I first learned about gout when I was in grade 7. The teacher was telling the class about a disease that kings used to get. At that age, I spent a lot of class time looking out the window daydreaming, but when the talk turned to kings and diseases, that caught my interest. The story was one you probably know:
Kings used to get a terrible disease called gout. This happened when they ate foods that were too rich. Kings like Henry the 8th of England could afford to eat these foods all day long: pate de fois gras, char-broiled venison and refined flours used to make pastries and meat pies, and he suffered terribly from gout. The poor peasants living in the villages didn’t get gout because ironically, they could only afford cheap vegetables and unrefined flours, which we now know to be whole grains that are better for us. So you get gout if you eat refined foods, so don’t eat refined foods. That’s a basic summary of that day’s lesson. See? I was paying attention.
Unfortunately, the two main points of the lesson were completely wrong. You don’t have to be a king to get gout and it isn’t caused by eating refined foods.
I am going to put forward some information below that will make it clear that gout is caused by parasites. But like my grade 7 teacher, you probably haven’t heard this before.
The Pathology of Gout
The current medical understanding of gout is that it is a form of arthritis that is associated with uric acid in the bloodstream. When the concentration of uric acid gets too high it is thought to cause painful crystals to form in the affected joints or bones.
Uric acid is ordinarily eliminated from the body in the urine. It is a waste product that is produced when the body breaks down a food chemical called purine.
Purine can be found naturally in your body but it is better known for being in purine-rich foods like Anchovies, Goose, Gravy, Heart, Herring, Kidney, Mackerel, Mincemeat, Mussels, Roe, Sardines and Yeast as well as lower quantities in Asparagus, Beans, Lentils, Fish, Poultry, Mushrooms, Peas, Shellfish and Spinach. So basically, everything fun.
Here’s the Mayo Clinic write up on gout and if you’re interested in a more scholarly article, try Renal Transport of Uric Acid: Evolving Concepts and Uncertainties. Medical abstracts like this one can be quite sophisticated. The modern medical understanding of gout is in fact so sophisticated that it is overwhelming for the average person to make sense of.
Your only recourse is to abandon any attempt at understanding and leave the field in the care of our medical researchers. The problem with delegating the study of gout to them is that they don’t actually know how to cure gout. This means that you’re going to continue to suffer from the disease while well-intentioned researchers, with great sophistication (e.g. going as far back as the loss of a particular urate enzyme in the Miocene geological era), find new and more complicated ways to analyze your suffering. We keep hoping there will be a cure but decade after decade, none is forthcoming, just more detail. And again, at this point, so much detail that no non-medical scientist can follow along.
I believe this is called losing sight of the forest for the trees, and it is the same thing that has happened with every medical condition in the modern world, not just gout. No cures, just information overload.
Gout: a New Perspective
What I am going to propose then is a more simple way to understand gout: one that cross-references a muscle testing analysis, metal toxicity and basic parasite microbiology. In short, one that tries to reconcile the forest for the trees and the king in his castle.
Having done a scientific muscle testing analysis of about 100 people who had gout, not a huge amount but not a small amount either, I can tell you what patterns I have seen: silver, giardia, nitrogen and flukes. Everyone with gout muscle tests for these 4 things.
The relationships between them were not at first obvious but after a few years of consideration, and noticing where similar patterns occurred elsewhere, it is now more clear. I have had quite a few people request that I share this information in written form so here it is, enjoy.
Nitrogen, Arsenic and Flukes
Flukes are a parasite in the flatworm family (e.g. like a roundworm, but one that got run over by a steamroller). Flukes are adapted to live in every organ in the body. Some of them have a neat fluke shape like the one in the image below (which is not scaled to life-sized, thank God). Others grow into whatever space is available and look more like masses of gooey tissue than a traditional parasite.
You probably don’t know this, even if you’re a parasite biologist, but most flukes excrete arsenic-loving bacteria. This is one of the things that makes fluke bacteria so toxic to us. Arsenic, in addition to being toxic, has 5 valence electrons. This is extremely relevant to this explanation so you should know what a valence electron is.
The arsenic atom has 33 protons and 33 neutrons in its nucleus, and 33 electrons orbiting around it, but only 5 of those 33 are orbiting on its outermost shell. See the attached image for a visual reminder of chemistry class, when perhaps you were staring out the window like I used to…
The fact that arsenic has 33 electrons overall is irrelevant to this discussion but the pattern of 5 valence electrons is highly relevant if you have gout. Arsenic-loving bacteria will feed on arsenic but because they are adapted to utilize any 5-valence structured atom, they can also uptake nitrogen in cases where there is insufficient arsenic in a host. In fact, while most flukes host a bacteria that loves 5-valence arsenic, some particular sub-species of fluke seem to host a bacteria that loves nitrogen instead of arsenic.
Since nitrogen also has 5 valence electrons, a nitrogen atom can fit in the bacteria’s mouth, so to speak, in the same way that arsenic can.
