Excess Uric Acid Leads To Gout Attacks
Gout is not only unpredictable and debilitating but also relatively common. According to the UK Gout Society, one in 14 men and one in 35 women will develop this joint disease. The problem occurs mainly in the lower extremities the knees, ankles and feet with big toe joints at the greatest risk. The NHS website includes a the skin looks extremely red and swollen.
People develop gout as a result of hyperuricemia, i.e. high levels of uric acid in the bloodstream. Uric acid crystals build up around the joint at the base of the big toe and other joints, ultimately tricking your body into thinking its under attack. White blood cells try to defend you by surrounding the crystals, leading to the severe joint pain and inflammation familiar to gout sufferers.
Gout pain can last for more than a week and often returns. To reduce the likelihood of permanent joint damage, urgent medical treatment is vital. Your doctor may prescribe medicine to lower uric acid levels, as well as anti-inflammatories.
Common Myths About Gout
Drinking too much alcohol and eating too much rich food were once considered the prime suspects in causing gout. Although eating certain foods and drinking alcohol may cause uric acid levels to spike, these habits alone may not cause gout.
A recent study indicates that our DNA is a key factor in gout flare-ups. Researchers found that diet was less important than genetics in determining whether or not patients would develop high levels of uric acid.
If you suspect you have gout, make an appointment with your doctor to be tested and learn how to prevent or reduce future gout attacks.
What Are The Symptoms Of Gout
If you think you are suffering from gout, how can you be sure? One of the tell-tale signs of gout is excruciating swelling and pain in the big toe, usually resultant of an injury. Gout may affect other joints intermittently, though, most often it affects the joints in the foot and knee. If left untreated, gout can become a chronic condition.
If you do not treat gout symptoms, your body may produce something called tophi which are little crystals that form disfiguring lumps near your joints and can also produce painful kidney stones.
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Arthritis / Acute Gout Attack
Gout is a form of arthritis, hence it causes pain and discomfort in the joints. A typical gout attack is characterized by the sudden onset of severe pain, swelling, warmth, and redness of a joint. The clinical presentation of acute gouty arthritis is not subtle with very few mimics other than a bacterial infection.
The joint most commonly involved in gout is the first metatarsophalangeal joint , and is called podagra. Any joint may be involved in a gout attack with the most frequent sites being in the feet, ankles, knees, and elbows.
An acute gout attack will generally reach its peak 12-24 hours after onset, and then will slowly begin to resolve even without treatment. Full recovery from a gout attack takes approximately 7-14 days.
An accurate and colorful discription of a gout attack was elegantly written in 1683 by Dr. Thomas Sydenham who was himself a sufferer of gout:
Causes And Risk Factors
Gout occurs due to an excess buildup of uric acid, or hyperuricemia.
According to the National Institutes of Health , hyperuricemia is the main risk factor for developing gout. However, a quarter of those with hyperuricemia do not develop gout.
When the body breaks down purines, it produces uric acid. Typically, the kidneys remove a certain amount of uric acid in the urine. However, when they are unable to remove enough uric acid, uric acid crystals can form in the joints and soft tissues, causing swelling and pain.
Gout typically affects males more than females. However, females have higher levels of uric acid after menopause. NIAMS state that being older also the chance of developing gout.
Genetics can also increase the chance of developing gout.
According to the CDC , other factors that may increase the likelihood of gout include:
- Diet: Food can play a role in the development of gout symptoms. Eating seafood, red meat, and drinking alcohol raises uric acid levels in the body.
- Weight: Having overweight increases the chance of developing gout.
- Medications: Certain medications, including diuretics and low-dose aspirin, are associated with gout risk because they increase the level of uric acid in the body.
- Other medical conditions:High blood pressure, diabetes, and kidney disease can increase gout risk.
According to the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, some people with gout may develop complications, such as:
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Leading A Gout Free Life
In order to avoid gout attacks, your gout physician may prescribe a medication to reduce the buildup of uric acid in your blood. In most cases patients take this medicine for their entire life, but there are things that you can do reduce the chances of needing a lifetime of medication. Pay special attention to what you eat. This can help you manage the buildup and uric acid and reduce the frequency and duration of your gout attacks. Eating appropriate amounts of a healthy variety of foods to keep your weight under control and to get the nutrition you need. Try to avoid frequent or daily meals consisting of meat, seafood, and alcohol. As always you should drink plenty of fluids, especially water.
How Is Gout Diagnosed
In a clear-cut case, a primary care physician can make the diagnosis of gout with a high level of confidence. However, often there are two or more possible causes for an inflamed toe or other joint, which mimics some of the symptoms of gout, so tests to identify the presence of uric acid is performed.
