Gout attack after uric acid crystals dissolve Posted: 01-01-08 07:58am
Hi all,
I'm new to these forums & from the UK.
A bit of background-i'm 42 (well, will be
in April!), male & am very keen on
natural/herbal medicine. Potted history-I
used to drink, way to much over the last
15 years or so (on a daily basis)-during
the last 8 years or so due to depression,
money worries, death in family, etc &
prior to this my work involved looking
after (if that's the right word!) UK
holidaymakers in the Med, so drink I'm
afraid was endemic with this too!
I've now sorted myself out, rairly drink,
money problems sorted out & a new job
to start soon! Also, I do cardio/weights
at the Gym & am watching what I eat
(using the calorie cycling method, average
I guess about 1600 cals/day but not too
strict!), have lost a few pounds &
look younger than I've done in years!
I first suffered from Gout (at the time
not knowing what it was-thinking it was a
trapped nerve!)about 4 years ago &
suppose I've had 6/7 attacks in that time
(bearing in mind i was drinking heavily on
a daily basis at the time). I only worked
out what it was 2 years or so ago &
have used celery seed tablets, devils
claw, quertecin, vit c, cherries to fairly
good effect when an attack came (The
severity/length much much shorter than
before I took supplements).
So, after getting my self healthy I
started watching my weight & bang!
After absolutely no alcohol for a few wks
& eating healthily/taking the herbal
supps I had an attack in my left foot (big
toe & other toes)-which I 'killed off'
in a few days with the herbals + cherries
(& lots of water!) & then straight
away in my left knee! Now, initially I
thought it was a pulled muscle from the
gym (weight machine + had it before but
only slight a few wks back)-so did not
'up' the herbals-it was only after 4 days
that that familiar 'pain' appeared & I
knw it was gout!
Now....what I could not work out is that
there was no 'trigger' (ie excess booze)
& healthy living for 3 weeks-so most
confused to have an attack!
On ploughing through the web I found out
that if your uric acid level drops fairly
quickly (which I assume it would have done
in relation to no alcohol & the herbal
tablets) any old uric acid crystals can
'redissolve' (I understand from the web
that old crystals are covered up by a
protein membrane once the white cells have
'attacked' them?) & push uric acid
levels again over the critical level??!
Anyway-this was the most
painfull/prolonged attack I've had &
can only link it to my 'healthier'
lifestyle (( gatheer uric acid crystals
build up over many year-also not
hereditiry as neither parent had it).
So....need to have agout-free 2008 &
as starting a new job in a week (my
current attck 90% gone now!) do not want
to be taking time off!
I curently take 3 x celery seed tablets
daily, 1 x 500mg vit c (+ bioflavenoids),
3 glasses of cider vinegar (2tbs in each
glass-after meals-heard it alkalises food
& dissovles uric acid crystals?) in
warm water, 2 milk thistle tablets daily,
1 multivit+iron, & juice of a lemon
(read it stimulates calcium caarbonate
production that helps to alkalise the
body) on waking in warm water.
I also have at least 4 pints water during
the day, a cup of nettle tea as well! I
also severely limit the 'risk' foods! I
also have 20gm ground flax seeds daily
& berry fruit smoothies (blueberries,
strawberries, blaccurrents, etc) &
always go for the '5 a day' fruit &
veg. Also, I rarely eat anything high in
purines....I eat home made organic
wholemeal bread, eggs, good old english
baked beans (!), some dried fruit, organic
porridge, lean white fish...etc
I'm just scared that I'll have another big
attack soon as more old crystals
dissolve!!!
Am i taking the right steps re: the above
supplements/food/water?
Does cider vinegar help dissolve old uric
acid crystals painlessly? Is the same true
for vit c?
I'm hoping that my 'lack of drinking'
compared to the past 15-18 years (!) will
bring about good changes-hopefully stop
the gout too! From my understanding if you
drink regularly/daily the body has
nochance to excrete the uric acid properly
& it consequently settle in the
joints/tissues (oh hell....15-18 years
worth then!).?
Any advice on my way forward would be
great. I so DO NOT want to be on daily
drugs(with their side effects!) from the
doctor!
|
stanl
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 24 Location: San Francisco, CA USA
It could be that this attack is from the
crystals dissolving. From what I've read,
if the concentration of uric acid
decreases below a threshold (about 6
mg/dL, I think) then the body will start
"melting" the crystals to bring up the
uric acid concentration in the blood.
Before it melts them, it needs to
"uncover" them and that causes the immune
system to notice and attack them -- hence
the gout attack. (The drug allopurinol
does something similar -- it lowers the
uric acid level and often causes a gout
attack when you start taking the drug.)
I think I'm undergoing something similar:
I recently had an attack that lasted a few
days before subsiding. Then I started a
baking soda treatment (see www.icuredmygout.org)
which makes the body more alkaline and
causes the uric acid in the blood to
dissolve and be excreted, lowering the
uric acid concentration in the blood. All
of a sudden I had another gout attack,
which I assume is from the crystals
dissolving to compensate for that
decreased concentration. This current
attack seems to be going away slower than
the original attack, so, if I may
generalize, I can conclude that gout
attacks caused by dissolving crystals last
longer than attacks caused by crystals
being formed.
Since it's impossible to tell whether an
attack is from newly formed crystals or
from old crystals dissolving, the only
thing I can think of is to take another
blood test to measure the uric acid level.
(You probably should wait until the
current attack subsides because during an
attack the UA level measurement is usually
too low.)
If it turns out that the UA level is low,
that's good, meaning that you are getting
rid of those crystals (albeit in a painful
way).
|
bethboy
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 01 Jan 2008 Posts: 6
Thanks Stanl! Posted: 01-02-08 02:53am
Hi-yup-cheers for that!
I agree....before i started my new
'non-drinking/moderating' regime (!),
about 2 months ago or so I suddenly had a
week with absolutley no alcohol &
watched what I ate (therefore i guess
upsetting the 'status quo' of how my body
had been for years before!) & again
had an attack-allbeit relatively mild BUT
strangely in my left foot & then my
knee (again at btime as was not that bad
thought the knee thing was a strained
ligament from gym!).
Certainly this attack in terms of severity
& that it was 2 body parts-one after
the other-does see t oquantify, stanl what
you say-attacks do seem worse when due to
lowered blood uric acid levels!
Would you/anyone else be able to comment
re; my cider vinegar (also-here in the UK
it's nigh on impossible to get the
unpasteurised/bragsss one with the
'mother' -live yeast-bit in it-I know this
'live bit provides additional health
benefits BUT assume if just for blood ph
altering & dissolvance of crystals a
standard 'shop bought' organic, clear
cider is ok?)& taking the other
supplements I've mentioned & fresh
lemon on waking?
I'd be very interested in the baking soda
one BUT in the past (we're talking years!)
my blood pressure was high-again due to
the booze! However, my resting hart rate
has definately lowered (machines at gym!)
so hope all is ok in this respect.
