Welcome to season two of Kicking Gout in the Acid. This season will dive into additional topics of importance to not only those with gout, but for those treating the disease as well. Whether you’ve been recently diagnosed, care for someone suffering, or are a medical professional treating the disease, the Kicking Gout in the Acid podcast can help you learn more.
This episode of Kicking Gout in the Acid features a conversation between Dr. Larry Edwards and Gary Ho, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Gout Support Group of America. The two explore the connection between gout and mental health, highlighting the emotional toll of the disease, the stigma patients face, and the importance of correcting misconceptions. The episode features a candid conversation with a gout patient and offers insights for both patients and healthcare professionals on improving care and understanding
Key Takeaways:
The impact of gout goes beyond physical symptoms. Chronic pain, frequent flares and physical limitations also lead to mental anguish, which can be compounded through feeling unheard or dismissed by healthcare providers.
The stigma surrounding gout is often tied to outdated beliefs about diet and overindulgence. Many physicians also hold biases. Despite clear evidence that gout is a genetic disease, the stigma surrounding the disease leads to shame and guilt in those with the disease.
Misdiagnoses or dismissals of symptoms can occur, so it’s important for patients to monitor their flares and medical professionals to take patient-reported symptoms seriously.
Don’t give up—find your voice, seek support, and advocate for your health. There are resources for those dealing with the disease. Find support through the Gout Support Group of America, the Gout Education Society and other organizations.
Start your journey with gout today via the Gout Education Society website and sign up for the monthly newsletter.
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Looking for nearby gout specialists? Find rheumatologists, nephrologists and more via the Gout Specialists Network.
Educational Materials:
Gout Patient Brochure
Medical Professional Guide
Crystal Clear Checklist
Kicking Gout in the Acid is sponsored by Sobi.
Podcast Transcript
Ian PonitzHello, and welcome to Kicking Gout In The Acid, a podcast from the Gout Education Society. My name is Ian Ponitz, and I'm your host for this series. Kicking Gout In The Acid features conversations between Dr. Larry Edwards, chairman and CEO of the Gout Education Society, and experts on the disease.
Each episode will dive into important topics that you, the listener, should know about gout. The goal? To feel empowered to get gout under control.
In this episode, Dr. Edwards is joined again by Gary Ho, co-founder and executive director of the Gout Support Group of America, a partner organization to the Gout Education Society. Today, Gary and Dr. Edwards will discuss the emotional and mental health impact of gout, the stigma surrounding the disease, and how better understanding can lead to better care. Dr. Edwards, take it from here.
Dr. Larry EdwardsThanks, Ian. We're very happy today to have Gary Ho, the executive director and co-founder of the Gout Support Group of America, with us. It's been several months since you were last on our Gout Education Society podcast, Gary. Just maybe you could tell us very quickly a little bit about the Gout Support Group and what you've all been up to over the past few months.
Gary HoYeah, absolutely. Thank you, Dr. Edwards. Thank you for the invitation back. It's been quite busy the last few months. Looking at 2026 so far, we’re continuing to grow at Gout Support Group America. We're actually closing in on 17,000 members.
It's pretty amazing looking back to see what we've been able to do. You know, with some of the things that we are addressing currently, we've noticed that there's been a barrier for some reason. People living with gout, when they experience a flare, they don't think of therapy right off the bat. There's a barrier that stops them from thinking about therapy or even keeping on their medication. And we believe with the Gout Support Group of America, it's the understanding of the gout journey itself.
We've actually leaned into that, and so we've been working very hard. We created a GSGA gout roadmap that we will be launching very soon with our rebuilt website. So that will be launching in maybe a couple weeks. We're super excited about it, and it's going to be a tool for the community, for people living with this disease.
No matter what chapter you're in in your journey, you can actually turn to this roadmap and identify where you're at, and then it will give you encouragement, direction, and insight into the next step towards quality of life. So a lot of stuff is happening, and of course, you know ACR is right around the corner, so we're preparing for that.
