Gout, Old Injuries & Rashes???

[Ray M.]

Hello!
I’m wondering if anyone else is having these issues…
I’m a fairly healthy, active man, almost 60. I started having Gout attacks about 10 years ago. Due to my very physical past, I wasn’t diagnosed with gout for the first 2 years. Since I raced off-road motorcycles and cars, fought forest fires, rode many horses, and raced snow skiing, I thought the various pains were old injuries coming back to say “hello”.

Finally, a new Doctor diagnosed me with Gout and put me on the usual stuff; Uloric, indomethacin, etc. It had worked…mostly. Due to a radical change in my health insurance, I can no longer afford the Uloric. ($280.00/ month!!!). Now, I am managing the gout with a better diet. Also, I am using Essential Oils, cherry extracts, etc.

This has been working until last October. After straining and bruising my right elbow, a gout attack set in. Hot, swollen, extremely painful. But the strangest thing also happened. I developed a rash on my arm; around the elbow (both sides). The rash is crazy itchy! Very sensitive to heat and painful to touch. Nothing seemed to make it go away.

I finally went to a Doctor, he gave me indomethacin and some rash ointments. The gout and the rash eventually went away. Then a few weeks later, my left ankle decided to have an attack. It was the usual….pain, hot, swelling, red. The ankle also developed the rash! This is getting weird!

I went to a Dermatologist for the rash. He said it was “Dermatitis”. My skin was too dry. Use this soap, lotions and meds. The rash cleared up. But then another gout attack in my back with yet another damn rash! More ointments, cherries, Naproxen, etc. until it cleared up. And finally, 2 weeks ago my left wrist started hurting…like I had bumped it very hard. It eventually got red and hot. Gout of the wrist??? And yes, a rash is there too!

I am at a loss as to how or why I now have a rash that seems to follow my gout attacks, plus I’ve had 4 attacks since October 2014. I haven’t had anything like this before! I should mention that all the places I am having attacks are parts of my body that I have injured in the past; wrist, back, ankle, elbow. All have had an injury or 2!

Is anyone else having anything like this? I’m at a loss….gout pain is one thing but throwing an intensely itchy rash in too………Oh what fun this is! Sorry this is so long-winded. Thanks for letting me rant. I hope somebody has an answer.
Ray

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How do you avoid Allopurinol Hypersensitivity Rash?

[Keith Taylor]

Hi Ray,

No worries – this is a great place to rant about gout.

If you want to do more than rant, we have to take control. That means getting your uric acid safe.

There’s hundreds of options, so I won’t list them all. You need to tell me which way you want to go, and I also need your uric acid test result history.

It’s easier for you if you login, and put those facts in your Personal Gout Profile. Get your uric acid test results from your doctor, then add them to your profile in date order. Uric acid test results are a number with a scale that is either mg/dL, mmol/L or μmol/L. Your choices of which way to get uric acid safe are:
1. Find a way to get back on Uloric
2. Find a pharmaceutical alternative to Uloric
3. Find a herbal alternative medicine to Uloric
4. Investigate lifestyle changes
5. Investigate your cause of gout to see if it can be avoided.

As I say, let me know your preferred way, and I’ll help all I can.

Or if you just want to rant, feel free to do it anytime! 😉

[Ray M]

Thanks, I have a Uric Acid tester at home. I purchased it a few years ago, so hopefully it still is accurate. Should I test every day, week or ?
What do you think of the crazy rash? Is this something you’ve seen or heard of before?
What about the old injuries? Is this typical of gout to seek out these and attack?
I’ve had many injuries; from broken ankles, arms, wrist, ribs, neck. Concussions. Who knows how many bad strains and bruises.
Let’s just say I’ve had an active life…to tell you the truth, I was banking on Modern Medicine to cure Arthritis and such before I got to 50….but nooooooo.
So here I am.

I’ll look into the Personal Gout Profile ASAP.

Thanks again for your help.

Ray

[Keith Taylor]

Hi again, Ray. Thanks for adding some facts to your profile. The more info I have, the easier it is to help.

I can see that you want to try to beat gout without using drugs. This might be easy, hard, or impossible, but only your uric acid test results will tell us. Using your test meter should be fine, but the strips go out of date, so you have to get new ones. Personally, I think it is your doctors job to test for uric acid, but if you want to use your own test kit, that is fine.

Some people test everyday. That is good to get more data and practice. Once a month should be OK, but there is a problem. Though home uric acid meters are accurate, the blood collection process is far below the standards applied to a proper clinic test with venous blood. Contamination, droplet size, and test site, can all confound the results. Therefore, with home tests, you should ignore upper and lower readings, and focus on the average. Once or twice a week should be enough. Whatever you choose, all gout sufferers must get uric acid tests at least once a year from their doctor. Liver function and kidney function should be included.

I need to discount external causes of gout. Do you take any meds for other health conditions? Are you exposed to lead or other environmental toxins?

To build a proper gout treatment plan that suits you, our main focus should be on lifestyle. Diet and exercise form the basis of the plan, which we might consider tweaking with supplements and herbal remedies later. We start this by getting more facts in your profile. If you live alone, the easiest way to start this is your shopping list – just record all food and drink you buy every day. Otherwise, record each meal that you eat. I strongly recommend logging in each day to do this, but if you have to do less, just try to be as accurate as possible.

Many gout sufferers have favorite foods that they think they can’t eat, so if that applies to you, make a note of it. Also make a note of physical activity. In your profile, you mention workouts, so please add details of these. However, the best exercise for gout sufferers is to incorporate it into daily life. Walk more, and use stairs before elevators.

The sooner we get good information to assess your current lifestyle, the sooner I can start to prepare a Personal Plan for you. If you can put some recent history of diet and exercise over the last month or so, that would make for a quicker start. If you get stuck, shout out here, or use the Support Button on the left.

Ray, I must leave this for now, so I’ll return later to discuss gout rash and your other points.

[Keith Taylor]

OK, I’m back to deal with:
What do you think of the crazy rash? Is this something you?ve seen or heard of before?
What about the old injuries? Is this typical of gout to seek out these and attack?

Rash is common with gout, and has been discussed here many times. It’s one of the hardest symptoms to deal with, because it can have 2 different causes. Also, when it comes and goes, is it coming back for the same reason each time?

On reason for rash is uric acid crystals under the skin. This often occurs near gouty joints, and seems to be the most likely explanation based on your description of your symptoms. The solution is to maintain uric acid no higher than 5mg/dL. You might still get rashes at first, but you should notice, just like gout attacks, they get less frequent, less intense, and less widespread.

The other reason is a reaction to your treatment, or other changes, e.g. application of essential oils and the like. The only way to test that is with a month on, month off approach, together with a symptoms diary.

Gout often attacks old injury sites, and new trauma can start gout near the trauma site. This becomes irrelevant after your Uloric has got rid of the bulk of old uric acid crystals.

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