30 year old suffering Gout

by northernguitar

I got my first gout attack at 30 years of age. Thought I hurt myself mountain biking and in the middle of the night severe pain. Went to the doctor, had x-rays, ultra-sound, blood tests and then got sent to a sports injury specialist. Here in Canada it's all free. The specialist took one look and said "Gout". I thought that was rich man's disease or old man's disease I said and the doctor explained that it is a metabolism imbalance inherited and that alcohol, rich foods, shellfish, mushrooms, asparagus, oatmeal etc....you all know the story.
I've always drank beer, but I always ate an almost vegetarian diet, (fish twice a week) Since then I've had about 30 more attacks, (I'm now 50) each time after the attack was over I'd be good and no beer or beer only on weekends for a few months but as a very active athlete I'd always be hanging with other guys after a mountain bike ride or cross country ski and put down a few with the predictable result. I've finally reached a stage where if I have one day of beer drinking (two beers) I've got gout the next few days. I'm completely vegan now. A lot of the things I used to enjoy consuming in life are gone now. Still the attacks come. This is an awful disease and I find the worst thing is not just the pain and not being able to get around but the attitude of people who you tell. They either laugh about it thinking you've just had too good a life or they think you're a substance abuser and loser.
This gout thing sucks but there's always something worse.

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Sep 10, 2017
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32 yo gout sufferer
by: Anonymous

G'day folks
another fellow Aussie here. I have my birthday 7th sept and was drinking my arse off I drunk 4 6-packs and got this excruciating very sharp pain in my big left toe couldn't sleep for 2 nights and I was crippled. I went too the doctors told me its gout drinking too much beer and getting too fat and so now I decided I hate gout more then I love beer so I am going to quit drinking I think its better anyways but I will miss it but gout is one hell of a birthday present aye. I apologize for bad grammar I am a shite typer.

May 19, 2016
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Gout
by: Bob K

Greetings all, I have been suffering from Gout for proximately 30 years. I tried allopurinol and believe it or not will my hair started falling out of my head. I stopped immediately and fortunately my hair grow back. My father had been on allopurinol and was bald but we just assumed it was genetic. Diet definitely helps. I have been using a product called phion. It is a white powder comprised of minerals and help to keep the body more alkaline. While it works pretty well, if I eat or drink certain foods, I get an attack. Believe it or not, diet sodas and imitation sugar products like equal and Sacharin give me horrible gout. Champagne and whiskeys also give me gout attacks . But I can drink tequila, vodka, red wine white wine and beer all day and do not suffer from gout. The only product on the market that I can say keeps me completely gout free is cholcrys/ Colchicine/ mitigare on a daily basis.

Mar 31, 2016
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In the process of curing my gout
by: Pat

I am 32 now and have had pain in my ankle for years. Many times I would get an MRI and bloodwork to no avail. Recently as I have gained weight and had a very bad attack a rheumatologist finally diagnosed me with gout. My uncle has been on allopurinol for 30 years with no side effects. I just started taking a medicine to help my body adjust to taking allopurinol. So far I can deduce this specifically about my gout. Alchohol is so bad for gout because it dehydrates you sometimes a lot of water cannot help you regain what Alchohol has taken. However my worst attacks came after aggressive excersise followed by eating and drinking with my buddies. The dehydration really causes bad flare ups. It's great to see other people who understand what this is like as was said in another post, I have been the butt of many of my friends jokes. They simply can't fathom the pain of a big attack. This group has really helped me and I hope my situation can help others!

Jun 17, 2015
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Keep us in the loop
by: Peter

As a fellow aussie, I have been where you are now years ago.
You can control your gout but only after testing what works for you.

Please let this site know your progress.

regards

Peter
Gout Aware

Jun 17, 2015
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Fellow young gout sufferer
by: Aussie 31yo

Hi all, thanks for the posts.
Just a few words after 100+ hours on the web and gout attacks since around 25 years old (although no idea what they were as a young lad - would show up once a year or so and I could not see the correlation to a big weekend etc as it would show up three days later and I also never heard of gout...) ANYONE who has had an attack can tell you how horrible it is, I just wanted to share how important I am just realising (31 yo now - so six years I could have been fixing my issue.... stupid...) how important it is to get this sorted properly. I have tophi in my right toe after one big attack and get tingles in my heel arches - it is a mental head f__k watching your toe grow very slowly and considering lack of future mobility.
I have tried all the herbal / cider / online pills / diet etc and to be honest some really work to give the illusion that all is ok. well... its not - they help but get on the proper stuff and do your homework first - trust yourself and your instinct more that the doc and if you can get on allopurinol - do it, research it (dosage is ultra important - not enough and it cant fight for you to get to the magic number - like a plug thats too small in a hole, acid will still get through to your joints) from proper studies and get your uric acid under control. I have finally taken the plunge - not fixed yet as I know it takes time however this is not something to let lie and wait for another attack. get it sorted so you can live your life as normally as possible. Ill update with my results from allopurinol - starting at 150 a day then plan to go to 300 and see where the levels are at.

