Gout and CKD

[Beckett24]

Hi, everyone. About three years ago, way before I started to watch what I ate, I went to a great Chinese buffet two days in a row. Each day I literally ate pounds of beef, chicken and shrimp. On the third day I suffered my first Gout attack of my life. I won't bother you with the details, but the pain was excruciating and constant. I did not have another Gout attack until 4/26/19, yes, a few days ago.

I finally started eating super-healthy and taking my CKD seriously on 2/1/19. I switched to a mostly Vegan/the rest vegetarian diet modified for CKD. The only food I had that was not vegan was the Kirkland Cookies and Cream protein bar which is whey based and thus dairy a few times per week. My only real treat was eating Kirkland Jelly Bellies - a lot of Jelly Bellies daily; jelly beans are supposedly one of the four candies that are safe to eat with CKD. The last concern in the universe for me was getting Gout again.

My last labs were done on 4/22/19 and my GFR jumped from 44 to 56 (went from Stage 3B back to Stage 3A and I am close to Stage 2), my BUN went from 26 back down to 13 and my Albumin went from a good 4.2 to a great 4.6. So I knew the mostly Vegan CKD Diet was working.

How did I get Gout eating at least 95% Vegan?? It took a while of Googling, but it was the high fructose corn syrup in the Jelly Bellies that triggered the Gout again, also the fructose in the fruit juices I had used making Vegan protein smoothies did not help.

I am writing this post as a helpful warning to my fellow CKDers. No matter what CKD diet you follow, make sure that it doesn't set off any previous conditions. I was reading labels for sodium, potassium, etc. It never dawned on me to check high fructose corn syrup. Thank you for reading and best of luck to you on taking care of yourself.

[Celtic]

Got gout at the moment (first time ever) so I sympathise and emphasise - the pain was almost unbearable on the first day (24th). Mine is believed to have been caused by severe leg/foot swelling from a new blood pressure medication. This was stopped on the 25th and a course of steroids prescribed to take if the problem hasn’t resolved in a few days. The pain is much improved but the 2 toes still very red and swollen together with the foot/ankle, so begrudgingly I will probably start the steroids tomorrow. Do you mind me asking what medication you are prescribed for your gout? I hope it resolves for you soon.

[Beckett24 in reply to Celtic]

Hi, Celtic. I am so sorry to hear that a medication that was supposed to help you gave you Gout; I did not know this was possible. Did they tell you why it gave you Gout? The first time I saw a doctor at Urgent Care three years ago they gave me Ibuprofen (800 mg) and told me to continue to take Advil, ice the area, drink tons of water and so on; there was no prescription given.

By a stroke of Cosmic Luck, I had a doctor's early morning appointment yesterday Monday 4/29, so I got to see my doctor relatively soon after the Gout outbreak. He prescribed a Colchicine/Probenecid combination pill which was filled right away and I started taking yesterday twice per day. I had been taking 600 mg of Advil three times per day since Friday morning - first day. I am feeling better today Tuesday 4/30 - but I did read that the worst of it is during the first day, although mine was at its worst days 2 and 3.

Thank goodness my wife drove me around!

What is your new Gout medication?

Do you mind my asking how you got medical help so quickly on the 25th? I live in a rural area and you have to make and appointment to see my doctor (who is in the next town) 4-6 months in advance to get a decent morning time, and I'm sure weeks if not a couple of months to get any other time. He also takes as much time as you need with you. Afternoon appointments wait hours in the waiting room to see him (according to the staff). My appointment in 12/18 was at 9:15 AM, the first appointment is at 8:00 AM. I did not see him until 10:45 AM - 90 minutes after my appointment. The walk in clinic only offers a nurse practitioner - there is no Urgent Care.

Thank you for wishing that I feel better. I wish the best for you.

[lowraind in reply to Beckett24]

Hopefully you stopped taking the Advil and any ibuprofen.

[Bet117 in reply to lowraind]

Agreed!

[Beckett24 in reply to lowraind]

Hi, lowraind,

I will stop taking the Advil when the Gout pain subsides, it's that bad. I very, very seldom take any pain killers of any kind. I just suffer through the occasional headaches or body pains. I know ibuprofen is bad for CKD, but since I have taken it so rarely in my life, I will gamble on taking it for a few days. Thank you for the advice.

[5157 in reply to Beckett24]

I have had chronic gout for many years.When I get an attack my Dr.puts me on prednisone for the inflamation. I also take Uloric 40mg. every day to prevent these attacks which I agree are very painful.As ok long as I take Uloric,I don't have attacks.

