The term gout refers the disease that is caused by an overload of uric acid in the body, resulting in painful arthritic attacks and deposits of lumps of uric acid crystals in body tissues.
Gouty arthritis is typically an extremely painful attack with a rapid onset of joint inflammation. The joint inflammation is precipitated by deposits of uric acid crystals in the joint fluid (synovial fluid) and joint lining (synovial lining). Intense joint inflammation occurs as white blood cells engulf the uric acid crystals and chemical messengers of inflammation are released, causing pain, heat, and redness of the joint tissues. Source http://www.medicinenet.com/gout/article.htm
Now this bad boy really does effect training as it impacts on your diet big time.
For me the big triggers are red meat, offal, oily fish and shellfish, which happens to be all my favourite foods - you can't beat a juicy medium rare rib eye steak or some fresh crab or even some really fresh pan fried herring fillets seasoned well with salt and a twist of lemon.
As you all know protein is a big player in terms of strength training and hyper trophy. As such my main protein sources are chicken breast, white fish, skimmed milk and whey concentrate (funnily some protein powders give me gout, I have settled on muscleforms whey concentrate XV, only £23.99 for 5lbs. I actually feel stronger on it than their ubey whey isolate at twice the price).
If I do have a gout attack, I will drop my protein intake massively to maybe only 50g per day. An attack can last for 3 to 21 days, so during this period my protein intake is relatively low.
I have lost up to 12kg/26.4lbs during some of these gout attacks!!
Drinking plenty of plain water - I aim for 6 to 7 litres spread evenly throughout the day, which I feel really helps in prevention. The big downside is broken sleep as I need to get up 2-3 times a night to go to the toilet.
I have also spent a fortune on cherry juice, not any old cherry juice mind but top of the range Montmorency cherry juice. I have recently stopped after about 9 months of consumption, as I didn't think it actually made a difference to me. Other natural preventers I have tried include bromelain tablets, ginger extract and devils claw - none of which really helped. Just a quick note - just because they didn't work for me, doesn't mean they won't work on you.
At present I do not take any preventative medications i.e allopurinol as luckily my gout attacks are not frequent enough. I probably average about 8 to 12 attacks per year, mostly minor attacks i.e no longer than 4 to 5 days per attack, which I treat with Naproxen alongside Omeprazole to protect the stomach (1000mg to start, followed by doses of 500mg every 7 hours). I will try and stay away from the preventers as long as possible as they are quite toxic to the body. Saying that, taking Naproxen for extended periods can increase the risk of serious cardiovascular thrombotic events, myocardial infarction, and stroke, hence why I am trying to do more Cardio exercise. It is also not good for the stomach as it causes ulceration.
When I do get these attacks, obviously legs and heavy back are out of the question. If the attack is bad then the gym is competely out of the question. Othertimes I will train my upper body with light weight and depending on how long the attack has lasted start building up the weight again after it has finished.
Currently I try to limit my red meat intake to a maximum of 4 meals a week, which I find very hard as it is so tasty. Shellfish I probably eat 1 meal a week and the same with oily fish. It will probably do more good if I was to half this intake or cut it out altogher but this is near enough impossible as I love my food too much.
Alcohol is meant to bring on a gout attacks but I have not found this is the case for myself. I personally drink lager and vodka. My personal theory is that because I drink lots of water my body doesn't end up dehydrated through the alcohol (dehyration is a big trigger of gout attacks).
UPDATE - 27th October 2009
Had quite a prolonged gout attack in my right knee. Luckily it wasn't too intense but it was still painful enough to cause a fair amount of discomfort. What this meant was that I took quite a lot of naproxen, which makes me paranoid about getting a heart attack. Therefore I have started a new preventative measures programme as detailed below:
- Xylitol - 4 teaspoons a day (2 in morning with my cereal and 2 at night mixed with water), the logic here is that xylitol is meant to be alkalizing
- Vitamin C - dosing up with 1500mg-2000mg per day, split into 500mg doses taken throughout the day
- Bicarbonate of Soda - 1 level teaspoon before bed, another alkalizing agent
Will keep you updated on how it goes.
UPDATE - 28th October 2009
Have tweaked my plan outlined above - instead of 2 teaspoons of Xylitol at night, I mix 3 teaspoons of Xylitol with fresh lemon juice (1 lemon) and make a lemonade. Lemons are alkalizing too so am trying to make a more potent formula.
I am also eating 1 banana a day to try and help my kidney function
UPDATE - 23rd December 2009
Got my blood test back - I have been prescribed allopurinol
In 2 minds whether to wait till after xmas period before I start allopurinol course due to the fact that it can cause gout attacks to begin with
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