Whether the bacteria from these flukes are consuming nitrogen as a last resort, because they’ve run out of arsenic, or whether they actually prefer nitrogen, the pattern in people with gout is clear: nitrogen, flukes.
This ties back into our modern medical understanding of gout, which is a condition characterized by elevated uric acid levels. The chemical formula for uric acid is C5H4N4O3. To me, the relevant atom in the formula of uric acid is nitrogen (e.g. N4). I wouldn’t have suspected this if I wasn’t muscle testing people with gout for metal toxicity, but having found Nitrogen in people with gout, and seeing Nitrogen in the chemical formula for the uric acid, I can’t help seeing a connection.
And knowing already that both nitrogen and arsenic indicate the presence of flukes, it is not surprising that elevated quantities of flukes show up in cases of gout.
However… Everyone on the planet has some quantity of fluke parasites in them, and not everyone has gout, so there has to be more to it than simply higher-than-average numbers of flukes.
And there is… Silver.
Giardia and Silver
You may not have thought of this but your parasites have parasites too. Obviously, right? Parasites are organized into single-celled and multi-celled categories. The multi-celled parasites like flukes (outlined above) have a single-celled called giardia.
Giardia parasites are cute little things. Their inner organ structures (organelles) are arranged in such a way that under a microscope it looks like they have eyes and a mouth. They don’t, it’s an optical illusion.
Every living being on the planet has some quantity of giardia in them. It is a single-celled, water borne parasite that can auto-populate (e.g. self-replicate) and since everyone drinks water, everyone has it. Inhabiting all animals, it might be one of the most populous organisms on the planet as well as one of the oldest. Even municipal water has it because although cities chlorinate their water supply, giardia is resistant to chlorine. It is a hardy little creature…
In the same way that flukes excrete arsenic-loving bacteria, giardia excretes a bacteria that has particular preferences on the periodic table. Some species of giardia host a bacteria that lives on copper, others host a silver-loving bacteria. When we consider the valence pattern of copper and silver we can see why: they have the same valence structure.
In the case of gout, the pattern is that everyone who has gout has elevated silver toxicity, so the sub-species of giardia they host must be the one that hosts a silver-loving bacteria. And interestingly enough, silver is in a lot more products than you might think: coffee, beer, wine, many foods and many household products like dryer sheets, floor cleaners, soap, shampoo and perfumes. There’s no way you can avoid it. You really are richer than you think…
Since you can’t avoid silver, the question is that of why silver would stick to you and that’s where giardia comes in. If you’ve got too much giardia, they will excrete too much bacteria that will in turn cause too much silver to stick to you. So, elevated silver levels indicate elevated giardia levels.
There is a possible connection here back to gout. You will find lots of information about how potassium-rich foods can help to lessen the symptoms of gout. Like silver, potassium has one valence electron. Like attracts to like, they will have a tendency to bond together. There is a good chance that the reason potassium lessens gout symptoms is that it is bonding to the silver that is in turn somehow at the root of the symptom itself.
It is clear that silver has some direct connection with gout, not just from my own muscle testing analyses but from the fact that potassium lessens gout symptoms in a way that could only be explained if it were lessening silver concentrations in the body.
This leads to some interesting questions.
Summary of Connections
What is the connection between fluke, nitrogen, giardia, silver and gout? I want to be clear that I’m not 100% sure, but here is a summary of the theories referenced above:
- People with gout have issues with uric acid. Uric acid has nitrogen in it and some bad (for us) bacteria feast on nitrogen, particularly the types of bacteria that live in a fluke. All people with gout have a fluke. Could there be a connection there? Fluke = nitrogen-loving bad bacteria = nitrogen issues = elevated uric acid levels. I don’t know but it’s an interesting question and I don’t hear anyone else asking it.
- People with gout have silver toxicity in the exact location, by the way, where the symptom is. Silver sticks to you in cases where you have giardia, giardia lives in flukes which people with gout also have. Potassium, which bonds to silver, lessens gout symptoms. There seems to be a clear relationship between gout, giardia and silver. Fluke = Giardia = silver = gout.
This takes us back to the question of why kings were susceptible to gout. What did historical kings and the nobility have that nobody else could afford? Silver. Silver plates, forks, spoons, knives, goblets, serving trays, tea pots and wine jugs. Lots and lots of silver.
I would like to propose that we reconsider the idea that a diet high in refined foods led to gout and that in fact, it was probably made worse when people with a certain sub-species of fluke drank from their favorite silver goblet every day.
Sub-Speciation
Really quickly, we need to define this term. Fluke parasites are flukes, but within that family there could be millions of sub-species. The Jersey cow esophagus fluke will be a different sub-species from the Jersey cow stomach fluke. Both will be a different sub-species from the Holstein cow esophagus and stomach flukes, which will be completely different from the flukes that pigs get, or geese, or a rare species of llama from the Andes Mountains whose manure was used on some garden that had some vegetable in it that wasn’t washed properly, that perhaps you bought at the market last Tuesday.
