Gout and Alcohol

How much allopurinol do you take (mg)?

(Forgot to ask), what is your blood urate level like?

Mmm.

I would google the purines in food and look at the results. Moderately high meats such as 100g skinless chicken breast has nearly the equivalent purines as 2 pints of beer or even 2 x 100 g bannans.

My new outlook is 1 source of protein a day from meat or fish in my main meal is no hardship.

Google it!

Google scholarly articles gout alcohol. It shows alcohol triggers gout through dehydration.

As for food - the majority of our purines come from recycling of cells not food intake. Thus losing weight is important, while even vegetarians get gout.

I was aware being overweight does not is a contributing factor was unaware of recycling cells being the majority.

If the latter is true how is it possible to get low uric acid levels.

Lose weight.... ?

if we are very overweight then more cells are being recycled. Losing weight helps if overweight.

However if you have a diet super high in offal meat then cutting down on that will definitely help.

Allopurinol however reduces blood urate of course.

Finally - for most of us gout is a genetic problem and one of aging - the kidney doesn't work as well as it did. Water helps by giving the kidneys a lighter load of toxins to remove.

I sent you a very good video but they won't allow me to send you the link. Therefore I suggest you search for "Gout Education Video" on tubeyou ;-)

It pretty much explains it and unlike other gout vids there it's got no errors.

100 mg daily

low

Two observations:

1. Your cousin who is a vegetarian and has gout. As most of the uric acid comes from the break down of our own cells - of course anyone can get gout. Also she could be taking drugs which induce gout, or could have kidney or liver problems.

2. You seem to regard gout as simply something which gives you pain, and therefore be strong or take a few pain killers and get through it. What you do not seem to understand is that gout is a symptom of hyperuricemia - if you do not treat it - it will kill you.

Wow didn't expect to be atacked like this on a site where we all in the same boat  My cousins freind takes no drugs what so ever and has no kidney or liver problems. On to the 2nd point all I'm saying is having a few beers doesn;t bring on gout everytime. And as for hyperuricemia Of course i understand please don't insult my intelligence. I'm not sure you read my post properly? If you wish to worry yourself to death fine, just don't take the rest of with you ok? 

I didn't get gout until I was 56 and I had long since given up heavy drinking just through getting older really although I drank quite heavily as a young man. I found, up until recently, I could drink ~ 12 units per week of beer and as much as 30 of wine (rarely drank spirits) But things have changed 6 years later (now) and I've had to lower my limits. I don't drink regularly anymore although if I didn't get gout I still might just for the social aspect TBH. It seems to me that we each have to find our own limits and that can change with time. I have noticed that after a couple of years of good management and no attacks I get more blase about it and it takes a bit of pain to get me back on track. I expect, as with most things in old age, I shall give up entirely eventually but I'm not ready yet. Just glad it didn't happen to me in my youth - that would have been hard! 

Firstly I apologise if I misunderstood. If you are saying if you don't get gout then get on and enjoy life - I agree completely.

However I don't understand the reference to the vegetarian reference - as if they cannot get gout. As I said - most - the majority of uric acid comes from our own cells being recycled; therefore a vegetarian can of course get gout.

I don't worry about hyperuricemia because mine is well under control. However most (80%) people with gout and hyperuricemia just take the gout pain from time to time as if that is all it is - a pain in joints. My point is that untreated gout is a pernicious malady which will bring a host of illnesses - principally heart and kidney, without thinking of long term damage to joints and eventual formation of tophi.

Again I apologise for the misunderstanding; and sincerely wish you good health.

However somebody who drinks two beers per day has double the chance of getting gout over a person that doesn't.

Your post seems to suggest that not keeping

Rusty, if someone is a gout sufferer and doesn't take treatment is there a predisposition to getting high cholesterol? I know you said that there is the possibility of damage to kidneys or liver, but what about cholesterol?

I think you're well versed on the subject on gout almost to the level of a medical professional. As for that "character" above who felt your response was an attack clearly has some issues with what is clearly an attack, lol.

I indeed am a vegi and get gout. Most people who get gout get it as a result of their genes, or in some cases previous trauma. 

As far as the alcohol thing is concerned, it's quite simple. Find what types of alcohol create your flare ups, and experiment with quantities. For me, I can drink cider and wine until it comes out of my ears, but I have to be really careful with spirits, bitter, and Guiness. I suspect we are all a bit different

Sochi

Not taking action to severely reverse hyperuricemia for a gout suffer - I've read the research extensively.... the consequences are bad - very bad - not over 2, 5 years but ten years plus. If anyone is interested they can look them up - but they are such that I won't tell people. Those interested go and find the research.

But to answer your cholesterol question - suffering gout and high cholesterol *tend* to go together and gout increases chances of heart problems substantially. It would be sensible for all of us with gout to lose a bit of weight, eat a bit better and do some more exercise. We don't really need me or a doctor telling anyone... our mirror and our scales tell us all what we should do.

Now, if you i what I'd call a "namby-pamby" sufferer, who gets the occasional bi-annual flare but most of the time the blood urate is okay... well I too wouldn't worry about it. Drink more water cut out offal maybe and drink a glass of wine less. But for those of us who are serious gout sufferers it is not to be treated lightly.

(My namby-pamby jibe was intended in mirth and in no way intended to insult the lucky ones who are borderline sufferers.)

Thanks Rusty. I'm definitely not fat at all, my bmi is below 3points the standard. I don't eat offal, ever. I eat meat maybe once a week, but meat has rarely ever bothered me like wheat. I have a doctor's appointment coming up and I'm thinking of asking her to put me on gout medicine to lower my chances of getting cholesterol. I'm thinking of trying opc3. Will wait to see the doctor first.

Depends on what your cholesterol is.

Remember wihen they tell you the risk with cholesterol - say for example 11% over 10 years - it doesn't mean 11 out of 100 people will die - it's talking about the *incressed* risk. So, say your risk was already 10% - your risk has gone from 10% to 11.1%....if you can live with the 10% risk you can probably not worry about 11%.

I'd have thought an almost vegetarian with a lowish BMI, assuming you do some exercise and not all your family died before the age of 33 of heart disease .... you'll probably be ok.

Okay, sounds good. My cholesterol is 203, yikes! I'm afraid of it going higher. This is my real concern.

OMG Sochi, perfect is under 200.

203 is excellent.

But what's important is the levels of the LDL and HDL.

My total cholesterol was 242 and rather than take the drugs I put myself on serious cycling... fixed it in 8 weeks.

You're a vegi- you'll be ok.