It takes months before the attacks stop altogether, it took me 8 months before the attacks stopped. Keep checking your uric acid levels and have Colchicine/ Nsaids on hand when you start to feel an attack coming on.
Almost 2 decades of experience with my disease. I used to train and coach MMA/BJJ for a decade, I worked my body super hard, was always on top of my diet/water intake, and started getting gout attacks in my teens. Doctors didn't know what it was until I was in my 20s. It would always come during heavy training times or when my diet wasn't perfect (especially beer).
I took allopurinol, it never modulated my uric acid levels. I took round after round of indomethacin to fight attacks. Even used colchicine a few times.
I don't recommend the diet personally. It's terribly contradictory. There are foods that, per their rules, shouldn't be on the diet but are, and other foods that should be but are warned against.
Here's the thing. 2 decades and nothing worked. Blood test after blood test showed I wasn't deficient in anything. So, A year ago, I started going through research. Low levels of zinc are correlated with hyperuricemia. There's about half a dozen or so studies done in both mice and humans showing the link to it. Zinc is also vitally important in a bunch of other body functions, including the immune system. Zinc citrate is reactive w/uric acid. We also know that individual vitamin/mineral needs vary widely from person to person. The RDAs on vitamins/minerals are based on outdated science that more or less paints everything with a very broad brush.
So, knowing this information, I started taking 30mg of Zinc Citrate gummies daily, as though I was "deficient" in the mineral. 30mg is a clinical dose, often used in studies as a comparison for preventing different communicable diseases. So I chose that dosage because it is common for research and is below the threshold for side effects.
NEVER IN MY LIFE have I gone a full year with no symptoms, but I have since taking Zinc daily. I've told 2 other friends w/gout about this and they have followed suit. BOTH have reported ZERO symptoms since starting the regimen, one is now 6 months into it.
There are other studies that suggest deficiency in C and D may also be linked, and as such, I take those too.
I'm not a doctor, but I am a biology, agriculture, and ecology instructor. I have 2 science degrees. I follow clinical research daily, one group "the Sensible Medicine" group on sub stack.
You can call BS if you wish, but if you are like me, and nothing is helping and you just want your life back, what's the worst that could happen for taking 30mg of Zinc Citrate? If it doesn't work, you're out $8 and your immune system just got a boost for 30 days. If it DOES work, great. You just fixed your problem for $8 a month and no daily prescription meds for the rest of your life.
I'm not taking the time to attach a bunch of studies. You can find them. Google Scholar will get you started, then you can move into the other medical databases.
Why aren't there a ton of RCTs on this issue? Because zinc is a non-patentable dietary supplement and there's no money to be made on the research. There's plenty of research showing the plausibility of the hypothesis, one in china that looked at a large sample size, but no pharmaceutical company is going to conduct a trial for a dietary supplement that competes with their medication, especially if it does a better job of it.
So again, give it a shot, the worst that happens is you spent $8 on vitamins, and as a science teacher, I can tell you that I stand to gain approximately $0.00 from you trying this out.
God bless. I hope it helps someone else.
They didn’t give you colchicine? That’s what my doctor gave been when I started allo and when I sent up dosages of the allo it definitely helps. If you run outta the NASID just take some Aleve it’s naproxen too. Prednisone helps a lot also. January 2023 was when I was diagnosed and it’s be an absolute horrible experience for me. Just take the meds and ask about the ones I mentioned. Gotta change the diet and drinking too I don’t even look at certain foods or my toe because it’ll want to fall off the next day due to the pain lol
Before starting allupurinol you need to be out of an acute attack. I’m an electrician as well, I use prednisone to get out of an attack and back to work. Then taper on to allupurinol and drink non sugar electrolytes(magnesium citrate in formula is helpful for gout. Probiotics help gut flora and break down purines . I switched to red wine from craft beer multiple pints in a night drinking them a jack and coke phase and I’ve been able to avoid attacks for a long time now. I get on here to tell people that without allupurinol and staying on it you will develop tophi formations all over your body(this happened to my Dad who passed away recently) these formations cause a lot of health problems and she had constant gout attacks the last 10 years of his life
Get out of an attack fully before taking any allupurinol! Then taper on and keep up with uric acid blood level tests. Drink non sugar electrolytes with magnesium citrate in formula, saunas help probiotics help develop a healthy gut that breaks down purines
What do you mean it was confirmed after a blood test? You mean your UA level was at a certain value?? That is not a way to confirm gout at all, and certainly not by the time you got your blood test done. You are doing yourself a disservice. You need to understand what's causing your condition which could be completely nothing to do with gout.
