Weight Management And Exercise
The Arthritis Foundation emphasizes how important it is for people with gout to manage their weight.
Obesity is a risk factor for developing gout. If a person with gout has excess weight, losing a few pounds can help them:
- reduce pressure on painful joints
- lower the risk of heart disease
- build strength and flexibility
To achieve this, the person should ask a doctor about a suitable diet to help them manage their weight and an exercise plan.
Anyone who smokes should also ask a doctor to help them with a plan to quit.
The Mediterranean diet contains plants, grains, and healthy fats. It may help people manage their weight while encouraging them to eat healthily.
What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Gout
Gout flares start suddenly and can last days or weeks. These flares are followed by long periods of remissionweeks, months, or yearswithout symptoms before another flare begins. Gout usually occurs in only one joint at a time. It is often found in the big toe. Along with the big toe, joints that are commonly affected are the lesser toe joints, the ankle, and the knee.
Symptoms in the affected joint may include:
- Pain, usually intense
What Is The Fastest Way To Get Rid Of Gout
Medications for acute gout attack: These medications are usually prescribed to treat an acute attack of gout:
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs : These can quickly relieve the pain and swelling of an acute gout episode. They can shorten the attack, especially if taken in the first 24 hours.
- Corticosteroids: These drugs can be taken by mouth or injected into an inflamed joint to quickly relieve the pain and swelling of an acute attack. Corticosteroids usually start working within 24 hours after they are taken.
- Colchicine: An anti-inflammatory medicine that works best if taken within the first 24 hours of a gout attack.
Medications for reducing uric acid levels: These are usually prescribed after an acute attack ends to reduce uric acid levels in the body to prevent future attacks.
- Colchicine: Regular and low doses of colchicine may be given along with other medications below to prevent flare-ups.
- Allopurinol: It reduces uric acid production in the body.
- : It reduces uric acid production in the body.
- Probenecid: It acts on the kidneys to help eliminate uric acid.
- Pegloticase: This is a medication that is injected every 2 weeks. It reduces uric acid quickly and used when other medications fail.
Lifestyle and home remedies to treat acute gout and can prevent recurrent attacks:
- Limiting or avoiding alcohol consumption and drinks sweetened with fructose
- Limiting intake of foods high in purines, such as red meat, organ meats, and seafood
- Drinking plenty of fluids
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Best Diet For Gout: What To Eat What To Avoid
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Gout is a type of arthritis, an inflammatory condition of the joints. It affects an estimated 8.3 million people in the US alone (
Fortunately, gout can be controlled with medications, a gout-friendly diet and lifestyle changes.
This article reviews the best diet for gout and what foods to avoid, backed by research.
What To Eat To Treat And Prevent Gout
Avoiding certain foods high in purine and managing weight may help prevent the painful symptoms of gout and stop it from developing in the first place. Understanding how food affects gout and what to eat can help someone manage their symptoms.
Gout is a form of arthritis that can happen when too much uric acid in the body causes crystals to form in the joints, resulting in pain and inflammation.
Diet plays an important role in gout as certain foods can cause excess uric acid, or hyperuricemia.
Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise that eating a healthy diet and avoiding becoming overweight can help someone manage their symptoms.
This article looks at how a person can eat to manage and prevent gout, including which foods to eat and which foods to avoid.
When planning a diet for gout, someone should aim to limit or avoid the following types of foods.
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How Is Gout Treated
Gout can be effectively treated and managed with medical treatment and self-management strategies. Your health care provider may recommend a medical treatment plan to
- Manage the pain of a flare. Treatment for flares consists of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen, steroids, and the anti-inflammatory drug colchicine.
- Prevent future flares. Making changes to your diet and lifestyle, such as losing weight, limiting alcohol, eating less purine-rich food , may help prevent future attacks. Changing or stopping medications associated with hyperuricemia may also help.
- Prevent tophi and kidney stones from forming as a result of chronic high levels of uric acid. Tophi are hard, uric acid deposits under the skin. For people with frequent acute flares or chronic gout, doctors may recommend preventive therapy to lower uric acid levels in the blood using drugs like allopurinol, febuxostat, and pegloticase.
