This is a good place. Gout is commonly controlled with diet. His doctor should have told him. Foods high in purines are a problem. Small fishes, like sardines, herring and anchovies tend to bring it on. When I was advised to lay off red meat (for reasons I won't go into) even the occasional mild flare ups I had had went away. The usual "cure" was colchicine, but that is hard in the digestive system. Allopurinol works well as a preventive, but some doctors are reluctant to prescribe it because it can make a severe attack more painful before it clears it. I take a small dose daily and now eat without regard to a possible gout attack. I had been getting gout since my early teens, but it remained a mystery because it affected my knees. The knees cleared up when I started taking allopurinol as an adult.

Jerry
--
"The rights of the best of men are secured only as the
rights of the vilest and most abhorrent are protected."
- Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, 1927