my polymyalgia & gout?

[quote:2ef1928db5=\"donone\"]approaching my 2nd yr of pmr and steroids I have been monitered at the doctors, nurses taking esr samples every month and advising me to reduce them when possible I have been stuck on 11ml for months now(after starting on 30ml} The doctor sent me to see consultant at the hospital about a very sore heel and he took various samples and said that I had got gout (gouty arthritis) all over the place and that could be the reason that my esr will not go down he has told me I have been on steroids far to long and too higher strength and i was heading for trouble big time (his words) he said I must not have any alcohol red meat pies or any processed foods so I have started taking his advice (I have always had a drink and enjoyed my food so it will be hard going).This might help someone that suspects they may be in the same situation and think it might help

donone

merry christmas (dry)[/quote:2ef1928db5]

hi there , i am sorry that your on your 2cnd year of pmr ,you should try the slimming worl diet ( even if you dont have to loose waite ) as its got a green day and a red day and theres a lot of ideas of what you can eat on it the green day sounds the right day for you as you dont eat meat or procesed food , i was on it and lost 2 stone it does take a bit of time to get used to it , hope this helps you as i know how hard it is when you cant eat a lot foods .

Hi me again

what I forgot to say on my last letter was that the consultant as reduced my steroids immediatley 1ml and to reduce them by 1ml per month for the next 6mths no matter what my esr reading is and has put me on alendronic tablets to stop weak bones thro/ the steroids. one other thing is that only some ladies get gout as it is mostly men i will have a look at that diet program to try and loose weight thank you

donone[/u]

Hi Donone,

My Consultant put me straight on alendronic tablets when I saw her and I was wondering if you have any side effects from them. I make a conscious decision not to look at the side effects of any new tablets, going by the theory that if I don't know what they are, I may not get them! However for the past three weeks I have had stomach ache for a couple of days after taking the tablet, especially at night. I feel very full and uncomfortable although its something I can put up with - I'm not doubled up or anything. I will be mentioning it to the Consultant next week when I see her, but thought as you may have been taking it longer than me you may know more about it than I do. Hope you're keeping well.

Regards Lizzie Ellen.

Hi Donone and Jane01

With regard to the advice you have been given to avoid certain foods including processed foods, I can relate to this having suffered increased pain in my joints particularly after Christmas for some years. This was most noticeable some years ago when I suffered badly with RSI in my thumb joints and was fitted with plaster cast splints for my hands. They always worsened after Christmas. Traditionally we have cooked a fair sized gammon joint each Christmas and enjoyed it for a couple of weeks afterwards, and a few years ago I put two and two together and put it down to the gammon. Weirdly another food that eventually proved to be a factor was Magnum ice creams (on sticks).

I now rarely have ham or sausages and then only organic, and I only occasionally eat organic ice cream.

Oily fish such as sardines, mackerel, salmon are fantastic foods to eat especially for us PMR sufferers, so you could try to have those a few times a week and hopefully you will then have some relief from your heel pain, Donone. Good luck.

MrsO

Hi all!

During my time with pmr, I had gout once or twice - at least the doctor and I thought so. I took 1 - 2 Diclofenac a day. Diclofenac is marketed as Voltaren and under a number of other trade names. I had no problems drinking wine those days, but in a Swedish discussion forum I see that 50 % are against alcohol while having diclofenac and 50 % say it was OK for them - a couple of beer, one said. I had Omeprazole for the stomache when I started taking Prednisone but could finish after some months as I had no stomache problems. Omeprazole could be good to use together with Diclofenac as they may hurt the stomache (ulcer). You should Google Diclofenac and Omeprazole to get information about them.

Ragnar

Hi,

A couple of comments. Mrs O you've made me sad :cry:. My Christmas gammon and holiday Magnums are the two things my whole world revolves around :lol:. Seriously, I take on board what you're saying and its made me think. I used to get really painful joints (especially toes and fingers) and since starting Prednisolone and going off chocolate (this happened almost immediately, strange or what?) I haven't noticed the joint pains. It'll take huge willpower to resist the Christmas gammon though.

Just a thought for Donone: My GP mate recommends Arthrotec for gout as it is enteric-coated diclofenac and much, much kinder on the stomach. However I think you'd have to push your GP to prescribe them as I expect they're more expensive than Volterol.

Keep well everyone.

Regards Lizzie Ellen

Oh, Lizzie Ellen, I don't want to make anyone sad, and don't give up your beloved Christmas gammon. I will enjoy mine with the turkey on Christmas Day but will then try and resist it and leave the remainder to my husband and son which I'm sure won't be any problem to them!

Unlike you, I haven't gone off chocolate so that is where all my willpower will be needed over the Christmas period.

Different foods will obviously trigger different reactions in each of us but I do really believe that all of us will derive huge benefit from certain foods such as my previously mentioned oily fish, garlic and that daily live yoghurt for our stomachs.

HOWEVER, having said all that, go on everyone and have just what you want over Christmas - it's only once a year..........PMR is for the whole year!!!

I see we're in for a very cold weekend but I think we'll probably all prefer that to all that paddling about we've had to do of late! So keep warm and as comfortable as possible everyone.

MrsO

I wonder if there's a garlic flavoured Magnum :lol: Problem solved :!:

Well, I've seen a bar of chocolate with Chilli flavouring and hubby says he has seen a recipe for garlic fudge so keep looking Lizzie Ellen - you never know there might be one in your Christmas stocking!

hello all

thank you for all your comments and feed back on my (gouty) subject

I cannot say that I have any tummy problems thr'o taking the alendronic

tablets apart from the normal bloating that comes with the steroids and co-codamol. I take one alendronic a week on a monday morning and it says to keep standing for a while after taking it I will let you know if my esr keeps stable while I reduce the steroids over the next 6 mths if it does it could be the gout that is keeping it up many thanks again

donone