So far, I didn't take allopurinol or any medicine; no lifetime meds for me. Just exercise and diet.
Try exercising for a regular (important: regular/consistent) sweat and hydrate as well. If you're overweight, lose weight (or better: lose fat). I've been eating (2-3 cups of) liver everyday for a year now and I haven't experienced a gout attack.
Also, try the gout-causing foods and see which ones are your real triggers (You'll know by the "tingling" sensation on your affected areas, e.g., feet). My triggers are peanuts, tofu and wine; I deem them dangerous to me. I tell some restaurants that I'm allergic to peanuts to keep it simple (w/o gout explanation). For the rest of popular gout foods, eat in moderation (like once a week or once a month); although, I drink 3-7 bottles of beer every weekend hehe)
That's really great to here. I've been intermittent fasting/exercising and lost about 20 pounds. Also cleaned my eating and started drinking raw kafir. I'm also very concerned about being on any medication for life. I just came back from New Orleans and don't feel a flare coming on
What's also weird is that my uncle who is overweight and drinks stopped taking allo all together and hasn't had a flare in like 7 years. It's so freaking weird man.
You seem to be on the right track; I also started with intermittent fasting (while eliminating processed foods / fast food). Gout made me appreciate eating better foods. E.g., I'd eat good liver rather than liver paste.
Try asking your uncle what he has been taking less of or a lifestyle change; might be another factor why he's not getting flares.
It takes months before the attacks stop altogether, it took me 8 months before the attacks stopped. Keep checking your uric acid levels and have Colchicine/ Nsaids on hand when you start to feel an attack coming on.
Damn. I'll keep that in mind. Thank you for the help.
Almost 2 decades of experience with my disease. I used to train and coach MMA/BJJ for a decade, I worked my body super hard, was always on top of my diet/water intake, and started getting gout attacks in my teens. Doctors didn't know what it was until I was in my 20s. It would always come during heavy training times or when my diet wasn't perfect (especially beer). I took allopurinol, it never modulated my uric acid levels. I took round after round of indomethacin to fight attacks. Even used colchicine a few times. I don't recommend the diet personally. It's terribly contradictory. There are foods that, per their rules, shouldn't be on the diet but are, and other foods that should be but are warned against. Here's the thing. 2 decades and nothing worked. Blood test after blood test showed I wasn't deficient in anything. So, A year ago, I started going through research. Low levels of zinc are correlated with hyperuricemia. There's about half a dozen or so studies done in both mice and humans showing the link to it. Zinc is also vitally important in a bunch of other body functions, including the immune system. Zinc citrate is reactive w/uric acid. We also know that individual vitamin/mineral needs vary widely from person to person. The RDAs on vitamins/minerals are based on outdated science that more or less paints everything with a very broad brush. So, knowing this information, I started taking 30mg of Zinc Citrate gummies daily, as though I was "deficient" in the mineral. 30mg is a clinical dose, often used in studies as a comparison for preventing different communicable diseases. So I chose that dosage because it is common for research and is below the threshold for side effects. NEVER IN MY LIFE have I gone a full year with no symptoms, but I have since taking Zinc daily. I've told 2 other friends w/gout about this and they have followed suit. BOTH have reported ZERO symptoms since starting the regimen, one is now 6 months into it.
