Wednesday, March 27, 2024

What Are The Symptoms Of Gout In The Ankle

Bruise On Top Of Foot

Gouty Arthritis in Foot and Ankle – Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

The bluish color can indicate that there is bruising, which is often an indication of some type of trauma or a broken blood vessel. It is possible that you injured your foot without realizing it. Swelling, soreness and the bluish color you described are not normal, especially for that length of time to be on the safe side it is best that you see a medical professional sooner rather than later.

Who Gets Ankle Gout

So why is this old disease coming back to life, and who is at risk for it?

Whether gout strikes your foot, ankle, hand, or other joint, the recent spikes in gout could be due in part to weight gain.

A March 2021 study published in Arthritis Research and Therapy revealed gaining weight through adulthood was associated with a higher risk of gout.

An earlier study, published last year in Arthritis & Rheumatology, discovered overweight people were 85 percent more likely to have higher levels of uric acid than people who were at a healthy weight.

Here are some other things that make you more likely to get gout:

  • Genetics, especially if a first-degree relative has gout
  • Being male
  • Being postmenopausala decline in female sex hormones reduces protection against elevated uric acid levels
  • Regularly eating and drinking high-purine foods, like veal, bacon, turkey, venison, liver, trout, codfish, anchovies, sardines, herring, haddock, scallops, muscles, liquor, beer, wine, and high-fructose beverages
  • Having a chronic health condition, such as diabetes, congestive heart failure, and high blood pressure. Chronic kidney disease is a big risk factor because the kidneys dont work efficiently to filter uric acid out of the body
  • Taking medications that can lead to higher uric acid levels, such as diuretics and immunosuppressants

Certain ethnicities, especially people who are Black, have a higher prevalence of gout and are less likely to receive the proper care and treatment.

Differences Between Men And Women

Sex differences play a role in which joints are affected:

  • In men, about 85% of gout flare-ups affect joints in the lower extremities. About 50% of first-time gout attacks involve a big toe joint.8
  • In women, a gout attack is most likely to occur in a knee.10 In addition, women may be more likely to get gout in the upper extremities.9

While women are less likely to get gout, they are more likely to have multiple joints affected by gout.13

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How Can I Manage My Gout And Improve My Quality Of Life

Gout affects many aspects of daily living, including work and leisure activities. Fortunately, there are many low-cost self-management strategies that are proven to improve the quality of life of people with gout.

For gout in particular:

  • Eat a healthy diet. Avoid foods that may trigger a gout flare, including foods high in purines , and limit alcohol intake .

CDCs Arthritis Program recommends five self-management strategies for managing arthritis and its symptoms. These can help with gout as well.

  • Talk to your doctor. You can play an active role in controlling your arthritis by attending regular appointments with your health care provider and following your recommended treatment plan. This is especially important if you also have other chronic conditions, like diabetes or heart disease.
  • Lose weight. For people who are overweight or obese, losing weight reduces pressure on joints, particularly weight bearing joints like the hips and knees. Reaching or maintaining a healthy weight can relieve pain, improve function, and slow the progression of arthritis.
  • Protect your joints. Joint injuries can cause or worsen arthritis. Choose activities that are easy on the joints like walking, bicycling, and swimming. These low-impact activities have a low risk of injury and do not twist or put too much stress on the joints. Learn more about how to exercise safely with arthritis.
  • Uric Acid Is The Cause

    What causes gout in the ankle, ONETTECHNOLOGIESINDIA.COM

    When there is an overabundance of uric acid in the blood it is called gout. Usually, having too much uric acid in the blood is not harmful. In fact many people with high levels in their blood never know about it. When uric acid levels in the blood become extremely high, the uric acid may start to form crystals. These crystals most commonly form in the joints, especially the joints in the big toe. Your odds of experiencing the pain of gout are higher if you are overweight, drink excessive amounts of alcohol, or have a diet that is comprised of meat and fish that are high in chemicals called purines.

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    Treating Gout With Medications

    Certain medications reduce the pain and inflammation of gout attacks, such as anti-inflammatory drugs , colchicine, and corticosteroids. Other medications decrease the level of uric acid in the blood and prevent the deposit of uric acid in joints , the kidneys , and in tissue , helping to prevent further attacks and complications. These drugs include allopurinol, febuxostat, lesinurad, and probenicid.

    The Pain And Swelling Of Gout Can Be Easily Treated

    IBJI

    October 17, 2012 | Blog

    Gout is actually a form of arthritis that commonly affects the big toe in men. It may cause a sudden burning pain in one of your joints, or stiffness and swelling in one or more joints. Attacks of gout can happen repeatedly unless it is treated. Eventually, gout attacks can cause long-term damage to your tendons, joints, and soft tissues.

