February 01, 2007
Welcome to GoutCaster
From The Editor
First, a small announcement. GoutCaster is now issued every other month. I'm sorry if you were disappointed not to see a January Issue. Once a month just took too much doing, with no time left for developing the website.
So, after this February issue, the next one will be April 1st (no fooling), then June, etc.
This month's issue includes:
- Gout Pal Interactive Launch
- Your chance to comment on every aspect of GoutPal.
Out With Gout- A new campaign to get gout sufferers the best gout treatment.
GoutPal Diet Plan- Slightly delayed, but soon you can watch my diet progress online, and join in if you like.
Recent GoutPal Changes.- New symptoms survey.
Coming soon on GoutPal.- Planned changes to the GoutPal website as we move through 2007.
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 of this newsletter, and all preceding ones, should be online at:
http://www.goutpal.com/GoutCaster-backissues.html
GoutCaster Editor
Uri Khassid
Gout Pal Interactive Launch
I've just launched a companion website called Gout Pal Interactive. The main purpose of this new site is to make it easier for you to add comments and ask questions.You can even write your own articles if you want to. I need to change settings for this, so if you’re interested, please send me a message first on any of my contact forms or direct to GoutPal .
I intend to move most forms and voting pages to Gout Pal Interactive and also get your views on any additional features you would like to see. Would you be interested in a forum?
Please take a good look at Gout Pal Interactive and tell me what you think. I’ve been very pleased over the past year or so with the number of messages I've received. Readers comments and questions have inspired me to improve GoutPal.com. With your help, we can take this to a whole new level, and drive significant improvements to the way gout patients are treated.
Which brings me to ...
Out with Gout
If you've already looked at Gout Pal Interactive, you may have seen my article about gout treatment.
I plan to send out a call to raise standards of gout care. I'm planning a short leaflet that can be distributed to gout patients. It's aims will be:
- Encourage gout patients to see a rheumatologist.
- Help gout patients understand why it is important to consult a rheumatologist.
- Let gout patients know what to expect.
Please tell me your thoughts.
Do you see a rheumatologist now?
If not, why not?
If you do, what are your experiences? Are you satisfied with outcomes?
Once I’ve thrashed out a draft, I intend to send it to as many health professionals as possible, for their comments. If you have a contact email for a rheumatologist, doctor or other healthcare professional, who you think might be interested, please let me know. Alternatively, invite them to contact me direct. As always, I promise complete privacy with email addresses - I will never pass them on to anyone else.
Gout Diet
Let me offer an apology to those of you expecting the launch of my online diet plan. I’m due on vacation in 3 weeks, and I don’t want to interrupt the progress reporting when I know I’ll be unavailable for 2 weeks. The other reason (OK, excuse) is that I still want to perfect some of my tips, recipes and reporting routines.
I would rather not rush this, and cause confusion, so I’m delaying the launch to coincide with the next newsletter (April 1st 2007).
As part of the preparation, I’ve started to improve my Diet Section. I’ll be adding many more improvements over the next 2 months, so please keep checking back.
Recent GoutPal Changes
Most of the changes since last newsletter are to do with integrating comments from Gout Pal Interactive.This includes a new survey in my Symptoms Section. Please take a moment to fill it in. If you've already done this, thank you, but if it was before last week, please would you mind doing it again. I made a mistake and wiped out the early answers - sorry.
Coming Soon on GoutPal
The launch of Gout Pal Interactive has delayed one or two projects.I've put the calendar on hold until later in the year - ready for 2008.
I'm still preparing the pages on gout triggers. The gout triggers pages should be ready before the next newsletter.
Thanks to your comments and questions, I've got plenty of material for new ideas. I'm sure, with Gout Pal Interactive, I'll get many, many more.
A final note of thanks from the editor
Thank you for reading this 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
Thanks again for reading GoutCaster.
Uri Khassid