Once. Never again.

Prayers for ya bud. I deal with it to. Water, water, water

I fought it for a few years... my diet is basically a gout factory. Went to a orthoscopic doctor for what I thought was plantar fasciawhatever, and he pointed out it was my gout flaring up.

He explained that the crystal deposits in your joints can lead to arthritis, and told me about one of his buddies who he did a scope on his knee and his knee was full of the crystals. Said he cleaned it up best he could.

I had an uncle who was a farmer who had debilitating arthritis, and I saw how it affected ability to work. Got my attention, and soon after that I boiled some shrimp and had a cold beer with my supper, and I could feel it flaring up during the meal.

I went to my NP that week and got a prescription for allopurinol. Haven't had an issue since.

Brad, I hope your over it real soon. I'm just now over a bout with it. Tart cherry juice is 3x stronger than black cherry juice and helps a LOT. No red meat, seafood, beer or pork for me for a long time and even then just a little. Gout is a crippling form of arthritis and none of us want that crap. Lots of good advice posted.

Hope I never have to deal with that. I have plenty of other issues to fill my time.

I use the concentrate and mix it in a glass of water. It all works for me.

Never seen it in concentrate , I'll have to check that out.

Prayers for you FurFlyin and hope you feel better soon. My flare-ups have been bad in the past. I've had it in my big toes, ankles and knees. I never went on any drugs but Colchicine, now Colcrys, but only with flare-ups, no maintenance drug for me as I'm on enough drugs as it is. Fortunately, I haven't had a flare-up in about 4 or 5 years. Hope I never have another one. I try to drink plenty of water and avoid some foods most of the time. Dang, I have to have some red meat and seafood every now and then. Hang in there.

I haven't had problems with gout in many years now since I quit eating so much red meat. Fish, chicken and turkey instead. NO fried foods either.

I would echo this. I was never prescribed Allopurinol, but was given a 30 day RX of Colchicine for flares (which at $150 I made last for year, LOL). I did a steady routine of cherry juice and cherry pills from GNC for a while, but finally decided a life change was key. I cleaned my diet up big-time, and have had absolutely zero flare, not even a hint, since then (probably 1.5 years). I was never overweight either (which the doc said is the stereotype), but I did trim about 20#. I was 6-0 and 200#, down to 178-180 now. As crazy as it sounds, I think Almond Milk might have been my trigger. I was strictly almond milk for about a year (thought it was the healthy alternative), and my wife suggested it might be the problem (to which I scoffed), but I stopped it too around 1.5 years ago, so it may just be coincidence.
I would HIGHLY recommend getting a multi-vitamin with "greens". Anything "green" will alkalize the blood, and THAT is what you want. I take GNC Men's Sport w/ greens. I even do a daily whey protein shake with a greens supplement included.

Dang y'all done got me worried now. Maybe my blood work will come back with normal iron acid levels.

It's still sore as all get out this morning but it's starting to feel more like a tendon issue than a joint issue.

I apparently burned my eyes yesterday too. I was polishing some headlight lenses while a guy was TIG welding on the same table.

I'm in foul shaped today. Can't see and can't run. If something bad shows up I'm just gonna have to fight it or shoot it.

Had gout for 11 years..Rough stuff.My longest flare up lasted about 2 months before I finally had enough and went to the doc.None of the stuff listed helps me.I have tried all the meds,colcrys,indomethacin,allopurinol.Tried all the cherry juices,soaked my foot in Apple cider vinegar,drank tons of water..nothing helps except one thing..If I feel a flare up coming on I take Prednisone..Pop a few of em and it usually goes away.If it don't I go to the doc and get a shot in my ass.Everybody is different and different things work better for different folks..The biggest thing is to narrow down what triggers it..For me it's not all the usual things.I eat whatever I want,love seafood and eat it alot.Drink beer and alotta tea..Nothing I drink makes mine flare up..What triggers mine is peanuts,almonds,pecans etc..I guess it's the protein in em or something not real sure but if I get a can of dry roasted peanuts and eat a good many I will get a flare up.I can still eat a bag of peanuts here and there but I can't eat em much.Since I finally figured out my trigger and limited how much I eat em I haven't had a flare up.Its rough stuff that will make you completely immobile.I have layed in bed for days with mine cause I couldn't walk.Stayed up crying with it all night long before and the only relief I could get was putting my foot up against an electric heater.I think the burning from the heater just got my mind off the throbbing in my toe .Just find what works for you and try to narrow down what triggers it.Took me years to get it figured out.

I've had the knee surgery where they had to scrap the crystals off. You need to keep a strict diary of what you eat and drink to determine what triggers it. Mine is tuna fish and shell fish. Which makes sense because I loved tuna fish sandwiches, raw oysters, and fried shrimp. Good luck, man, Those of us who suffered the pain, know what you are going through.

Still no results from the blood work. I still can't believe something can hurt this bad and not be broken. It's now in 2nd, 3rd and 4th toe and up my foot about halfway to my ankle. I've sat my fat arse in my recliner ALL DAY with an ice pack ace bandaged to my foot. That's the only relief I'm getting.

Sleeping is an adventure too.

Take Aleve.

I've taken eva'thang in the medicine cabinet, including Naproxen.

If you have swelling rub it down with Preparation H. Seriously.

Apparently keeping it iced down all day yesterday has helped tremendously. I'm able to walk this morning without hopping around. Still sore but not eye squinting pain like I did have.

I'll add, folks that have never had a serious gout flare up can not understand how painful it is. They probably think there is no way a toe could hurt that bad , bunch of sissies up in here. I've had worse pain , but it just wasn't relentless for days like gout. You can't get any relief. It would be a great torture method, lol.

They'll be believers if they ever get it.

There's a couple of people at the shop that I wish I could give a dose of it. I will freely admint, prior to this, I would have had little compassion for someone who had it. Broken bones don't hurt like this.