    Also Check: What Are The Remedies For Gout

    Points To Remember About Gout

    • Gout is a type of arthritis that causes pain and swelling in your joints, usually as flares that last for a week or two, and then go away.
    • With early diagnosis, treatment, and lifestyle changes, gout is one of the most controllable forms of arthritis.
    • The most common symptom of gout is pain in the affected joint, such as the big toe.
    • Your doctor may recommend taking medications to manage the cause of your gout and treat active gout flares, and making changes to your diet and lifestyle.

    Treatment For Gout In The Heel

    How to Recognize Gout Symptoms | Foot Care

    There is no cure for gout, but treatment to limit attacks and control painful symptoms are available.

    If your doctor diagnoses gout, they will most likely suggest medication and certain lifestyle changes based on findings in the testing and your current health.

    Certain medications treat gout attacks or flare-ups. Others reduce the risk of potential gout complications.

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    Why Does My Ankle Hurt

    Figuring out why your ankle is throbbing can be a guessing game.

    Was it from rolling your ankle in the backyard yesterday? Or could it be tendonitis from the extra miles you ran this week?

    Maybe its from gout, a type of arthritis sometimes known as the disease of kings because only the monarchs of yesteryear could afford the food and drinks that are known to exacerbate its symptoms.

    Gout cases have been on the rise in recent years due to the increasing obesity rate, although anyone can get gout. Just as the royaltys diet was to blame for many gout symptoms recorded in history, our modern diets are one reason the disease is on the rise.

    Some experts believe this is controversial saying that diet has very little to do with gout today unless it is extreme, like eating liver or shellfish every day.

    And while historically gout was associated with the big toe, the condition is becoming more common in other placesjoints like the hands, foot, or ankle.

    Diagnosing ankle symptoms isnt always easy. Even some doctors mistake ankle pain for something other than gout.

    Patients are often misdiagnosed with sprains, cellulitis, and other disorders when gout is unrecognized due to both severe pain and appearance, explains Victoria Seligman, MD, a rheumatologist with UCHealth Rheumatology Clinic Cherry Creek in Denver.

    Heres how to know when your ankle symptoms are due to gout and how to treat them.

    The Role Of Medication In Prevention Of Gout

    Table 3: Medications to pevent attacks of gout

  • Colchicine: to decrease the ability of uric acid crystals to cause inflammation.
  • Allopurinol and febuxostat: to decrease production of uric acid
  • Probenecid and lesinurad: to increase the excretion of uric acid
  • Pegloticase: to increase the breakdown of uric acid
  • Standard medications in preventing gout attacks

    i. Colchicine : using the matches analogy discussed above1, using colchicine can be seen as dampening the uric acid matches. Colchicine does not lower the bodys store of uric acid, but it decreases the intensity of the bodys inflammatory reaction to these crystals. Recent studies have shown that at least one mechanism of colchicines action is by acting to prevent a cascade of reactions that lead to the production of interleukin 1-beta, which is an inflammatory protein , which is important in gouty inflammation.8

    ii. Allopurinol: This agent is presently the most commonly used drug for the prevention of gout. Allopurinol blocks the enzyme xanthine oxidase, which blocks the breakdown of purines, thus decreasing the bodys total amount of uric acid. Allopurinol is effective in preventing gout no matter what the mechanism of the elevated uric acid was. Whether a person is making too much uric acid, or has difficulty excreting it via the kidney, allopurinols decrease in uric acid production leads to the same goal: a decreased total body uric acid.

    Table 4: Reasons to use medication to lower uric acid

    Read Also: How To Alleviate Gout Pain In Big Toe

    Know More About Gout In The Finger Joint

    Gout is a type of inflammatory arthritis that can cause intense pain. It mostly affects the joints in your body. For instance, the end of your limbs has a high risk of gout. Several patients have complained about the gout attack in the metatarsophalangeal joint. But, gout may hit several other sites, including the wrist, elbow, and finger joints.

    Swelling and pain in the joint due to a gout attack can last 1 to 2 weeks. In due course, you will again notice the symptoms. Without effective treatment, the symptoms will become highly complicated.

    Treating And Preventing Gout Pain

    Gout Of The Ankle Photograph by Dr P. Marazzi/science ...

    Gout pain is generally treated in two ways:

    • Medications to relieve gout attacks in the short-term
    • Preventive medications taken regularly to lower uric acid and stop gout attacks from occurring

    While inflammation-fighting drugs are used to relieve pain during gout flares, different medicines are used to lower uric acid levels to prevent future attacks. These include:

    • Allopurinol
    • Probenecid

    Another medication called pegloticase may be recommended for people with chronic gout who have not responded to other uric acid-lowering medication.

    While many people with gout can be treated by their primary care physician, if gout is not responding to medication or is progressing with worsening or frequent flares or developing tophi gout deposits, then your primary care physician may refer you to see a rheumatologist who specializes in treating diseases that affect joints, muscles, bones and the immune system.

    Taking medication to reduce uric acid levels and reduce the risk of gout progression is important, Dr. FitzGerald stresses. If you have risk factors for bad gout, such as kidney disease, or are experiencing frequent attacks, early treatment is better.