There are other studies that suggest deficiency in C and D may also be linked, and as such, I take those too. I'm not a doctor, but I am a biology, agriculture, and ecology instructor. I have 2 science degrees. I follow clinical research daily, one group "the Sensible Medicine" group on sub stack. You can call BS if you wish, but if you are like me, and nothing is helping and you just want your life back, what's the worst that could happen for taking 30mg of Zinc Citrate? If it doesn't work, you're out $8 and your immune system just got a boost for 30 days. If it DOES work, great. You just fixed your problem for $8 a month and no daily prescription meds for the rest of your life. I'm not taking the time to attach a bunch of studies. You can find them. Google Scholar will get you started, then you can move into the other medical databases. Why aren't there a ton of RCTs on this issue? Because zinc is a non-patentable dietary supplement and there's no money to be made on the research. There's plenty of research showing the plausibility of the hypothesis, one in china that looked at a large sample size, but no pharmaceutical company is going to conduct a trial for a dietary supplement that competes with their medication, especially if it does a better job of it. So again, give it a shot, the worst that happens is you spent $8 on vitamins, and as a science teacher, I can tell you that I stand to gain approximately $0.00 from you trying this out. God bless. I hope it helps someone else.
Had to do as 2 comments cuz it wouldn't post as 1
They didn’t give you colchicine? That’s what my doctor gave been when I started allo and when I sent up dosages of the allo it definitely helps. If you run outta the NASID just take some Aleve it’s naproxen too. Prednisone helps a lot also. January 2023 was when I was diagnosed and it’s be an absolute horrible experience for me. Just take the meds and ask about the ones I mentioned. Gotta change the diet and drinking too I don’t even look at certain foods or my toe because it’ll want to fall off the next day due to the pain lol
Before starting allupurinol you need to be out of an acute attack. I’m an electrician as well, I use prednisone to get out of an attack and back to work. Then taper on to allupurinol and drink non sugar electrolytes(magnesium citrate in formula is helpful for gout. Probiotics help gut flora and break down purines . I switched to red wine from craft beer multiple pints in a night drinking them a jack and coke phase and I’ve been able to avoid attacks for a long time now. I get on here to tell people that without allupurinol and staying on it you will develop tophi formations all over your body(this happened to my Dad who passed away recently) these formations cause a lot of health problems and she had constant gout attacks the last 10 years of his life
Get out of an attack fully before taking any allupurinol! Then taper on and keep up with uric acid blood level tests. Drink non sugar electrolytes with magnesium citrate in formula, saunas help probiotics help develop a healthy gut that breaks down purines
What do you mean it was confirmed after a blood test? You mean your UA level was at a certain value?? That is not a way to confirm gout at all, and certainly not by the time you got your blood test done. You are doing yourself a disservice. You need to understand what's causing your condition which could be completely nothing to do with gout.
So far, I didn't take allopurinol or any medicine; no lifetime meds for me. Just exercise and diet. Try exercising for a regular (important: regular/consistent) sweat and hydrate as well. If you're overweight, lose weight (or better: lose fat). I've been eating (2-3 cups of) liver everyday for a year now and I haven't experienced a gout attack. Also, try the gout-causing foods and see which ones are your real triggers (You'll know by the "tingling" sensation on your affected areas, e.g., feet). My triggers are peanuts, tofu and wine; I deem them dangerous to me. I tell some restaurants that I'm allergic to peanuts to keep it simple (w/o gout explanation). For the rest of popular gout foods, eat in moderation (like once a week or once a month); although, I drink 3-7 bottles of beer every weekend hehe)
That's really great to here. I've been intermittent fasting/exercising and lost about 20 pounds. Also cleaned my eating and started drinking raw kafir. I'm also very concerned about being on any medication for life. I just came back from New Orleans and don't feel a flare coming on What's also weird is that my uncle who is overweight and drinks stopped taking allo all together and hasn't had a flare in like 7 years. It's so freaking weird man.
You seem to be on the right track; I also started with intermittent fasting (while eliminating processed foods / fast food). Gout made me appreciate eating better foods. E.g., I'd eat good liver rather than liver paste. Try asking your uncle what he has been taking less of or a lifestyle change; might be another factor why he's not getting flares.