Anyone for Gout?

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by DtheP47

You are taking Ibuprofen though Gordon to alleviate the pain yes?

Take the maximum dose. Incidentally in Spain they sell 600 mg tablets over the counter. Much better than the 400s n 200s you can buy here.
Don't mix with Paracetamol though.

Why shouldn't he take the ibuprofen with paracetamol?
I am just interested to hear if you have been told that they can't be taken together.
It is something my daughter was told was more effective than the single medications.(and it is something I used to great advantage during my working career......we often gave a NSAID suppository with two paracetamol and a cup of coffee)
Caffeine improves the uptake of pain relief medications.

[Retlaw]

Heavens, Retlaw, both feet at once ? How do you manage, I'd have to learn to float! It's not just lumps of lead, is it? It's molten lead.

I manage quite well really apart from having to shuffle, I have one asset in my favour, I don't feel pain like you, if I have been messing about in my shed or working in the back yard or in the garden on sumat, face ache won't let me in until she has examined for cuts, she complains she's fed up of mopping blood up because I've cut myself on somat, and I don't know unless I see it before she does, "stand there until I get the plasters" usual comment.

[Eric]

Why don't you guys lay off the Port?

[Gordon Booth]

Originally Posted by Eric

Why don't you guys lay off the Port?

Funnily enough I said to the doctor 'I might be old but I don't drink Port.'
'What's the connection?' he asked!

These young doctors(he's only 50 odd)-they don't know anything.

[Margaret Pilkington]

gout used to be thought of as a 'toffs' disease.
The toffs ate wild game,venison, partridge, pheasant, offal(kidneys for breakfast) and seafood, lobster mussels crab etc......all these are rich in purines...which causes the uric acid crystals to be deposited in joints.
The cartoons used to show the lord of the manor with his foot on a stool heavily bandaged suffering great pain.

I'm not sure that port is rich in purines, but I am happy to be educated if someone else knows better.

[Margaret Pilkington]

also Gordon.....your Doctor is only young by comparison.
Some of the doctors we(daughter and I) have seen recently still had the dent in their back from their satchel, and really didn't look old enough to be allowed to have a paper round let alone give an anaesthetic.

[Bob Dobson]

Originally Posted by DtheP47

See your GP Gordon.
He will test you for the purines and uric acid crystals in your system that cause it.

Indometacin for the pain management.
Allopurinol to prevent further attacks.
Keeping yourself hydrated also helps.
Works for me.

I agree with DtheP/ I take Alopurinol daily. Very very occasionally I will take Indometacin - usually one capsule will hit it.

[Bob Dobson]

I dribnk a lot of port. I don't think it affects me, though the first time I got gout I had given a bottle a helluva bashing, along with pate. I will think of you later, Gordon when I take a glass or two.

[Gordon Booth]

Originally Posted by Bob Dobson

I agree with DtheP/ I take Alopurinol daily. Very very occasionally I will take Indometacin - usually one capsule will hit it.

There I was thinking I was a lonely martyr to pain. There's 5 more of you already!
We should start a club!

[DtheP47]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Why shouldn't he take the ibuprofen with paracetamol?
I am just interested to hear if you have been told that they can't be taken together.
It is something my daughter was told was more effective than the single medications.(and it is something I used to great advantage during my working career......we often gave a NSAID suppository with two paracetamol and a cup of coffee)
Caffeine improves the uptake of pain relief medications.

I bow to your superior medical knowledge on mixing the two Margaret. Not mixing the two has been part of my regimen not sure why. As far as advice on what and what not to eat, everybody is different. I am pretty convinced that dehydration is the root cause for most people. I get it in both my big toe and hand. When I was marathoning iI used to put it down to an over use injury or a bad landing off a stile in a fell race. When I suspected gout I looked at my diet and have never ever been able to isolate anything that causes a flare up excepting dehydration.

[Margaret Pilkington]

My daughter has had a chronic medical condition for the past few years and this entails relying on pain relief.
Also in my past life we used to advocate using both meds for severe pain.......what i would say is that everyone has a different tolerance to pain, and you should never take more pain meds than you actually need.
So it may take some experimentation to get the mix right, but from what i know of gout it used to make me dear old dad cry...he would always take the maximum dose before bed......a bad nights sleep means the following day is likely to be rubbish......pain during the daytime is a different creature, and you may get away with the ibuprofen and just one paracetamol, but if you don't you know that next time you need to take two with your dose of ibuprofen.
When taking Ibuprofen it is important to make sure you have had something to eat, it can cause irritation to the stomach lining.
And, daft as it sounds, the suppositories with NSAIDs in them have exactly the same effect even though they are going nowhere near your stomach!

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by Gordon Booth

There I was thinking I was a lonely martyr to pain. There's 5 more of you already!
We should start a club!

You can start a club but only water or whisky to drink
Well, I suppose you could have cherry juice for a change.

[DtheP47]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

So it may take some experimentation to get the mix right, but from what i know of gout it used to make me dear old dad cry...he would always take the maximum dose before bed......a bad nights sleep means the following day is likely to be rubbish......pain during the daytime is a different creature, and you may get away with the ibuprofen and just one paracetamol, but if you don't you know that next time you need to take two with your dose of ibuprofen.
When taking Ibuprofen it is important to make sure you have had something to eat, it can cause irritation to the stomach lining.
!

Yes Margaret I always take a big dose at bedtime with yogurt if I suspect an attack is coming on. Works for me.
You probably know men are more likely to get gout than women, however my mate Dr D tells me there are more and more young females having attacks. The high incidence of them taking diuretics for weight loss as a common denominator seems to bear out my "dehydration" theory.

[Gordon Booth]

Well it did the trick!
Whisky(recommended by doctor and nurse)
Water(recommended by DtheP)
Frozen peas, paracetamol.
Slight limp this morning, magic.

The better the whisky the better the cure so I dug out the Glenmorangie.
To save washing glasses I had the whisky and water together.
Not too much whisky, didn't want to spoil the taste of the water. 50/50 seemed about right.
So no need for frozen peas today but I'll keep up the basic cure just for chance.
If OK tomorrow I'll book in the doctors and try and get on the pills.

I'm glad I asked!

[Margaret Pilkington]

Glad to hear that the treatment has been successful....hope the improvement continues.