I'm an R.D.M.D. Don't anyone laugh. That's short for, "Reader's Digest Medical Doctor" and have self-diagnosed myself with gout! I've done my research on this. My internet sources say alcohol and meat are bad. This seriously interferes with a great pleasure, wine and cooking. I'm not too keen on taking prescriptions and am now planning on some changes of my diet--including reducing my wine intake. Any suggestions out there for homeopathic remedies?

DH- Do something good for yourself and go seek a real medical opinion on it. At the very least you can get a diagnosis confirmation. If something is prescribed and you don't want to take it, then don't, but at least you know for sure what you're dealing with.

I can't tell you the number of patients of mine who said "I thought it was 'blank', so I ignored it", and then it turns out to be something markedly more serious that 'blank', something that could have been fixed easily in the early stages and now has become very bad.

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Yes, but I came here for an argument.

Oh! Oh! I'm sorry, this is abuse.

Grossie,

All right. I know. I should. I will. But, I hate doing it.

DHG

DHG- If it is gout, drink MUCH more water from now on.

Grossie is right-

You may not have gout eg pseudogout. Even if you do, gout in itself has many causes, whcih range from the inherited, to the dietary, to life threatening cancers. Don't play doctor...see one.

You may wish to check out a thread I started in August 2002 (I think ) about gout. I was diagnosed with it at the time, but 2 further mis-diagnoses (sp?) later found that I had sarcoidosis instead. Hard to say which one would have been worse, but at least with the sarcoid I can drink wine. If and when you go to the doctor you may wish to inquire about sarcoid because it is uncommon and famously hard to diagnose but usually relatively easily treated once it is, though it can be very serious. I still have it 18 months later but thanks to mobicox it is controlled 98% of the time.

snow sucks.......

Drink unsweetened cherry juice-everyday. My dad has gout and his doctor told him to do this. It helps keep occurences and severity down. I guess it has to do with something in the acids of the cherry juice.

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I intend to die in a tavern; let the wine be placed near my dying mouth, so that when the choirs of angels come, they may say, "God be merciful to this drinker!"
Walter Map [Mapes] c. 1140 - c. 1210
De Nugis Curialium

I seem to remember reading or hearing from someone who had the gout that alcohol consumption has nothing to do with it. That it is more of an infection of sorts.

In any event please see your doc...my thoughts just may be wishful thinking.

Best of luck.

VA

#1-- you should absolutely see a doctor. If you have gout, it is amenable to treatment. If you have something else, it is probably amenable to treatment. We have a saying in law----The person who represents himself has an idiot for a client.
#2- You wrote: "self-diagnosed myself". That is redundant. I guess it is the pain.
#3- If it is gout, the good news is that this is usually thought to be related to wealth.

Irwin

"Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend; inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
-Groucho Marx

Dr. T, if you would only have prescribed vintage port! Yep. I'll see a doctor, but my extended residency in my lavatory with my Reader's Digest curriculum has got to count for something, eh?

Bman, I checked your posting. Hope that condition is not too great an affliction. Dr. T gave you some encouragement there, too. Glad to see that. Thank you for your suggestion. I'll eventually get to a doc, for sure.

Il Duce, I bought a couple bottles of unsweetened black cherry juice today, and will be buying an unsweetened black cherry concentrate from a local health food store.

I have, at long last, arrived! I must be wealthy, as my big toe is killin' me! (Irwin, if I was redundant, it's because I'm an idiot!
And since light travels faster than sound, for those who have thought me bright when they first saw me, all such thoughts were dispelled when they heard me speak LOL!)

Villa, I like your thoughts! I've done some more research, and alcohol may have some effect on elimination of uric acid. I'm definitely going without any wine at least until Valentine's Day. I drink coffee all day long, at least 2 venti Starbucks each day with 2 added shots of espresso with each cup. I'm cutting out coffee altogether for a month.

My gosh, all my great wines bought during the holidays cannot remain corked, whether or not wine affects gout! I'll endure the pain. If I can self-diagnose (myself!) I can also self-administer anaesthesia!

Ach, mine freund, my heart aches for you. No coffee .... aiiieeeeee

Well tea has mylophiline (sp??, it's a looong time since college) which will stabilse myocardia.

Having been given (genetically), the constitution of an ox (not to mention the brains of), I can only empathise.

But I am willing to do my duty. I offer, unconditionally, to drink all those "middled-aged-am-I-going-to die-too-soon" first growths that you have recently purchased. I do this in a feeling of comradeship, pure and simple, not from any self-gratification. It will be a chore, you understand, but duty calls.

VS, a great way to start my day! A good laugh and some fun reading. As your general, I will die drinking to save the troops! But, if the Victoria Cross could be awarded for bravery in your offer, you earned it!

If you're trashing the wine and need a good home for the d'Yquem, you need look no further.

Apart from raiding your cellar my only contribution to this thread is repeat the 'go see a Doctor' theme.

Lady K has started the website: www.KillerB.biz

KB, if Vinserve, out of a sense of duty, were to guard my cellar from your raids, I wonder if I would have any wine left at all!