Flying implications of Gout?

[fish314]

I had some severe foot pain yesterday and today that was diagnosed as gout, and I'm wondering if there are any implications to a flying career? Can you fly on the various meds, what do you do about flare ups? etc.

Thanks.

 

[My Flight Surgeon]

You can fly with a history of gout and allopurinol, the medication used to treat gout. The issue is the amount of pain you may have. If you have enough pain to have to take pain medications, you should ground yourself until the acute episode has subsided, then you may return to flying.

 

[fish314]

Thanks doc!

I pretty much figured on grounding myself until the pain goes away. I can barely walk, much less push the rudder pedals! I was mostly curious about the side effects of the allopurinal.

 

[TechFlyer]

My dad and several other people I know have been struggling with Gout. They started drinking vinegar and it went away almost immediately. I'm assuming there's nothing wrong with drinking vinegar?

 

[My Flight Surgeon]

Allopurinol is basically side-effect free.

As far as drinking vinegar - tastes like skunky beer.

 

[BCTAv8r]

A friend of mine developed it a couple of months ago and had the unbearable foot pain as well. He was told to cut back on some foods and took some medication and it pretty much went away.