Are the Hot and Cold Water baths useful for the Gout ?

Foot care
1

Hello everyone !!

It is the first time I write here, and I would like to start my post asking this question to the community

I am 53 years old and lately I have had gout attacks on my left foot and leg. I take different medications for this; However, I read an interesting article on a medical page that talks about baths with different temperatures for gout attack

In the article, it was described that if we wet the foot with the gout in a bowl with ice water for 2 minutes and then put the foot inside another bowl with very hot water, and repeat the process for 15-20 minutes, the pain and the swelling disappears, and that is because the uric acid crystals weaken due to contact with waters of different temperatures like the ones I mentioned

I’ve also seen a chiropractor on YouTube where he explained this idea

My question is: Has anyone tried using this method to reduce or cure temporally their acute gout attacks? ¿ What were your results ? For my part, it makes me wonder if this “technique” will really make the gout attack better and the urate crystals weaken or, conversely, if this makes your gout worsen due to the temperature change in a part of the body**

Thank you very much everyone for your answers :slight_smile: !

2

Interesting idea - crystals are tiny and deep in the joint though? Will water from a bowl get at them?

As an aside im on 300mg Allopurinol by now and it works well. I had ONE beer on holiday (never drink beer - im a wine man) and I got immediate gout in my KNEE! Never had that ever before so I can confirm beer is a huge trigger!

3

I’ve had to avoid beer for 6 years, your right what your saying it is a huge trigger don’t know if its the same for everyone i’ve been fine with wine and cider, id like to hear more about the water theory .

4

Water baths have a very limited effect from my experience. Good luck if that is your approach.

The most effective relief from immediate gout is a combination of colchicine, ibuprofen and high GDU Bromelain. Bromelain disolves urate, and increases the absorption of cochicine. I’ve tried combinations of 2 of the above which work OK, but all three together have a synergistic relief effect. I hope this helps.