Welcome to GoutCaster

From The Editor

GoutPal.com started as a personal exploration of one man's gout suffering and how to cope with it. You, and hundreds like you, have responded positively.

There are many developments in the pipeline, details below. All these will be better with your input. GoutPal has learned a lot over the past year. The most important thing is that gout affects individuals differently.

Share your experiences and keep asking those fascinating questions. You might even win the competition.

This month's issue includes:

Chacun à son goût - Each To Their Gout?

A personal observation by GoutPal about how individuals are affected differently by gout.

Competition.

Details of the competition rewarding senders of messages to GoutPal. The competition is now closed.

Recent GoutPal Changes.

How to get email notification of GoutPal updates.

Coming soon on GoutPal.

Planned changes to the GoutPal website.

If you are reading the text only version of this newsletter, some formatting may look slightly strange. By the time you read this, the HTML version should be online at:
http://www.goutpal.com/GoutCaster-chacun-a-son-gout.html

OK, that's enough from me, Uri Khassid, your GoutCaster Editor. Now it's over to GoutPal for some personal views and GoutPal news.

Chacun à son goût - Each To Their Gout?

Does it bug you that pages about 'Chacun à son goût' turn up every time you search for information about gout. It used to bug me until I saw the relevance.

I used to wonder why all that French stuff used to keep turning up. Then I remembered from school: goût is a French word. Search engines and other information resources are not yet bright enough to see the accent. OK, so I understand why it's happening, but it's still a pain (French for bread, hence the pic - sorry!) to have to scan and ignore. Definitely not to my taste.

To Each His Own

Yesterday, I was looking for information about gout triggers, and scanned past another French reference. 'Chacun à son goût' .... to each his own ... blah blah blah. Skip it.

Wait a minute. Everyone has different gout triggers. To each his own. Connection. We are looking for a key to coping with gout. This could be our motto. But let's refine it.

Individuality

'Chacun à son goût' expresses individuality.

Chacun means each or everyone. We are all different, yet all the same. All gout sufferers. Each with a different mix of triggers.

Goût means taste. It suggests choice, but we don't choose gout. Or perhaps, through lifestyle choices, we do. We can certainly choose how we deal with it.

Choice

When I was first diagnosed with gout, I was given two choices. "Take allopurinol daily for the rest of your life, or deal with the pain when it occurs." I started researching gout and found many other choices. I researched those and found more choices. I started getting messages from readers - more choices.

I see now that we have many choices of treatments. I also know that there are many different things that can trigger a gout attack. We can also choose how we avoid these.

Your Gout

To underline how gout affects every individual differently I've started a 'Your Gout' section. Here I hope to share experiences so that we can all learn more. I'm thinking about making this more of a discussion area, but that is for the future. For now, you can send your experiences, and comment on others. To encourage this I'm offering a prize for the best messages (see competition details below).

'Chacun à son goût'

I hope you'll see how gout affects people differently. And how people deal with it differently.

What works for one person might not help you. The more you understand about gout and different triggers and treatments, the easier it becomes for you to find something that works for you. When you find that something, share your experience, and maybe you'll help someone with their gout.

Gout is a common disease, but you will see how individual it can be.

To Each Their Gout.

Competition

Recent GoutPal Changes

Whenever I change the GoutPal website, an entry is automatically made on my Gout Blog. Occasionally, I add announcements there. Now you can receive these blog entries by email. Simply subscribe using this form.

Coming soon on GoutPal

During November, I'll be concentrating on Gout Triggers. I've tried to explain how uric acid causes gout pain through the U-D-R-P process. Many factors trigger responses at different stages in this process. I'll be listing and describing these, and probably give you a chance to vote for those that effect you. Some, like dehydration, may be familiar to you. Others, like sleep apnea perhaps less so. Please keep sharing your gout trigger experiences.

Beyond that, I'm planning to make the site more interactive, perhaps with a discussion feature.

I've also got one or two light-hearted articles to join my song in a new Entertainments Section (a working title - can you think of a better name?).

I have plans for the Food and Diet sections: mainly to focus on tips and advice, with data tables and other nutrition information as background.

Finally, I plan to introduce a Research section to summarize current research projects that are expected to yield new medications and treatments in future.

I tend to prioritize based on messages I receive, so if there's anything you want me to cover, please let me know. Use the forms on the website (especially if you want to enter the competition) or email me.

A final note of thanks from the editor

Thank you for reading the first issue of GoutCaster. If you've any ideas for improving it, please write to me.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, please forward this to them. I'm particularly keen to get views from the medical profession (if I can understand them), so why not send it to your doctor?. If you do forward it to someone it is a good idea to remove the final two paragraphs, which are automatically added so you can manage your subscription.

If you've been sent this by a subscriber, why not sign up for your own copy? Just fill in this simple form . Do it before the end of November, and you will be eligible to vote in the current competition. Don't worry if you miss the deadline - there'll be more competitions in future.

Thanks again for reading GoutCaster.

Uri Khassid