you can't fool your stomach, it knows. It knows you're trying to commit suicide by ulcer.

PossMan: my gout is usually worse in the evening than the morning. I was actually reduced to crawling around at one point. I take medication for it. I take Allopurinol, a general anti-inflammatory when I feel it first coming on. Most of the time that takes care of it, but when it doesn't I take a stronger anti-inflammatory, an extract of capsaicin, the hot in hot peppers, called Indomethicin. This always clears it up, but it might be from 2 days to a week.

These medications probably have different names in the UK.

As varielle suggests there are many folk remedies, many involving cherries and cherry juice and vinegar.

If we get some more general discussion of gout I'll set up a group.

Asked the pharmacist today what they had for gout but as usual the ladies in Boots were their normal snooty selves as if their role as nostrum sellers makes them superior to sales assistants in other shops. Got the usual "not over the counter" routine which they enunciate in a voice/tone that makes it clear what they really mean is "we know exactly what will do the trick but we're not going to let you have any until you bring a piece of paper from a doctor". They did relent enough to suggest Ibuprofen which is an anti-inflammatory pain-killer so probably works like the Allopurinol geneg mentions. I have found it helpful in the past but thought a pharmacist might have something more specific. Next time I'm in town I might try the Chinese herbalist. And my wife's cherries which I normally hardly touch but she loves.

Ibuprofen is a pretty poor substitute for Allopurinol as an anti-inflammatory. It does not act in the same way as Indomethicin, which breaks up the uric acid deposits and treats the cause as well as the pain.

When we find ourselves with a prescription for a really effective pain killer, we generally hoard as many of them as possible. I treated the pain this last time with some hydrocodone tablets left over from another painful issue. They helped a good bit.

If, indeed, you have gout, believe me you will want to do whatever it takes, even amputation, to get rid of it. After being wounded twice in Vietnam, having my sinuses probed, and having my prostate removed, I have never experienced anything as painful as a full on gout attack.

Geneg: I'm sorry — I can see I was being too flippant in my remarks. But believe me it's over two years since I've been to my doctor so the fact I'm even considering calling the surgery (his office?) means I'm taking this seriously. I apologise sincerely if I came across as making fun of gout sufferers. I'll come back here when I've had his opinion. As you imply I may be wrong in thinking gout is the problem but this was a doctor's diagnosis some years ago when I had similar trouble. And I know my father had it.

Poss, I didn't think you were being flippant. I just thought maybe you had something other than gout. I don't know about you, but when I get it, amputation seems like a viable solution. But not really. To me, the pain of gout is like being seasick: at first you're afraid you are going to die, and then after a short while, you're afraid you're not!

How disappointing to read through the New Year's thread to discover it has nothing to do with celebratory libations and everything to do with gout! Of all things!

And I had been particularly hoping LT-ers had celebrated New Year's well because we skipped it at our house. No, not gout. But my husband threw out his back and spent the 31st and the 1st in bed, not moving. So, other than his pharma-cocktail of Flexeril and Aleve, he imbibed nothing. Champagne alone was too grim for me, so I was left to liven up my usual bourbon and soda with a splash of pomegranate -- whoopee!

We did get a belated celebration on the 5th, when Hubby was back on his feet. We enjoyed a domestic sparkler -- Argyle Brut this year to commemorate our return to Oregon. Mighty nice.

Point taken.

I had a wonderful gout-free evening with a small group of friends. And began 2008 with a hangover. Ah, tradition!

On the gout theme there's an article in today's newspaper (based on a study in British Medical Journal) suggesting that fruit juice (especially fructose-rich ones) may also have a role. There's a brief account here on the BBC website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7219473.stm

Fifteen months later, I join the party...I've had gout for 28 years, lost toes and had surgeries to remove the uric acid tophi that cause such ghastly pain, and I can report that I'd rather have an organ removed than a gout attack. Yes, I've had an organ removed, too.

But the ultimate condemnation of gout pain comes from my late mother, who gave birth five times: "I'd rather have another baby than a gout attack."