Drinking Pains: Beer and Gout

Some names of beer brands would be nice
..

 

I received my first major attack (diagnosed) when i was 29. I went to the hospital crying, didn't know what happened to my foot and just told them "I think I broke it".They were skeptical of course... Prior to this major attack I've always thought I rolled my ankle going to the bathroom at night. I really convinced myself i was doing this. I usually got it in my ankle but in the early stages (looking back) it def started in my big toe. I would say things like "FCK, I sprained my big toe" I was living an unhealthy lifestyle but not terribly out of shape. I can run a mile, ride my bike all day and swim for hours. My grandfather had gout really bad and my mom said his trigger was turkey. My most recent attack (2nd major this year) I think was caused by a week of heavy fast food and Guinness beer. 95% of the time I drink Coors Lite but I do enjoy other. I don't think I'll ever drink Guinness again... Which SUCKS. I was in German last April, drank tons of beer and had no issues. My DR said I can drink all the booz I want BC its the yeast thats the issues. But I hate booz. Although purines are in ALL food, there is no scientific evidence a vegetarian diet causes attacks. White wine is very low in purines also but who like white wine... Also, my only advice is DO NOT SOAK YOUR FOOT IN ICE WATER. for my first attack, when i thought it was a sprained ankle, I soaked my food in a bucket of ice water for 20 minutes... Cold crystallizes the uric acid faster... Do NOT soak your foot when you are having an attack. Buy a heating pad and allow blood to flow.

 

It's an incredibly painful experience that commands your full attention. Solved mine with diet changes.

 

Squire, I was researching gout and came across this discussion group thread so I joined the group to ask you, what kind of diet changes does it take to cure gout? I would appreciate any advice you could share.

 

Sure, contact your family physician and get a referral to a specialist. That's what I did and after consultation, full workup and follow up we were able to bring my condition under control with diet changes. Of course what worked for me might not work for you so get the correct diagnosis and best of luck.

 

Yeah, see a doctor. If you've got mild gout, then diet may control it. BTW - no cure for gout, you can only avoid the triggers and/or take medication.

I've had gout about 25 years. After a year or two, they put me on daily Allopurinol in order to avoid constant attacks. Every once in a while I'll get a twinge, and then take Indomethacin for a few days, but can't drink with that. I took up craft about 3 years ago after not drinking much for 25 years, and noted no increase in attacks. I do avoid the other triggers though. No problem giving up organ meat such as liver, heart, etc

 

Ah, the crappy thing about many of the gout medications is that they can mess with your liver. So in addition to beer being a triggering item, the medications one may need to control gout can really put you in a bad situation, if you love to drink beer.

 

I have found that a glass of tart cherry juice each day is quite effective at treating and preventing gout. When I skip it for a few days, the gout flares up.

 

I had a pretty harsh attack of gout a month or so ago, which came at the end of a summer where I drank very little other than hazy IPA's. I know that purines are extremely high in brewers yeast, and are the main cause of gout. My question is, does the haziness in hazy IPAs stem mainly from yeast, or are there other things in there? Is a hazy IPA worse for you than a clear IPA with the same ABV? Are there any suggestions for good filtered low alcohol beers with the hoppyness I've come to enjoy?

 

Haze is derived from polyphenols usually, yeast shouldn't be the cause of the haze.

 

Get tested for Hyperuricemia. Lots of modern doctors don't test for it.

Alcohol is probably not the cause. You just are the lucky one in 200 that has high blood uric acid levels.

Then get the pill for that, Allopurinol. It costs about $4 a month.

 

I've had gout twice in the last year and i think it's more from food then beer. I drink unfiltered beer almost every day. I'll probably get it again from thanksgiving turkey and will have to overdose on ibuprofen.

 

Also with the gout... as stated I don't think the hazies themselves are any worse for it than other styles... triggers are different for different people. The three main ones (as you probably know) are aged cheeses, red meats, and beer. Thankfully for me it's the aged cheeses that are mine, and while I love me some bleu cheese (or at least did. sad face), that's slightly easier for me to give up than beer or red meat.
I've also noticed that it's a lot worse if I'm somewhat dehydrated, and that regardless of the trigger, the onset seems to be much quicker than 'I drank a lot of _____ over the course of the summer and several months later I had a flare up'
For what it's worth.

@Brewday, ibuprofen is going to be pretty limited in how much it can help for gout pain, if you can get a script for indomethacin, it is in a similar class, but is a bit more effective for gout and arthritis and the like.

 

Allopurinol works great for ongoing prevention. I've been on a heavy dose of it for 25 years because the attacks were constant without it. Beating gout attacks down with indomethacin works, but is very hard on your stomach. I still get an attack every year or two, and take indomethacin only as long as I need to because it's nasty stuff. My doctor told me about a new gout medication that apparently works much better than Allopurinol but he's reluctant to switch me to it until it becombues generic, due to cost.

 

Common myth which was enhanced on this very site a while back. Polyphenols may cause some of the haze, as does yeast. If it’s not filtered, it will have some yeast in it (even with beers that look crystal clear and were well fined). If you see yeast cells under a microscope with these beers, that just means they have a LOT of yeast.

 

I've seen slides of trill and a few other haze kings that have less yeast in suspension than most clear ipas. Hoof hearted on the other hand...

 

Funny. When people started saying yeast wasn’t a factor, Trillium was one that I put through a filtration flask. I got less yeast on the filter than with Treehouse and Alchemist, but still got yeast

 

Also, I didn’t actually measure their yeast cells, but they appeared to be smaller cells than what I’m used to seeing. Originally I wondered if they ran the beer through a coarse filter and if the small cells were all that made it through. I don’t know if that’s the case or if their yeast strain has just has a smaller cell structure

 

Who would have ever thought that a doctor's advice would be better than that from untrained, random people on a beer website?