My gout experience- residual soreness even after flareup is gone

[Rick Smith]

I am a 40 year old male, who in the past 10 years has had 4-5 gout flare ups, always in the Right big toe and never lasting more than 2-3 days, then its gone and back to normal. For those flare-ups all I ever did was take Ibuprofen and drink lots of water. Its been at least 5-6 years since I had one of these attacks in the right foot. At the end of January I experienced the worst flare up I have had but it was in the left foot and not in the big toe, but the toe next to it. I have seen a number of doctors and podiatrists. The first doc put me on Indocin which I did not tolerate well. Then he put me on prednisone 60mg/day for 5 days. That reduced the swelling but when I stopped the med the swelling came back. I then went to a podiatrist, who put me on prednisolone 6 day taper pack PLUS colchicine .6mg 2xday. This combo showed a marked improvement in the swelling. The steroid ended after a week but doctor kept me on colchicine for a month. After that first week, I plateued in the next 3 weeks on the colchicine as my flare-up was gone but I still had a residual soreness in the bottom of my foot near the affected toe. I felt the soreness everytime I took a step. It was not painful just sore. I then went to see a rheumatologust who put me back on prednisone for a month starting with 30mg/day and tapering every 5 days down to 5mg. After a week on the steroid again, I still feel this residual soreness in my foot. It doesnt affect my walk and is not painful but I would think that this soreness should go away. The doctor said I need to be on prednisone for at least a month to “mop” up the uric acid. She then stated that with 1 week left of the steroid she would want to start alpurinol. I was really hoping not to have to go on this long term medication and would love to reduce the uric acid by diet. My uric acid levels were 7.8 in Feb and 7.6 in March. I pretty much have given up drinking beer and now I have given up sushi. I hardly eat red meat or shellfish and have started to take celery seed as I have heard that may assist in lowering uric acid naturally. Any other suggestions would be grateful Thanks

[Keith Taylor]

Hi Rick, I like your interesting views on residual soreness after your gout flare.

I’m always interested when gout sufferers tell me that they want to avoid allopurinol in favor of healthier diet. To help you properly with this, I need you to log in to GoutPal, and start recording some gout facts in your Personal Gout Profile. I appreciate that you have given important information about your uric acid levels in February and March. Unfortunately, these facts become difficult to find after a few days, so it is much better to add them to your profile.

I look forward to creating some gout-friendly healthy eating plans with you. Please tell me more about your experiences with celery seed.

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