1st Gout Attack

by Dr. Shaolin Merchant
(New Delhi, Delhi, India)

I am a 24 yrs old male. I am also a Doctor. Until 1 year ago I used to drink a lot of soft drinks and eat lot of meat and fish. In last year my soft drinks frequency has decreases from 1 in a day to 1 in a month. My meat has been limited to chicken 4 times or less a week. This change was due to my change in the country. Now a week earlier I had excruciating pain in the morning in the great toe of my right foot. I didn't hurt myself and neither there was history of trauma. I suspected gout but was not sure so started taking Acetaminophen. It didn't work. So I applied analgesic ointment and tied a tight bandage. It decreased the intensity of the pain but at night again there was pain in the same area but was much worse. I ate acetaminophen and applied ointment but didn't work. So I immersed my leg in hot water until the pain subsided and then went to sleep.
Next morning I asked a senior Doctor about it and told he told me to check my Serum Uric Acid levels which came out to be 8.1 (normal is less than 7.2)
I showed the senior Doctor the result and he told me that I should not eat meat of any kind for 4 months and re check my Uric Acid levels in 4 weeks.
So in mean time I did some research of my own and the data provided below is by the reference of Harrison's Medicine 19th Edition and Consultation of a MD Medicine
Food never to eat in gout are Soft drinks, beer, meat, fish
Food doubtful in gout coffee tea
Food good for gout are eggs and green tea
Medicine to take in acute pain if you have already been diagnosed of Gout Indomethacin or Ibuprofen
Medicine to take in acute pain if you have high levels or uric acid but haven't been diagnosed by gout Ibuprofen 400mg 4 times a day for 7 days and reduce the frequency after 7 days if the pain goes away.
Drugs used in chronic gout. Allopurinol or Feburic Acid. These are taken lifelong
Last but not the least is reducing weight and tummy. Obesity is one of the main factor to convert hyperuricemia (increased uric acid in blood) to Gout. In chronic gout you may prevent recurrence of an acute attack by reducing your tummy and decreasing obesity.