You’re not going to be able to piece together the when and where of your parasite acquisition, it’s too much of an unknown. If you’re curious, here’s a list of the top 10 sources of parasites in your diet. As you will see in that article, they’re in everything, it’s a fact of life.
However, the sub-species of parasite isn’t so much an issue as the sub-species of bacteria that it in turn hosts. It is this combination of the sub-species of parasite and its sub-species of bacteria, combined with your unique genetic and lifestyle profile that will determine how and why you specifically get gout, for example, while another person gets fibromyalgia and a third gets nothing.
The rational mind wants the same set of circumstances to equal the same result every time but biology doesn’t work that way. Sub-speciation means it doesn’t have to. Everyone on the planet can have flukes but only some people will have the sub-species that excretes a nitrogen-loving bacteria. Then, only a portion of all those flukes will host a species of giardia that hosts a silver-loving bacteria. Then, only a portion of the people who have the rare combination of a particular fluke excreting a particular type of giardia will be genetically susceptible to get gout, and only a very small group within those 3 larger groups will also have sufficient environmental exposure to silver (e.g. Kind Henry the 8th fits all 4 parameters).
That sub-group of a sub-group of a sub-group within a sub-group would manifest gout. And they do. Apparently about 4% of people suffer from gout, which is higher than I thought it would be.
Resolution
If you treat the silver with potassium or metal chelation it will take the edge off the pain but it won’t get you out of the gouty-woods. Same thing if you try to avoid nitrogen. Since air is 80% nitrogen, it gives new meaning to the phrase ‘pardon me for breathing’. In other words, you can’t avoid nitrogen.
It is standard medical practice to treat gout with anti-inflammatories, but while that reduces the pain, it doesn’t address the root cause. You also can’t treat the giardia (with metronidazole or nitazoxanide, the two main anti-giardia medications) because more will get pooped into your system by the flukes.
The interesting question is: what percentage of people report that their gout symptoms reduce or disappear when they get their flukes out? There are complications to this idea. How do you know which fluke is causing it? How do you know you have it? How do you know it’s gone? How do you treat it if the dosage of fluke medications needed is higher than the amount it is safe to take? There are answers to these questions but they’re not always simple or as straightforward as you might like. Parasites are a complicated issue.
I guess the issue I have is that I don’t hear anyone asking any of these questions.
I have made it a back-burner project over the last few years to keep in touch with people who both have gout and get their flukes treated to see who reports an alleviation or elimination of their gout symptoms and the data is interesting. I wouldn’t say I have enough data to present it as a cut-and-dried percentage but I do frequently hear from some people that they feel their gout symptoms have disappeared and stayed gone when the right treatment has eliminated just the right fluke parasite.
Conclusion
It is satisfying to draw a general conclusion, if for no other reason than to try to summarize the data presented above.
It appears that some people who have been diagnosed with gout have picked up a fluke that hosts a nitrogen-loving bacteria. The fluke in turn has its own parasite, giardia. The giardia is of a sub-species that hosts a silver-loving bacteria. When the fluke poops, it excretes giardia in its poop. Giardia then absorbs and excretes silver, creating localized silver toxicity right where the pain is. When certain people who are, shall we say, genetically disposed to develop gout symptoms pick up this parasite with its parasites, we can predict that they will develop gout symptoms according to statistical percentages.
So the condition of gout appears to be this nexus of fluke, nitrogen and giardia, silver, and this somehow results in purine and uric acid causing extreme pain, possibly from crystallization in the joints, of certain people.
It really seems like if we were trying to assign blame here, we could say that someone with gout has picked up a fluke that is causing the gout. Here’s your cause and effect:
The fluke excretes nitrogen loving bacteria that reduce your capacity to engage in uric acid breakdown. Separately, the fluke excretes giardia which excretes silver-loving bacteria that have some additional effect. This effect is not clear, but what is clear is that potassium, which bonds to silver due to a shared valence pattern, lessens gout symptoms, while drinking out of a silver goblet worsens gout symptoms. It appears then that gout is a kind of tipping point when the worst-case scenario outlined above happens to someone.
I will be the first one to acknowledge that there are gaps in this analysis. I’m not a gout specialist…. If anything my specialty is being a generalist. But what’s the alternative? That gout causes itself???
I would like to see someone whose actual specialty is gout – a rheumatologist – start to ask some of these questions and do some more work in this field but the problem is that their expertise would also need to be in parasite biology, and not only are these two very different disciplines, but there doesn’t seem to be a simple means of finding parasites in the human body. This is an example of the problem with hyper-specialization in our medical system.
If you have gout, I hope this information helps you to ask some more empowering questions about what caused your condition, and how to make some headway with it.