i got my first flare up at 25 eating lots of red meat and beer and other bad foods did it my doc says. also organ meat and asparugus is high in purines. also some stress can bring it on.

the purines crystalize in your blood and for some reason settle in your joints and for some other reason tend to settle on the right side of your body. anyway, know those pepper grinders that are clear and you can see the pepper corns mashing around ? think of the peppercorns as the purines and the grinder as your blood in joints. every time you move yoru joint the purines grind and flare up the joint. i went to the ER for my 1st attack thought i had necrosis or some spider bite. now i keep a bottle of Indomethacin (prescription) handy and when i feel the tingle coming i start popping those pills. gives me great gas. havnt had a full blown flare up since. just tak ethe pils to keep it down and drink LOTS of water during an attack. the worst was when i was in mexico on vacation and i had a flare up. so i went to a pharmacia and i think they were surprised i wasnt trying to buy viagra. with my broken spanish and their broken english i convinced the pharmacist that i needed indomethacin for gout and they had some. i took it all while i was down there so i wouldnt be busted trying to get that back over the border since its prescription

google "purines" and you come up with lists of foods that have them.