Gout - do home remedies work?

A few years ago I wrote a short article about gout which is something I've suffered with on and off for about 10 years. Just to summarise, it buggers up your joints and hurts like hell! I tend to suffer, like many, with attacks in my big toe. Here's a not so pretty piccy from 2014.

My gout attacks have historically been quite long with little improvement for 7 to 14 days from the point of the attack. For those of you that don't know it often comes on overnight and peaks within 24 hours; the weight of a bed sheet on the joint can be excruciating ... that isn't an exaggeration.

Earlier in the year I prepared myself for future attacks by purchasing a bottle of apple cider vinegar (with mother), lemons and concentrated cherry juice. All are meant to have a positive effect as they help you excrete uric acid. Gout is caused when you have high levels of this in your blood and it crystallizes in the joints. Effectively you have a joint full of razor sharp needles. I had what I thought was an attack in March lobbed the aforementioned stuff down my throat and it cleared up in a day. Had to be a fluke right? That's what I thought.

Yesterday I had a proper flare up once again. It wasn't too bad in the morning and was very painful by the time I went to bed and even more uncomfortable this morning. I started yesterday with some cherry concentrate, took a swig of cider vinegar in the afternoon and sipped of glasses of water with lemon juice throughout the day. I iced it fore the soreness and also soaked my foot in a hot bath before bed.

This morning started with another hot bath, a double shot of apple cider vinegar and plenty of water. I can't believe it but it has once again almost cleared up in little over 24 hours.

This natural stuff is either really damn good or the placebo effect is strong in me.