Since the treatment for gout is lifelong, its very important to make a definitive diagnosis. Ideally, the diagnosis is made by identifying uric acid crystals in joint fluid or in a mass of uric acid . These can be seen by putting a drop of fluid on a slide and examining it using a polarizing microscope, which takes advantage of the way uric acid crystals bend light. A non-rheumatologist, when possible, can remove fluid from the joint by aspirating it with a small needle and send it to a lab for analysis. A rheumatologist is likely to have a polarizing attachment on their microscope at their office. Gout crystals have a needle-like shape, and are either yellow or blue, depending on how they are arranged on the slide .
Figure 11: Uric Acid Crystals Under Polarizing Light Microscopy
There are many circumstances where, however ideal it would be, no fluid or other specimen is available to examine, but a diagnosis of gout needs to be made. A set of criteria has been established to help make the diagnosis of gout in this setting .2
Table 1: Diagnosing gout when no crystal identification is possible
Ideally, 6 of 10 features will be present of the following:
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The End Of Gout Your Quick Start Plan
Shelly Mannings The End of Gout is not only a fascinating read its also refreshingly practical.
Shelly gives you two simple quick-starts:
Eat more of these
Eat fewer of these
This simple adjustment can correct years of gout-causing errors within your eating. And you can start on this straight within minutes of receiving the program away.That really helped my problem of How To Treat Gout In The Big Toe.
The next step is to follow Shellys 7-day plan.
It tightens up the quick start advice and turns it into a solid, follow-along program.
The 7-day plan was the real clincher for me.
I am a pretty average cook Im competent but not at all skilled or adventurous. Turns out I didnt need to be.
The plan takes away all the thinking and gives me, for the first week, something I can simply copy.
After the first 7 days I used Shellys advice to adapt the plan according to my own tastes.
Which was pretty easy the plan is full of options so you can try different foods and see what you like best.
Its all food you can buy in your supermarket. And it includes lots of nice stuff the chocolate and strawberries desserts were real winners in my house!
Alternative And Complementary Therapies
Many complementary and alternative medicine approaches for managing gout focus on diet, weight loss, and exercise.
Your risk of gout goes up when your diet is high in naturally occurring compounds called purines. When purines break down in the body, they cause uric acid to form. In most cases, people who have gout will still need medication even when they follow a diet for gout. That said, tweaking your diet can be a powerful way to help manage gout and gout symptoms. Some research suggests that food changes alone can lower your uric acid levels by up to 15 percent, according to the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care.
The main principles of a gout diet are basically the same as those of any healthy diet: Reduce calorie consumption if you are overweight opt for unrefined carbohydrates like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains limit your intake of sugar, organ meats , and saturated fats.
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Treatment For Gout In Toes
Seek prompt treatment as soon as you notice the signs and symptoms of gout in toes in order to avoid future complications. The diagnosis is made on the basis of an assessment of symptoms, physical examination of the affected joint, and some laboratory investigations such as determination uric acid levels in the blood and analysis of joint fluid for the presence of urate crystals.
Once the diagnosis is confirmed, the doctor generally prescribes medications like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, and pain relievers. The medicines that lower uric acid can also be taken to get instant relief from the symptoms.
Along with conventional treatment, you should follow some precautionary measures and dietary changes. First of all, take maximum rest and donât put a strain on the affected joint.
Strictly stay away from alcoholic beverages, as they can worsen the condition. Drink enough amount of water to increase the elimination of uric acid through urine. Exclude high-purine foods from your diet. Understand in detail which foods are preferable in a gout diet and strictly follow the gout diet plan. Have regular exercises to strengthen the joints and to maintain healthy body weight.
Gout Pain Immediate Relief
The very first thing any gout sufferer is thinking about is how to stop the pain caused by uric acid crystals to get rapid and lasting Gout Pain Immediate Relief! If you want the fastest relief you need to get Organic CBD Oil as that is the main reason why people use it. You can get it as a tincture for fast pain relief. You can also vape it which is the fastest delivery method for instant relief. Oral gummies work well too, if you let them dissolve in your mouth. The higher the milligram dosage the more powerful the pain relief. I recommend 3,000 to 5,000mg for gout pain relief. It is used for cancer pain relief, so yeah, it really works!
There is a great topical homeopathic medicine for pain relief that works great for arthritis, muscle, and gout pain relief. Homeopathy quickly restores balance so your symptoms, including your gout pain, are gone quickly. You just rub it into your problem area and it starts relieving your pain. It can be used with other instant pain relief methods like CBD. I highly recommend taking Rub on Relief as it has the most powerful topical arthritis and gout pain relievers in one easy to use formula.
