The numbers about how many men versus how many women also differ. But it seems that gout afflicts four to eight times as many men as women.

Since men begin increasing their uric acid levels after going through puberty, they have plenty of time to build up a high level of uric acid by middle age. Gout does not show itself until many years of high uric acid levels have occurred.

Women do not start increasing uric acid levels until after menopause, so the hormones evidently play a role in the gender difference with gout. Because of developing high uric acid levels later in life than men, it is primarily older women who may develop gout. Younger women rarely show the disease.

As with many other diseases this one appears to be on an upswing in the United States. I suspect this has to do with the overly processed American food supply that is grown on increasingly depleted soils.

If nutrition plays such a major role in gout, depleted nutrition in our food supply would certainly factor into the development of gout. Of course, the medical profession remains largely oblivious to these ideas as their training aims their attention in other directions.

Sometimes we have to explore many possibilities for ourselves as we grapple with the problems of living with gout.

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How Many of Us Have Gout?

Gout results from the buildup of monosodium urate crystals, needle-like crystals inflaming the joints. The inflamed joints are extremely painful and swollen.

This disease can easily be mistaken for another form of arthritis that is appropriately named pseudogout. However, pseuodgout is the result of a build up of calcium pyrophosphate crystals in the joints, not the monosodium urate crystals.

A blood test can tell the difference, even if the bodily appearance is similar. You might wonder how important it is to tell them apart.

Even though the pain of the two kinds of arthritis can be much the same, the treatment for each of these can be different so it is useful to have a correct diagnosis.

Of the two diseases gout is considered to be the most responsive to diet and has its own drugs that are used to alleviate the symptoms.

Even though gout sometimes is hereditary, I am the only one in my family to have it. My sister does have rheumatoid arthritis, so I may not be as alone in my condition I thought when I first learned about my gout.

I have been learning more than I ever wanted to know about this disease as I try to live with it. Each of us has to do our own experimentation with the treatments available to find our own freedom from gout pain.

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Gout and Arthritis

My blood pressure has once again crept upward. Hypertension often is associated with gout. Even worse, the medications for high blood pressure can help trigger gout attacks. I do not want to go back on that medication, so I am diligently exercising and dieting to reduce my weight and lower my blood pressure.

I have an easier time losing weight when I eat a lot of rice and beans instead of other proteins. I also eat lots of vegetables and fruits. I am not calorie counting, just reducing portions and skipping fattening foods like ice cream.

This plan worked once before when my blood pressure went up. I was able to bring my blood pressure back down to a safe range so my doctor stopped the medication. I am hopeful I can do it successfully once again.

I feel much better when I am more fit anyway!

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Lowering My Blood Pressure

The usual recommendations are that the diet be changed to reduce foods high in purines. The reasoning is that the body uses purines to make uric acid which in turn makes those needle-like crystals in our joints. Those crystals make gout hugely painful.

High Purine Foods to Avoid

Foods high in purines include red meat and seafood, alcohol, dried peas and beans, asparagus, spinach, and pretty much any food that has protein. Seafood may be the most difficult food on this list for provoking gout attacks.

Obviously it would not be wise to eliminate all protein, so we have to try to avoid the worst ones and eat more of the beneficial foods.

Beneficial Foods

Beneficial foods include bananas, red/blue berries, tomatoes, and vegetables such as kale and cabbage. Foods with a lot of Vitamin C such as oranges and red cabbage are particularly recommended. Low fat dairy products are also supposed to be helpful.

Pineapple is often recommended for the bromelain, but unhappily commercially grown pineapple often lacks this ingredient due to depletion of the soils.

Overall, the American Medical Association suggests a diet in which most of the diet is whole grains, vegetables and fruits with no more than 15% of the calories from meats and soy. They further suggest no more than 30% of the calories come from fats, and that no more than 10% of those be animal fats.

Trying to Stop Gout Pain with Diet

Personally I have a hard time with all of those math calculations to figure out what I should eat. The problem is aggravated by the fact that diet alone does not seem to solve my gout pain. This reduces my motivation to run a calculator with my meals.

The difficulty is that gout can be unpredictable even with the best dietary efforts. I am not alone in facing massive frustrations in this regard.

The long search for freedom from gout pain has brought many disappointments.

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The Trials of Diet and Gout

My foot was so painfully sore I could not walk on it and the slightest touch sent me into agony. The big toe was swollen, shiny, and red.

I felt so bad I finally agreed to go to the doctor. My wife and her brother made me a crutch with a towel used for padding on the top of it. That enabled me to hobble out to the car and be driven to the clinic.

At the clinic I was told I had gout, and this began my education about the disease I had ignored all my life.

Gout often goes hand in hand with hypertension, psoriasis, diabetes, and obesity. It is considered to be a particularly acute and painful form of arthritis. No kidding!

Gout is aggravated by dietary factors. The root of the problem is a build up of uric acid in the body. Either too many foods high in purines cause the uric acid level to rise or, more likely, the kidneys are not doing well at filtering uric acid from the blood stream.

When the kidneys do not filter enough uric acid out of the blood, the levels in the blood supply can go high enough to start forming crystals in the joints, which is where the pain begins.

These sharp needle-shaped crystals create inflammation and often occur in the feet, particularly the big toe. One theory is that the cooler temperature of the foot allows the crystals to form.

The affected joint swells and the skin becomes shiny and red. The whole area becomes exceeding sensitive to the least touch. I certainly know that one very well!

Gout attacks are extremely painful and pose numerous challenges for treatment. Treatment usually involves anti-inflammatory drugs and drugs that either inhibit production of uric acid or that help remove uric acid from the blood stream.

The gout patient needs to alter his diet to assist in reducing gout pain. The whole process of treatment can fluctuate with unpredictable results.

Alternative remedies are often touted as the answer. In my case I drank many gallons of black cherry juice, which is supposed to be one of the best natural solutions for gout. I never noticed any results from it at all, to my dismay.

A diagnosis of gout set me on a course of frustration trying to find relief from the pain of gout.

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What is the Disease of Gout?

Throughout history gout has been known as the disease of kings. Royalty could afford foods ordinary people could only dream about eating. This was part of the reason gout developed such a reputation.

Gout also had the odd reputation of protecting its victims and giving them long life. This was another misinterpretation of the facts.

Gout only develops in middle age or later, which is what led to its association with old age. Consider that two hundred years ago people in England only lived to be about thirty years old, so someone old enough to develop gout was already rare.

In this day and age, and many people, mostly men, have this disease. However, in older people women can be as much affected as men. The disease results from the body not getting rid of uric acid, not from a rich upper class diet.

In the sixteenth century Charles V apparently had gout, which led him to abdicate his throne when it became too painful. Interestingly enough, his little finger has been tested and had the characteristic needle-like uric acid crystals, so he really did suffer from gout.

Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were both gout sufferers, which continued the association of class and privilege with the disease in the Americas.

While these men were highly privileged, they did not have access to useful care for gout pain. One can only imagine the agony of having gout in a time when cold water was the main remedy!

Fortunately for those of us who want freedom from gout pain in our own lives today, many more options are available. We are not trapped by our gout as much as our ancestors.

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Gout History