Mar 16, 2015
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Allopurinol works
by: Steve

All, just a follow up to my post a couple years ago. I saw a gout specialist in NYC, and he prescribed a small dose of Allopurinol to be taken daily. We started with colchicine too. After a short period of being on both, my Uric acid was down and he stopped the colchicine, so now I just take 200mg of Allopurinol per day.

Two years in and I have to say it completely worked for me. I haven't had a single Gout attack, and I pretty much eat and drink whatever I want. I still generally avoid beer as a precaution, and have never been a heavy drinker, but aside from the 2 pills I take each night before bed my lifestyle is exactly the same as it was before I was diagnosed. My uric acid stays just under 5, and I almost never even feel a twinge in my foot anymore.

I was really hesitant to go on any medication for the rest of my life, but I have to say that it's been a lifesaver and with a very long history of use, it's extremely safe. I read that stuff about SJS and was nervous but my doctor convinced me that it's an extremely rare side effect that you'd catch before it became really dangerous anyway. He was right, zero side effects at all. If you have Gout, you shouldn't wait and just get on Allopurinol - we're lucky to have such a treatable condition!

Mar 16, 2015
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Worse than childbirth
by: Anonymous

I have just turned 30 and am having my first episode of gout! It is agonising pain by far worse than giving birth to my 2 children without pain relieve. I am 5.7ft 9 stone and have a bmi of 21 so I can't figure out how on earth I ended up with this as I'm really healthy! I have it in the top of my foot and physically can't walk and cry with pain. I find it so embarrassing

Feb 20, 2015
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Fed up newly diagnosed with gout
by: Anonymous

I had my first attack at 23 after the birth of my son and now age 28 im finally getting diagnosed. I was starting to think the pain was all in my head and i was crazy! Finally after umpteen blood tests, it was diagnosed. It was only recently so hopefully soon with the right medication the pain will subside and i can get back to a normal happy life.

Mar 14, 2013
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Just joined the under-40 Gout club too
by: Steve

Really appreciated your post. Just had my first attack at 37 and suddenly feel so much older.

I disagree with the poster above though - my attack came in the evening after I had some Sake at a Japanese restaurant, and I hadn't had any other alcoholic drinks for about 3-4 weeks before that. So I'm staying away from Sake, drinking a whole lot more water than I used to, and watching my diet while I await the results of blood tests to confirm my uric acid levels.

It really sucks because I'm heading to my cousin's bachelor party this weekend and it's the first "drinking event" since the diagnosis where I'll have to avoid most drinking. Will probably slip the bartender a $20 or something to have them discreetly make my drinks virgin, and just pretend I'm getting as drunk as everyone else! .I'm not a great actor, but they'll be too messed up to tell anyway!

Jun 07, 2012
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GOUT
by: BASHATHEBARBARIAN

Regarding Gout exercise, beer and veganism!
I'm afraid I sympathise with all of you, I'm 43 an ex Royal Marine who has been fit and healthy for all my life. I was the same working on a high steeple and thought that I had torn a tendon or something in the foot/ankle/toe area... I am a strict vegetarian and a keen mountain biker, I have visited the doctor and hospital with this complaint, all they suggest is medication.
I have been conducting my own experiments and have found that things like junk food-ice cream, pizza, take aways and any kind of alcohol makes /induces some sort of attack or swelling, it is unfortunately a curse as a I love real ale but if I indulge an attack is 48 hrs later.
I have figured that Uric acid is relevant to body weight and if you drop to a Bmi that is within the normal ranges and abstain from all the good things in life it may help.
I think Gout has no preferences it chooses to f@*k all our lives up no matter how active or healthy we are...

Dec 16, 2009
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Dude I am in the same boat as you I am now 34
by: Anonymous

I had to switch diets from vegan and back, but the best thing I learned was that you can drink Japanese SAKE and it won't affect your gout as much as beer, wine or scotch. SAKE is also a good stress reliever and made from pure rice. It is probably the cleanest most refined alcohol but can get expensive. but if you can get a buzz and not get GOUT, it's all worth it. PLease try it for a night and let me know if it works out for you OK?

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