gout!!

[hectorzaza]

Have just been diagnosed with gout and my dear Dr told me I only had a 10min appt and to look everything up on www.patient.co.uk.It advises supplements of Vitamin C but another site says this is not advisable in diabetes as can raise blood sugar!!!!!!!! ehhhhhh????????
What's going on here!!!!!!!!!😱

 

[Northerner]

I'm sorry to hear about this additional problem I don't know a great deal about it myself, but one of our members, pippin, has experience of trying to balance the diet so that it can work for both diabetes and gout - hopefully she will be along and able to give you some pointers to help you. 🙂

How unprofessional of your doctor to rush through the diagnosis and leave you to look things up for yourself - he's paid to use his knowledge of your particular situation so that you know what is best for you, not the generic information on a website.

 

[hectorzaza]

I'm sorry to hear about this additional problem I don't know a great deal about it myself, but one of our members, pippin, has experience of trying to balance the diet so that it can work for both diabetes and gout - hopefully she will be along and able to give you some pointers to help you. 🙂

How unprofessional of your doctor to rush through the diagnosis and leave you to look things up for yourself - he's paid to use his knowledge of your particular situation so that you know what is best for you, not the generic information on a website.

Ah thanks,I hope I hear from Pippin

 

[pippin]

Hi Hectorzaza
Hope I can help you I'm just on my iPhone tonight so it takes a wee bit longer to type.
My dad suffers from gout and diabetes although currently under control. Unfortunately a lot of foods which are recommended for diabetes can exacerbate gout. Purines in these foods cause the uric acid levels in your blood to rise forming crystals on the joints and mega pain!

Oats/pulses/dark green leafy veg/oily fish can all contribute these are the foods we have to watch when dad has a gout attack yet they are excellent for diabetes.

If you could approach your Dr again ask him to prescribe colchicine tablets. They aren't painkillers but work on the crystals to break them up. Dad will take these as soon as he gets an inkling of the pain then we look to his diet trying to keep the ph balance. The strict diet is awful depending on the degree of attack. Dad's can go away but suddenly come back, his is due to other meds he takes for a heart problem. He used to take cherry juice but that's out now with diabetes.

We buy gout care tablets which he takes everyday but the diet sheet they send is extremely strict! The Gout Society has a list of foods to watch will see if I can find the link and post it.

Dad's bg levels would rise due to the inflammation and once when he had to take steroids the attack was so bad. I know dad would say to ask for Colcochine tablets. A friend's husband got these a few weeks ago as he had his first attack and they worked for him too. Unfortately as with any illness bg will rise a little.

Do you know any reason for the attack? We found dad had them more often when following his strict diabetes diet although we have introduced most foods again in different quantities. A cold compress on it tonight don't treat it with heated gels/creams.

Hope this makes sense and I haven't made too many mistakes as my iPhone has a mind of its own sometimes!

 

[pippin]

Gout Society PDF they mention vitamin C check the foods too (dad doesn't take extra and had to stop the cherry juice/tablets as they set his bg high)
http://www.ukgoutsociety.org/docs/2009FinalDietsheet.pdf

The *very* strict diet site with lots of info

http://www.goutcare.co.uk/gout-information/4536101120

http://www.ukgoutsociety.org/docs/2009FinalDietsheet.pdf

Hope these help it's getting late for me but I will help as much as I can if you have questions I may know the answer to. It might be tomorrow hope you will find some relief tonight as I know how painful it is for dad

 

[Vicsetter]

I get a better response from my GP. Prescribed Colchicine tablets initially and then on the third bout prescribed Allopurinol. Gout is caused by excess Uric acid in the blood. Allopurinol reduces it. Colchicine reduces the inflammation. I came down with a bout in my left foot just prior to Xmas which made using the clutch pedal quite painful for the 10hr drive down south. The bout lasted about 3 week.
It doesn't take even a minute for your GP to say 'I'm prescribing Colchicine, take 3 a day until the pain stops'.

P.S. I have been taking 1000mg Vitamin C tablets - no effect on blood glucose.