Dr. Larry EdwardsYeah. Well, that's excellent, and that sounds like a great approach to gout as a disease, that it's not “take a pill and forget about it.” It needs constant tweaking and following up to make sure that your uric acid, of course, is staying in the right range, and just what options are open to you as things improve or don't improve. So that sounds like it's gonna be terrific.
I've been fortunate over the last couple years, Gary, to listen to the story of your involvement with gout. And along with that, there was a lot of misdirection, misinformation, as well as misdiagnosis, that kind of stretched things out for you and caused some undue suffering over time. I think that your story, your ability to overcome those problems, of staying self-aware, of looking for the right answers and not giving up on that, and not just giving in to the disease, makes you a model of what it takes to be a good sufferer of gout as far as being engaged in the treatment part of it.
Also, in your history, I know we're not going into full detail of that since we covered that a few months ago, but, you know, there were a number of times where you reported that there was some significant sadness and just frustration with your clinical course.
I'd like you to discuss in a little more detail just what that was all about. For instance, just the emotional toll that a disease like gout can take, where there's chronic pain, where there's physical limitations, where there's frequent flares that knock you out of the whole game of life for a while. Can you tell us a little bit about your personal experiences in that regard?
Gary HoYes. Thank you for that question.
Mine was a 16-year journey of receiving a diagnosis. In fact, getting someone to actually hear what I'd been living through with gout and unmanaged gout.
So when we think of gout, we automatically think pain, big toe throbbing, intense, chronic, and all that is true, but beyond the physical pain, many people underestimate the mental anguish that someone goes through. My experience is not unique, unfortunately. It's just not.
The fact of the matter is, when someone comes to their physician, someone that they trust and really look up to and hope to get some answers from, and they tell this physician, trusted partner, about their personal experiences, and then to walk away not feeling heard or belittled, that experience is beyond just the physical. It affects your mental well-being.
When a person’s living with gout, they're experiencing pain, they're reaching out, but they're not able to feel like they're heard. They're not able to find that answer, solution, or even a direction on what to do next. They think it's their fault.
Dr. Larry EdwardsYeah.
Gary HoI mean, that takes a huge toll on your well-being. So it's not just physical, it is emotional. And I would say the emotional is just as important as the physical pain that one goes through.
Dr. Larry EdwardsYeah, there's been some papers recently written on the stigma of gout, of how people around the gout sufferer view the disease, and how that might cut off communication, which might be very hurtful to the person suffering from gout. For somebody to dismiss it as a few days of pain here or there, when in fact it really is an isolating thing.
We did a study and looked at physicians and the bias that they hold for a disease like gout, and it's really disappointing for the profession. It was a small study, but it was clear that physicians come into diagnosing and seeing patients in their clinics with these preconceived notions about why the person has gout to begin with.
I think part of the blame game is that there's long been too much emphasis on diet and obesity as a cause of gout. We now know that it's a genetic disease. It's something that you inherited, that obesity may have an amplifying effect a bit on that, but at its core, it's a genetic disease.
People have images from movies or history, everybody knows a little bit about King Henry VIII and his fight with gout, and have this feeling that it's a disease of overindulgence, which is clearly not the case. In the past 20 years, those myths have all been laid to rest. But the bias, the bigotry, the stigma still persists. I think that that makes life hard for patients with gout.
You and GSGA have talked to a lot of people, 17,000 now, is that right?
Gary HoWe're heading there, yes.
Dr. Larry EdwardsGood heavens. You get a lot of input on these kinds of questions from your constituents in the GSGA.
Gary HoMm-hmm.
Dr. Larry EdwardsDo you have stories of how people’s daily lives are affected? I know it was dramatic for you. Do you have people that suffer these biases or have really significant limitations?
Gary HoYeah, we do. You know, stigma within the gout community is real. When it comes to stigma, we as a community suffer a lot. Even today, when you ask people about gout,...