In addition to medical treatment, you can manage your gout with self-management strategies. Self-management is what you do day to day to manage your condition and stay healthy, like making healthy lifestyle choices. The self-management strategies described below are proven to reduce pain and disability, so you can pursue the activities important to you.
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What Youll Want To Remember To Do
10) Get a cane
It can be tough to accept, but walking with a cane during an acute gout attack will keep pressure off your painful joints and make life a lot more pleasant. For styling with a cane, there are some pretty darn cool ones out there on the Internet. A few of our favorite canes can be found at https://www.fashionablecanes.com/ and https://thewalkingcanestore.com/
11) Wear Warm Clothes When its Cold
If you live in a cold climatic area, you are susceptible to gout. Keep yourself warm by donning thick clothes and socks. Avoid exposing your feet to the cold, as gout often affects the big toe. Also, ensure that you sleep in a room that is slightly warmer than room temperature.
12) Exercise, but in Moderation
There is no substitute for exercise, as being overweight can contribute to gout. Keeping your weight in check and getting enough exercise will help prevent the accumulation of uric acid in the joints. Bear in mind that too much exercise can lead to trouble by putting more stress on already inflamed joints. Hence, always exercise in moderation.
13) Elevate your foot, if affected
Raising your foot with pillows so its higher than your chest may help lessen swelling.
14) Tame your sheets
Even the weight of your bed sheets can be unbearable to an inflamed, gouty toe. Tuck the sheet in on the sides so its end falls at calf level, leaving your painful toe free of the covers.
15) Create gout-friendly socks
16) Chill out
Cherry Juice For Gout Management
Cherries and cherry juice are a popular folk remedy for gout, but the scientific evidence to support their supposed benefits is still coming in.
Nonetheless, theres reason to believe that cherries may help fight gout. They contain chemical compounds called anthocyanins, which have been shown to help reduce inflammation.
Cherries may also have a beneficial effect on uric acid levels.
One large study of people with recurrent gout found that eating cherries was associated with a lower risk of gout attacks, especially when cherry consumption was combined with taking a common uric acidlowering drug.
Despite these findings, experts say that more research is needed before any definitive recommendations can be made about cherries or cherry juice for gout.
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Treating The Pain At Home
Cherries Tart Cherries And Berries
Cherries, along with strawberries and other berries, are a rich source of antioxidants and help fight inflammation in the body.
Tart cherries and strawberries contain two powerful compounds, anthocyanins and bioflavonoids that help to relieve and prevent arthritis and gout in your body.
Recent studies have found that eating about 30 pieces of cherries within 48 hours of a gout attack may cut the risk of recurrence of gout pain significantly.
One study found that cherry juice is helpful for treating gout because it lowered the levels of uric acid in the body.
Another study found that drinking 100 percent tart cherry juice significantly reduced the level of serum uric acid levels. The participants in the study drank 8 ounces of the tart cherry juice every day for four weeks.
Eat tart cherries in all forms fresh, or as cherry juice, or in the form of tart cherry extract. The Arthritis Foundation recommends to consume a handful of cherries or drinking a glass of tart cherry juice daily. The current studies showed improvements in people who drank a glass of tart cherry juice daily.
Some people take cherry juice extract capsules to manage their gout symptoms.
Read more on how to use tart cherries for joint inflammation and pain here.
Can black cherry juice reduce uric acid levels? There are no specific studies about black cherries for gout but cherries and tart cherries were found to reduce uric acid levels and help treat gout.
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Gout Remedies To Prevent And Relieve Pain Quickly
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If youve ever suffered a gout attack, you know how completely terrible they can be. From burning and swelling, to excruciating pain, gout is one of the most unpleasant conditions there is. Once you feel the warning signs of a gout attack coming on, you know you want to do whatever you can to mitigate the pain. If you deal with gout pain and discomfort, here are 4 gout remedies to help you through it.
