All my gout control plans start with setting the purpose of your plan (AKA the Goals step). Which has to be a reason (or reasons) for controlling your gout. Especially with reference to something personal that you want to achieve.


So this resonated with me when I looked at an old forum topic about driving with gout. Now there's nothing specific in the gout recommendations about driving. But anything that restricts your physical ability to drive needs medical advice. Because your safety while driving is at risk.


Gout sufferers should always discuss driving with their doctor to make sure:

  • All meds are safe for driving
  • Physical restrictions from swollen joints don't restrict your driving ability

More importantly, we can see from the forum that many gout sufferers find driving too painful. So they have to stop driving. Or get someone else to drive them around. Now isn't that a good reason for controlling gout?


Personal targets such as driving again are excellent starting points for your plan to manage gout. Also, you might think of other ways that gout restricts your quality of life. Certainly, when I started researching driving and gout I found many similar reasons. So take a look at these 2 reports. Then see how many of the problems also affect you. Because including these in your purpose for a gout plan gives you a clear personal target as you work through your plan.

  1. The impact of gout on patient’s lives: a study of African-American and Caucasian men and women with gout (gout-concerns-2014.pdf)
  2. Gout and sexual function: patient perspective of how gout affects personal relationships and intimacy (gout-concerns-2019.pdf)

These reports include long lists of personal concerns in various categories. So I think the best way forward is to do separate articles on each group. Then I can link to specific solutions for some of the concerns. Also providing several examples of Purpose Statements for gout management plans.

[aside] A citing study from report 1 is also relevant. Especially with respect to extending common gout concerns list:

The experiences of patients with gout were found to revolve around four themes: emotional experiences with gout, disruptions in daily lives, interactions with doctor, and coping with gout using internal and external resources.

From A Qualitative Study Exploring Perceptions of Patients With Gout (gout-concerns-2018.pdf).


Next Steps

I will integrate personal concerns about gout with the Goal step of each plan. Then summarize the Driving & Gout forum post as an introductory GoutPal article. Including any common gout meds that might induce drowsiness or other reasons not to drive. Other headings to include:

  • can you drive when you have gout
  • can you drive with gout
  • driving with gout