Gout

[claymore]

A young friend of mine is seemingly currently being laid low by this affliction

What age does it normally come (if its going to)

What advice could we offer, what comfort could we give?

[jim.r]

Allegedly brocolloli can help, however, personally I'm of the opinion that a large cauliflower projected at the profferer of such advice would cheer the sufferer up more!

[FullCircle]

A young friend of mine is seemingly currently being laid low by this affliction

What age does it normally come (if its going to)

What advice could we offer, what comfort could we give?

It afflicted a couple of my acolytes in their early 40's

One was over fond of Brandy and - tinned tomatoes!
Anything acidic that can go crystalline will settle at the lowest point - hence the formation of crystals in the toe area, and huge pain to go with it.

Cured in a matter of a month by rectifying the diet.

Suggest he rummages round in the diet to reduce the at risk bits. Try googling for gout, its fascinating.

[aquaplane]

A mate of mine was/is afflicted by gout, he did tend to lke a pint or 4 on the way home from work so I always put it down to the deamon drink. He was willing to put up with the warfren insted of stopping drinking so it can't have been that bad in his case.

[ljs]

A young friend of mine is seemingly currently being laid low by this affliction

So it's official then.

Claymore's got gout.

[Clyde_Wanderer]

A young friend of mine is seemingly currently being laid low by this affliction

What age does it normally come (if its going to)

What advice could we offer, what comfort could we give?

Used to be a case of the middle and upper class folk mostly suffered from it, due to their diets, which included copius amounts of Port and some richer foods, as mentioned change of diet will alieviate or cure.
Soaking the effected joints in warm water for lenghty periods will help ease the pain.
"SWMBO is a nurse"

[claymore]

No - not I Sir - a young friend and indeed a responder to my original post.
It did afflict the late King Henry VIII and he like my young friend, was a fat fekker - is there a common thread here I wonder.

This whole thing could just be a myth. It seemed to come on when it was suggested that he joined a group of us to dine at a restaurant in Covent Garden this evening. I now recall the issue of the unpaid drinks bill from 2006 - he's possibly been blacklisted by the proprietors.

[sahona]

I occasionally suffer from this regal ailment.
my fix is to drink plenty of water, and if it's really bad, pop a Dicloflex pill.
It's not tomatoes with me as I already avoid them due to arthritis, I think it
must just be the colour of my blood.