I personally only know 2 other people with gout. Two friends. One is fairly young, only 34. And the other is 49 and he’s been getting gout flare ups for close to 2 decades. I talk to both of them regularly about their gout experiences and I share my experiences as well. It’s interesting, almost exciting, talking to others who have gout because you can relate with them.
I’ll share what I learned from them.
The 34 year old says he gets gout flare ups from eating chicken, but has no problem with any other types of food. I thought that was odd because red or organ meats is usually known to be the highest risk when it comes to meats. And he has no problem eating sweets either. He says he takes Allopurinol prior to certain meals when he knows he’ll be eating something that could trigger a flare up.
The 49 year old is sort of hard to figure out because he takes Allopurinol every day, but he basically eats and drinks whatever he wants. He doesn’t drink soda but he does drink alcohol. He gets the occasional flare up and then he takes Colchicine to get rid of it. He said he recently got a physical and he has no other health issues. I think he’s healthy because of his diet. He eats a lot of sushi and he eats small portions. Like me, he’s been drinking for a long time, and that’s mostlikely the reason for his continuing gout issue.
As for me, my main trigger is eating anything with sugar. I’ve had a gout flare up every single time that I’ve eaten a considerable amount of sweets. However I’ve been ok with meat, seafood and alcohol. I try to avoid beer though because my joints start feeling a little stiff after drinking it.
I know that’s a small sample size, but I do believe everyone is differently affected by different foods. For example, I’ve read a lot of stories online of people saying cherries helped them during gout flare ups. Personally I haven’t felt much improvement from eating cherries or tart cherry.
In any case, it helps to learn from everyone’s experiences and share your own stories as well. Over time, you’ll figure out what your gout triggers are.