 

[hectorzaza]

Gout Society PDF they mention vitamin C check the foods too (dad doesn't take extra and had to stop the cherry juice/tablets as they set his bg high)
http://www.ukgoutsociety.org/docs/2009FinalDietsheet.pdf

The *very* strict diet site with lots of info

http://www.goutcare.co.uk/gout-information/4536101120

http://www.ukgoutsociety.org/docs/2009FinalDietsheet.pdf

Hope these help it's getting late for me but I will help as much as I can if you have questions I may know the answer to. It might be tomorrow hope you will find some relief tonight as I know how painful it is for dad

Thank you pippin for takin such time to help me,my Dr was horrible and just told me to look on the net,lose weight[have lost a stone in last year thru diabetes]and even [because i got upset over the weight issue] said 'i am terminating this consultation now'....i said 'you're throwing me out?' and he said he was under pressure[he's trying to run 2 surgeries and not giving his patients the correct care,in my opinion] I'll bare the colchicine and allopurinol in mind{i'm a pharmacy tech] but didn't know what to make of the Vit C business.He wants repeat bloods in 3 mnths and see him then,so I'm on my own with the net till then!!
thanks again
Sandy x

 

[hectorzaza]

I get a better response from my GP. Prescribed Colchicine tablets initially and then on the third bout prescribed Allopurinol. Gout is caused by excess Uric acid in the blood. Allopurinol reduces it. Colchicine reduces the inflammation. I came down with a bout in my left foot just prior to Xmas which made using the clutch pedal quite painful for the 10hr drive down south. The bout lasted about 3 week.
It doesn't take even a minute for your GP to say 'I'm prescribing Colchicine, take 3 a day until the pain stops'.

P.S. I have been taking 1000mg Vitamin C tablets - no effect on blood glucose.

Thank you,having repeat bloods 3 mnths,don't know whether to hold off on the Vit C till then or give it a go.......doctors should be more informative,people could easily make a mistake,usually they don't want u looking on the net!!!!!
Sandy

 

[pippin]

Supplements of Vitamin C but not dietary Vitamin C alone have been shown to reduce the risk of developing gout in a study looking at men over a 20 year period. Those who had the highest vitamin C intake (both dietary and supplements) had the lowest risk of developing gout. Another study has demonstrated that Vitamin C 500mg daily lowers blood uric acid levels. This is achieved by helping to remove uric acid from the body via the kidneys.
In addition to ensuring that you have an adequate dietary intake of Vitamin C, present evidence suggests that it could be helpful to supplement your diet with Vitamin C tablets (500?1500mg/day). If you do consider this, please make sure you discuss it with your GP as some prescription medicines can interact adversely with Vitamin C and higher doses can cause stomach upsets and diarrhoea.

this is from the gout society link which is a known society not just an 'online advice' type place which we have to be very careful with. Given your Dr advised you to take vitamin C your other meds must be ok in that they wouldn't cause a reaction. I am going to think about this for dad now I have read this bit properly but need to check his other meds first. The only way to know how the tablets react with your blood glucose is to test and watch for any significant difference which may be attributed to the tablets.

Unfortunately the cherry bit worked well for dad but we had to stop this because of his diabetes (he tried the capsule form too but we had doubts so stopped these although we weren't as aware of testing at that stage)

Vicsetter has been able to take vitamin C plus your Dr may be a little more attentive if you can tell him you have taken the vitamin C he advised. If dad gets another attack we are asking for the other tablets and will consider the vitamin C as a replacement for the cherry active but will test along the way. It may be the tablets don't affect blood glucose rather than eating a lot more fruit which probably would affect your diabetes. Dad would try anything rather than experience the pain of gout which affected him so badly he could barely walk.

I am definitely not an expert in diabetes or gout but sometimes the Drs advice is best heeded and then present him with the facts of affects on your BG if necessary. We have to remind our Dr about diabetes when he is prescribing but sometimes dad had to take meds which affected his BG in the short term.

Think about it and even see if you can speak to another Dr in the practise to ease your mind about the supplement. Testing will show you how much effect if any as everyone is different plus a different range of tablets to take each day. I wouldn't know what they would do to dad's BG without testing if his readings started to creep up without any other reason then we would have an indication that it might be the vitamin C. Dad takes a lot of tablets each day so we wouldn't want to add one without specific advice to our situation from the Dr
In the meantime I will be reading more about vitamin C gout/diabetes!

HTH

 

[Vicsetter]

I am sorry but gout is a treatable condition and should be treated not dismissed with look it up for yourself. Forgot to add you should drink lots of water.
I took the vitamin C to prevent retinopathy and not for gout, however I was taking the Vitc when I had the gout attacks so dubious that it had much effect. I suspect that the high protein/low carb diet may be behind the condition in my case. Sandy did your GP get a Uric acid number from the blood tests?

I can only suggest you do as advised and book another appointment in a weeks time if it hasn't cleared up.

 

[SimplesL]

My hubby was diagnosed with gout many many years ago & prescribed Allopurinol (no idea how to spell it) after a particularly bad & very painful attack. He was diagnosed with type 2 about 9 months before I was.

His prescription for gout has never changed & does seem to do the trick for him.

😡