I'd be interested to hear from anyone alse who suffers from gout. [For those who don't know what it is, it's a very painful swelling in one's joints (often the base of the big toe) caused by a build up of "uric acid". It usually affects middle-aged men and the main reasons are thought to be diet and lifestyle]. I'm actually penning this at 2am, not being able to sleep for the pain. Despite never partaking of the "big three" causes of gout attacks myself - alcohol, sea food, offal - I still get regular and painful attacks. I'm interested to find out if any fellow sufferers have figured out certain Chinese foods that cause problems or, having cut out some food/drink, have found relief from the symptoms. Thanks.

Ocean- Though I am not a sufferer of gout, I do know a thing or two about it. To control your diet may or may not reduce the frequency of the attack, and you must try to do it towards the goal of losing weight. The food that induces the attack contains high level of purines, like red meat, organ meat( liver, kidney), bacon, meat gravy and shellfish, many vegetables like spinach, mushroom, broccoli and beans are also included in the list, grain bran(whole grain) too. For infrequent attacks once in a long while, the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug such as ibuprofen will do. But if you have developed into a chronicle gout sufferer - upon lab confirmation, you will need to do labs to determine a proper daily dosage of 别嘌呤醇 Allopurinol 分类：抗痛风药. It is very important to find out what the proper dosage for your body to take on a daily bases, because Allopurinol has strong side effect to your kidney. The lab process lasts several weeks before a doctor can figure out a proper dosage. I am not sure you can find a good doctor who can do it in Kunming. Sorry, hope it will pass soon.

Thank you, Outsider. Chinese doctors have given me wildly varying (and contradictory) lists of foods to avoid in the past, but your list tallies with those I've seen online (except mushrooms? not seen that one before). I take Allopurinol daily and Ibuprofen (and Colchicine) when I have an attack, so I'm glad I'm on the right tracks there. Have lost 10kg weight over the last year too, but still hobbling! Appreciate your good advice.

Ocean
I'm a huge critic of western style medicine as it tends to be topical - just treating the symptoms - as opposed to causal - treating the cause. Additionally, as @outsider mentioned - drugs tend to have nasty side effects. All drugs are basically toxins or poisons you introduce into your body to kill off or counter systemic imbalances. The reasons I dislike western medicine is the drug issue - physicians continue to prescribe the same topical solutions until your body builds up a toxicity or immunity - then they switch to an alternate or more powerful toxin - aka diabetes treatments. Chemicals take weeks to months to years to leech out of the body - all the while increasing the probability of an undesired side effect occurring. Even the now infamous over-the-counter Tylenol is now considered dangerous (linked to asthma symptoms).

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) tends to be more causal and holistic - or systemic in nature - trying to re-balance the body's various systems. Of course, the caveat is there are just as many fraudulent or worse - negligent practitioners out there.

TCM is not an anathema - and its effects take longer to take effect - kind of like steering a boat - the medicines tend to have fewer side effects as they're more organic in nature than chemical. If you're interested in exploring TCM - there's another thread on gokm regarding various referrals to TCM physicians and clinics.

The drawback is of course the stench and bitter taste of the medicines - we use honey (bee vomit) when allowable (eg non-diabetic issues) to lessen the bitterness. Personally, I like the taste because it's so awful - I figure my body is irritating me through it's various malfunctions - so I'm gonna give my body something to think about - a malodorous nasty concoction (cutting off my nose to spite my face?) - but that kind of philosophy requires a certain level of insanity - which you may have attained as a chronic gout sufferer.
Best of luck.

Ocean, good to know you are already on Allopurinol. But if you still get regular attacks, perhaps your dosage needs an adjustment. And you must know Colchicine must be taken at the very beginning of an attack for it to actually work. And yes, mushroom is on the list. Don't forget to drink lots of water too.

I do agree with what Laotou said about TCM, but the problem with TCM is that it lacks the scientific analysis and accurate operational procedures, makes it open to the interpretations of individual practitioner, who, depends on his/hers level of professional understanding on the subject, often makes contradictory or confusing or even misdiagnosis. A lot of times, finding a good TCM doctor to treat a certain difficult illness is almost like playing a lottery game and hoping for a jackpot.

Hey, my aunt has terrible gout and she tried this tea called 'misai kuching', means cats whiskers in Malay language in Malaysia.
Do google 'misai kuching' and read up about it. I know that a box with 30 sachets is about RMB 65. I heard that you can get it in China too. Let me know if you need some.

Thanks for all your kind advice. I have tried a couple of "highly recommended" TCM treatments in the past (out of desperation) for 6+ months, but I saw no difference. Maybe they need "belief" as well as their medicinal effect? I'm a born sceptic! It seems everyone I speak to, especially doctors in Kunming, have their own "pet cure". I've been told to avoid fruit juice, drink more fruit juice, stop coffee, drink more coffee, take "Yunnan 37" medicine, exerice more, rest, eat nuts and seeds, eat cherries, drink tea etc. I know that it's just people being kind and wanting to help you find solutions (and I'm grateful for that) but it does get overwhelming and confusing. I end up mentally dismissing anything that doesn't have a western medical sounding name! Perhaps I'm missing the magic cure because of that! I'm certainly prone to a moan - so apologies for venting here! I do really appreciate all of your advice and will continue to investigate...

PS The latest attack can now be traced back to that mushroom hotpot last week - thanks for adding mushrooms to the list for me, ousider! Another tasy food gets banned! haha!