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Soothing Your Foot When Gout Strikes
If a gout attack makes your big toe hurt, there are several things you can do to make your foot more comfortable, in addition to taking your gout medication.
- Avoid wearing shoes, slippers and restrictive hosiery. You could even cut off the top of a sock to avoid putting your big toe under pressure.
- Wrap an ice pack in a towel and apply it to your big toe for short periods. Doing so should soothe the area and reduce the swelling.
- When you lie down, elevate your foot with the aid of cushions or pillows, so that its slightly higher than your chest, as this can also keep the swelling at bay.
- Leave your foot uncovered overnight.
How Can An Attack Of Gout Be Treated
The management of an acute attack of gout is very different from the prevention of subsequent attacks.
Treatments used for prevention, such as allopurinol can actually make things worse if given during an attack, and so need to be held back until the attack has resolved for several weeks.
There are a number of measures that can help resolve an attack of gout. See Table 2 for summary of treatment strategies for acute gout. One principle is that treatment for an attack of gout should be instituted quickly, since quick treatment can often be rewarded with a quick improvement.
If an attack of gout is allowed to last more than a day or so before treatment is started, the response to treatment may be much slower.
Table 2: Medications to treat acute attacks of gout
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Can You Stop Gout
It should be fairly clear why youd want to get rid of gout, but could it be really probable?
Sure is usually, but theres not just a one-size suits all solution.
Within the next section, well turn out to be going over whats worked very best for us!
You wont want to miss out on this free video.
NOTICE: Id highly recommend going to your doctor or seeing a specialist about this situation, since we arent experts. See our medical disclaimer for more details.
We dont know what will work for you, but we know whats worked for us and others
What To Do During An Attack
You should:
- take any medication you’ve been prescribed as early as possible after you notice an attack this should start to have an effect within two or three days
- rest and raise the limb
- avoid knocking or damaging the affected joint
- keep the joint cool remove surrounding clothing and apply an ice pack, such as a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a towel
- ensure you’re well hydrated
Apply the ice pack to your joint for around 20 minutes. Don’t apply ice directly to your skin and don’t apply it for more than 20 minutes at a time because this could damage the skin.
If necessary, you can keep reapplying an ice pack to your skin during an attack, but you should wait until your skin has returned to a normal temperature first.
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Whats The Outlook For People With Gout
Untreated gout can lead to permanent joint damage. The buildup of uric acid in the joints and soft tissue is called tophus. Some people with gout can also develop other health problems, such as severe arthritis, kidney stones and heart disease. Its important to discuss your symptoms with a healthcare provider.
Treatment For Gout In The Foot Prevention
Exercise
This is one point that I think most bland advice sites written by authors who pay a clinician to approve it get horribly wrong. Exercise is always listed as a cure-all without any recognition that certain exercises are better than others for different areas.
In the case of gout, you need to avoid trauma. Now trauma doesnt mean injury just constant impact causes tiny trauma that can attract gout. If you often suffer gout in your feet, then the last thing you want to do is go out running during your recovery.
Running is great for certain diseases/ activites, but not gout. Cycling is better if you enjoy cardio-based workouts, but swimming is best of all.
Reducing pressure
The lack of pressure/ weight on your feet, makes swimming a perfect treatment for gout in the foot.
Rowing also is not advisable due to the pressure on your feet. Likewise, push-ups cause real pressure on your toes unless you touch the floor with your knees rather than your toes .
Sit-ups however, are really good again, especially with your feet in the air. Just dont use a sit up bar or have someone holding your feet down. A standard abdominal crunch with your feet in the air however is a great exercise for feet that might suffer with gout.
Weight training is a bit of a mixed bag dead lifting may cause gout in your feet because your feet are taking the pressure, while a lot of new shoulder/ arm lifting machines involve sitting and so taking the pressure off your feet are fine.
Massage
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Why Do I Suffer From Gout
One word: hyperuricemia. Or, in other words, increased uric acid in your blood. This is the reason why your joints are painful and inflamed. Uric acid is a normal product in your body it is a substance that breaks down purines in your body which are found in certain foods that we eat, in addition to being found in human cells. When your body overproduces uric acid, youre at risk for developing gout. But, why would your body overproduce uric acid?
The triggers of hyperuricemia include:
- Injury
- Excessive alcohol consumption
- Eating large amounts of red meat and shellfish
- Dehydration
- Drinking sugary sodas
It is these types of triggers that can create the hyperuricemia, which can result in gout. When you overproduce uric acid, your kidneys have to work harder to flush out the extra uric acid out of your bloodstream, as they would normally do.