Gout is a triple-whammy of pain/inflammation/swelling that may attack our joints when there is a uric acid build-up in our body.
Why would that happen? Some foods and beverages are particularly high in purines and some people’s kidneys aren’t working efficiently enough to process and excrete all the purines we take in. That’s when the pain often begins.
Common Trigger Foods for Gout:
- Organ meats — heart, liver, lungs, kidneys
- Beef in general
- Seafood, especially lobster, crab, scallops, and shrimp, but fish contributes, also
- Coffee — a source of purines and a cause of dehydration
- Sugars, especially Fructose in soft drinks and desserts, and even orange juice
- Alcohol — especially Beer, but also wine, and hard liquor
How Gout Symptoms Start
Gout usually starts with intense pain in the big toe of one or both feet. It may spread from there to other joints. The pain may be so extreme that merely the weight of a bed sheet resting on the big toe becomes unbearable!
Another factor that can bring on a flare — also known as a “gout attack” — is dehydration. We simply aren’t drinking enough pure water to flush the uric acid crystals out through our kidneys.
The standard treatments for gout are colchicine (a poison derived from crocus plants) and allopurinol and NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) — all of which have very detrimental side-effects.
The simplest way to treat gout and prevent future flares is to limit our consumption of the trigger foods and beverages, principally found in meats, seafood, alcohol, and sugary foods and beverages. A little caffeine doesn’t seem to be a problem; more than one cup of coffee a day may make the likelihood of an attack greater, partly from its action as a diuretic.
The key thing to remember about gout pain is that it is Nature’s way of telling us our diet is overly rich in animal-source foods, alcohol (particularly beer), sugars (especially fructose), caffeine, and some medications (see below).
Vegetable oils and fried foods, which are abundant sources of destructive “free radicals”, should also be avoided. Processed foods of many kinds, such as muffins and meats and fish covered in breading are likely places to find oils and transfats hiding.
Gout, the “Disease of Kings”
Historically, gout has been known as a rich man’s disease. It occurs more often in men, perhaps because of dietary preferences and imbibing habits.
One king, Charles of Spain, had gout so bad that he chose to step down from his throne and retire to live the rest of his life in a monastery.
Thanks to fast foods, processed packaged foods and snacks and high-fructose-corn-syrup-sweetened sodas, gout has become available to the common man and woman. Such is progress!
Gout Facts to Remember
Sodas sweetened with fructose have been linked to increases in gout. Prevalence of gout has risen from 16 cases per 100,000 in 1977( roughly when HFCS was introduced) to 42 cases per 100,000 in 1996.
Vegetarians and vegans would seem favored in regard to gout; those on the Atkins Diet, Primal and other ketogenic diets, not so much.
Gout is more common in oceanside towns where seafood is eaten more often.
Fruit juice is a problem food. Orange juice is especially bad. Fructose in liquid form quickly raises uric acid levels, whatever the source.
Gout Relief From Kratom
A surprising number of female kratom consumers responded to my request for the testimonies of those gout sufferers who find relief from kratom.
Kratom is an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant-rich analgesic herb. Many people find it helps them to reduce their appetite — weight loss is recommended for gout sufferers, but usually the extreme pain caused by a gout flare can make exercise impossible. Kratom also appears beneficial in that it acts as a Health Catalyst — unconsciously encouraging the consumer to improve their diet and pay more attention to their health regimen (something medical doctors have been urging for decades, with limited success).
Chad’s Testimony: “I have had gout since I was probably 16. I have never had it as bad as some I know, but it would flare up two to three times a year. I was treated with different NSAIDS and narcotics (mainly Norco). They never helped. Since I’ve been taking kratom , I cannot remember the last time I had a flare up. Its funny because I didn’t realize the connection until I saw your post. I am going over 3 years without a flare up that I remember.”
Remember that kratom can’t do all the work for you.
The smart thing, if you want the best quality of relief, is to correct your diet, lifestyle, and eliminate the medications that may be making your gout worse. Of course, you should talk with your doctor first, so he can try to persuade you to try yet another medication, which may or may not be better for you or your gout.
The key thing to remember is, you need to do certain things to support the health and maintenance of your body. Most MDs get almost no training on the importance of correct nutrition to support your health.
In fact, as you see in this list, common medications can make gout worse:
- Frequent use of aspirin (more than 1 or 2 aspirin a day) or niacin
- Chemotherapy drugs ( used to treat cancer and Rheumatoid Arthritis)
- Diuretics
- Immune suppressing drugs
Kratom, however, is an effective folk remedy that can safely perform the major functions of aspirin, and diuretics. Artificially suppressing your immune system, would seem to be a poor strategy for returning a person to health when we consider the importance of our immune system for protecting us from cancers, invading bacteria and viruses, etc.
In closing, you need to realize that all the financial incentives in modern medicine are working against your health. Your doctor (MD) may be the most loveable, well-intentioned person in the world, but he can only prescribe you treatments within certain approved guidelines, which are set up by the pharmaceutical industry and the makers of high-tech medical devices.
Keep this in mind: The sicker you get, the more money the medical industry makes. If you depend on them for your information about your health, you need to remember that their aim is to keep you from using inexpensive natural remedies and to urge you to use their “safer, more convenient, and more effective” pharmaceutical remedies (few of which have been tested under real life conditions for hundreds of years, as kratom has).
Here is the perfect desert for those with gout. (Keep in mind that added sugars, food coloring, etc., may negate the effectiveness of the cherries.)
An Excellent Reference for Gout Triggers
Here is a good reference for purines
Common prescription medicines that make gout more likely.
Author Paul Kemp writes frequently on natural products and medical discoveries that allow people to live longer, younger.
For a quality source of Kratom, please visit OnlineKratom