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    When Is Surgery Considered For Gout

    The question of surgery for gout most commonly comes up when a patient has a large clump of urate crystals , which is causing problems. This may be if the tophus is on the bottom of the foot, and the person has difficulty walking on it, or on the side of the foot making it hard to wear shoes. An especially difficult problem is when the urate crystals inside the tophus break out to the skin surface. This then can allow bacteria a point of entry, which can lead to infection, which could even track back to the bone. Whenever possible, however, we try to avoid surgery to remove tophi. The problem is that the crystals are often extensive, and track back to the bone, so there is not a good healing surface once the tophus is removed. In some rare cases, such as when a tophus is infected or when its location is causing major disability, surgical removal may be considered.

    Since it is hard to heal the skin after a tophus is removed, a skin graft may be needed. For this reason, we often try hard to manage the tophus medically. If we give high doses of medication to lower the urate level, such as allopurinol, over time the tophus will gradually reabsorb. In severe cases, we may consider using the intravenous medication pegloticase , since it lowers the urate level the most dramatically, and can lead to the fastest shrinkage of the tophus.

    Causes Of Gout In Ankle

    As said before, gouty arthritis is a condition that occurs in the human body due to the accumulation of a substance called uric acid in the bloodstream.

    This abnormal accumulation of uric acid in the bloodstream happens due to excess workload on the liver and kidneys.

    When this happens it leads to the deposition of uric acid crystals all over the body mainly over the joints.

    Initially the uric acid deposits as a solution. But on long-standing, the uric acid solution becomes uric acid crystals.

    Slowly it starts pressuring the nearby parts of the joints like tendons, cartilage, muscles, nerves, and blood vessels.

    This ultimately leads to damage of the joint tissues and thus creates unwanted and unbearable pain along with swelling.

    Gout may happen in all the joints of the body but primarily it affects the base of the big toe and the ankle joints.

    The ankle joint is the principal joint for balancing the whole body.

    And as gout occurs initially in the ankle joints it creates much trouble for the person in performing the day-to-day daily tasks.

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    What Is Gout Know The Signs And Risk Factors

    4 Minute Read

    Medically Reviewed by UPMC Orthopaedic Care

    Gout is a potentially debilitating form of inflammatory arthritis that causes pain, redness, stiffness, and swelling in your joints. More than 8 million people in the United States have gout.

    The condition usually affects one joint at a time. About half of all gout attacks begin in the big toe, but it also can occur in the ankles, heels, knees, wrists, fingers, and elbows.

    Although gout can cause pain, it can be managed with proper treatment.

    Symptoms Of Gout In Finger

    Gout – Symptoms, causes, diagnoses, treatment

    Gout symptoms are similar in finger joints and other body parts. The affected joint may have several symptoms like heat, swelling, intense pain, and discolorations. Check for these symptoms and start the treatment.

    Due to the high uric acid level, your tendons and joints will have an accumulation of white and chalky deposits. These deposits are known as tophi, and they look like lumps under your skin. Ultimately, they can cause permanent damages to the joint, and you will have a deformity.

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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:

    Treating A Gout Attack

    The methods of stopping an attack of gout can vary depending on the severity of pain. Your orthopedic physician may give you a shot of corticosteroids. They may also prescribe other types of medications that are specifically designed to treat gout. To ease the pain during a gout attack, rest the joint that hurts. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicine may also be prescribed to help reduce the pain. The good news is that following treatment, relief from the pain and discomfort of a gout attack often begins within 24 hours. It is important to still make an appointment with your orthopedic physician even if your pain from gout is gone. The buildup of uric acid that led to your gout attack can still harm your joints. An orthopedic physician will help you get relief from the pain of gout attacks and learn ways to prevent flare-ups in the future.

    *The blog is for general information and educational purposes only regarding musculoskeletal conditions. The information provided does not constitute the practice of medicine or other healthcare professional services, including the giving of medical advice, and no doctor-patient relationship is formed. Readers with musculoskeletal conditions should seek the advice of their healthcare professionals without delay for any condition they have. The use of the information is at the readers own risk. The content is not intended to replace diagnosis, treatment or medical advice from your treating healthcare professional.

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    Risk Factors And Potential Causes Of Gout

    Gout strikes men more often than women until women undergo menopause, and then women experience increased risk. Being overweight or obese, having recent surgery, and experiencing a trauma also increase your risk, as well as your family history.

    Your body produces uric acid when it breaks down purines a substance found naturally in your body, and also in high-protein red meat, organ meat, and certain types of seafood. In addition, alcoholic drinks, beer, and beverages sweetened with fructose can raise your natural uric acid levels. When your body either creates too much uric acid or excretes too little, it can lead to gout. Hundreds of years ago, gout was called the disease of kings because the average peasant couldnt afford such rich food and drink.

    Medical conditions like untreated high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and kidney disease can also increase your chances of developing gout, as does taking certain medications, such as thiazide diuretics and low-dose aspirin.

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