What triggers gout attacks?

All of us gout sufferers know that there isn’t a cure.

So we all ask the one question that helps us attempt to manage our condition:

What triggers my gout attack?

By understanding what our triggers are, we can attempt to avoid getting ourselves into a position where our bodies are having an incredibly painful attack that can last days/weeks/months.

I can’t promise that this blog post will give you answers on what could be triggering your personal gout attack but I’ve been speaking with a lot of fellow sufferers lately, and here are a few of the commonly raised suspected triggers:

1. Dehydration

I, and many others, have found that being dehydrated could be a gout attack trigger.

For example, on a few occasions, I’ve been labouring on a hot day but forgotten to drink enough water. 24–48 hours later, I start getting signs that a gout attack is starting.

On other occasions, I’ve been working out at the gym or playing sport and haven’t drunk enough water. The same thing happens.

I’ve found that I need to drink around 8 litres of water per day in these situations to avoid getting an attack.

It does mean you have to be near a bathroom but it helps to avoid the pain of gout.

2. Regularly eating high purine foods

It’s well known that high purine diets could increase your risk of increasing your body’s uric acid levels, which is bad news for gout sufferers.

The research carried out so far is not clear just how much impact a high purine diet has on increasing uric acid levels, however, many gout sufferers who keep an eye on their behaviour before an attack believe that high purine foods have been potential triggers.

This varies from foods like bacon through to some seafoods.

I’m personally a believer of everything in moderation and know myself that the times when I’ve pigged out regularly on things that I know fit in the higher end of the purine scale, attacks have almost certainly followed.

Diet is generally a complex thing so having a well-balanced range of foods on the purine scale is probably the best way to go.

3. Some gout medications

This was an unusual discovery from talking with fellow gout sufferers as I’ve not personally had this experience but it kept coming up.

Many people have experienced an initial increase in attacks after taking some gout medications, in particular Allopurinol.

This might be a coincidence but it’s a trend I see in daily gout community conversations and there could be many other factors at play, with the only constant being that these sufferers are all taking a new medication.

It could be the case that things need to get worse before they get better with the meds but it's worth speaking to your doctor/GP/rheumatologist/pharmacist if you’re worried about potential side effects.

These are just some of the potential gout attack triggers that I’ve found from my personal experience and the shared experiences of fellow gout sufferers.

I hope you find this helpful and will keep this blog post updated as I learn and hear of new potential triggers.