[Beckett24 in reply to 5157]

Hi, 5157,

Ouch! I feel for you. I don't even want to imagine what it's like having Gout on a regular basis. Did you ever find out what caused it? Were you eating a lot of meats and shellfish for example? Did your doctor ever discuss diet with you?

[5157 in reply to Beckett24]

There are many foods that could trigger an attack(chocolate)is one.

You can find a list on the internet. I stay away from those foods.

Hope this info helps.

[rabbit01]

Thanks for the tip. I am at stage 5 CKD and had my first (and so far only) attack of Gout last November and the pain was so bad in my right big toe joint I could hardly walk. I did not take any medication for it, just black cherry juice and apple cider vinegar which seemed to work for me. Certainly since having it I have been very careful to avoid foods that might aggravate it but I had no idea that fructose corn syrup was a trigger so I will watch out for that in future. Thanks again.

[Beckett24 in reply to rabbit01]

Hi, rabbit01,

You are most welcome. Man, I know Gout is technically arthritis... if other arthritis is this painful, I feel horrible for arthritis sufferers. How did you get through the Gout pain without any painkillers?? I could not even go to sleep without taking Advil first; I first lay awake for a couple of hours trying to go to sleep before I finally took some and then I could sleep.

[rabbit01 in reply to Beckett24]

It was only the fear that the painkillers might take a bit more of my kidney function (I am down to 11%) otherwise I would have been reaching for the bottle. Never known pain like it and to think it is just tiny crystals in the joint.

[Beckett24 in reply to rabbit01]

Wow, you are incredibly brave. I could not take the pain. And it got a lot worse for a few seconds two days in a row. Let me explain. One of our beloved cats jumped on the bed and plopped down right on my right foot big toe joint a few nights ago. I yelled and jerked my foot away. For a brief moment, that must have been level 10 pain. It made the horrible, regular Gout pain seem like nothing. And the next night, she gets on the bed again and steps with her paw on near the end of my right big toe. So I yelled and jerked my foot away again. So that must be level 10 pain, I can't imagine anything worse (I can imagine stuff just as bad though, LOL).

[rabbit01 in reply to Beckett24]

I can imagine that. The only way I got through it was to bandage up my whole foot which was really painful whilst I was doing it but then numbed the pain. I am not advocating that as a good thing to do but I was acting out of desperation due to the pain. One thing I have been left with is a big patch of dry skin exactly where the gout was. During the attack my skin got all red and really hot around my toe joint and looked liked a baked plum! I googled it and apparently it can happen quite easily with gout. One of my friends on here who also has kidney problems and Gout suggested a cream which seems to be helping. People have no idea of all these extra problems we have with kidney disease do they.

[Beckett24 in reply to rabbit01]

So are you carefully watching your diet regarding Gout now? I sure am. Going mostly vegan for CKD got me started.

What Gout cream did your friend suggest?

Yes, living with CKD can cause extra problems, but remember... there are a lot of people worse off than we are and some of them are really young.

[rabbit01 in reply to Beckett24]

It is a non Gout specific skin healing cream called E45 but I am not sure if you can get it outside of UK. I can send you a list of the main ingredients as they will no doubt have similar in US under a different name. I am 52 with no other health problems so I do consider myself "really young" to have had to give up work with stage 5 kidney disease and face dialysis in the next few months and all that brings. I feel especially young and to be honest cheated by life when I sit in the waiting room to see the Nephrologist and everyone around me is at least 20 years older and all have far more kidney function than I have. I know there are people with it far younger than me but to be honest that thought don't make me feel any better off.

[Dangermom13]

Thank you for that warning. I have 1 gummy vitamin a day

May rethink that....

[Beckett24 in reply to Dangermom13]

Hi, Dangermom13,

You are most welcome.

Well, to my great shame and pain, I ate a lot of Jelly Bellies for well over two weeks on a daily basis with my wife. I then gorged on them when my wife went to sleep and I watched Anime (Japanese animation - light years beyond American cartoons - meant to be enjoyed by adults as well as older children). I have now stopped eating Jelly Bellies.

It's all Costco's fault, not mine... they sell the Jelly Bellies in a huge jar and they just had them in the Costco coupon book for I think $4.50 off per jar on top of the already great Costco price, so we bought 4 jars 2-3 weeks ago. My wife is now finishing the fourth jar by herself - I made it through part of the fourth jar.

So... I think enjoying just one gummy vitamin per day will give you no Gout... LOL.