Health Benefits And Nutrition Facts
Oatmeal is associated with cardiovascular health benefits. Namely, the consumption of whole-grain oats is associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease. It is rich in vitamins and minerals like phosphorus, thiamine, magnesium, and zinc.
Oatmeal can help if you are trying to lose weight and maintain weight loss, thanks to its high water and soluble fiber content. Maintaining a healthy weight is also one of the most important lifestyle factors for gout treatment.
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Alkaline Foods That Fight Gout
Your diet determines whether or not you suffer from gout.
What you eat has a HUGE effect on whether uric acid crystals, the cause of gout-induced pain and suffering, build up in your joints.
So what should you eat? How do you fight gout? Enter the alkaline diet.
The alkaline diet involves the consumption of foods that encourage a slightly alkaline pH in your body. Basically, while on this diet, you consume fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds while minimizing acid-forming foods like meat, dairy, eggs, and grains.
The alkaline diet involves the consumption of foods that encourage a slightly alkaline pH in your body. Basically, while on this diet, you consume fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds while minimizing acid-forming foods like meat, dairy, eggs, and grains.
A 2012 review in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health noted the many health benefits of alkaline diets:
The Alkaline Diet: Is There Evidence That an Alkaline pH Diet Benefits Health? detailed how alkaline diets nourish human health in that they may benefit bone health, reduce muscle wasting, as well as mitigate other chronic diseases such as hypertension and strokes 1.
Additional Tips For Treating Gout Naturally
Studies show that many of the dietary items we consume lead to gout as well as other health problems. Changing your diet and lifestyle may be the easy solution to beating gout. One of the first things to do is eliminate certain foods and beverages from your diet to beat gout.
1. Eliminate or reduce sugar intake
As many studies are now illustrating, gout is common in people with excessive sugar intake, especially high fructose corn syrup Its wise to read the labels of all your food and drinks. If you find HFCS then eliminate that from your diet. In addition, look for sugar added under the guise of other common names for sugar look for cose at the end of words and these are probably types of sugar you dont want to be consuming.
2. Eliminate grains
Grains in the body are converted to sugars so again you want to limit or avoid grains altogether. They are also very inflammatory to your body.
3. Limit alcohol consumption
Again, alcohol becomes sugar once ingested so eliminate this completely unless you have a healthy body already. Any substance that will be converted to one or another type of sugar by the body should be avoided at all costs. In order to get your uric acid levels down you must consistently avoid sugar in your diet.
4. Eliminate soda and diet soda
5. Consume cherries and strawberries daily
6. Exercise
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How Do You Permanently Treat Gout
Gout is a life-long disease that needs constant monitoring and diet modifications. The disease is managed by a combination of medications and lifestyle changes to prevent the flares and minimize the complications. To manage gout, your doctor may recommend the following:
Medical treatment:
- Management of flare-ups: the pain of a flare-up may be managed by taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen, steroids, and the anti-inflammatory drug colchicine.
- Preventing future gout flares: To manage symptoms and prevent future flares you need to make healthy changes in your diet and lifestyle. These include maintaining a healthy weight, limiting alcohol, eating less purine-rich food such as red meat or organ meat, and including more non-sugary fluids, fruits and vegetables in your diet. If you are taking certain medications such as diuretics, your doctor may ask you to change to other alternatives.
- Prevent complications such as tophi and kidney stones: Tophi are hard deposits of uric acid under the skin. Stones and tophi may form because of long term high levels of uric acid. As a preventive measure for kidney stones and tophi, doctors may prescribe preventive therapy to lower uric acid levels in the blood. This includes medicines like allopurinol, and pegloticase.
Self-management:
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Gout: 5 Incredible Foods To Ease Joint Pain And Swelling
Gout is a complex form of arthritis characterized by deposits of uric acid crystals in the body which affects the joints. Uric acid is a substance formed when the body breaks down purines, it is a vital element for DNA synthesis, circulation, digestion and absorption of nutrients. The blood transports uric acid to the kidneys and the excess amount is excreted out. When the kidneys cannot eliminate the excess uric acid, it gets deposited in the body causing gout, also called hyperuricemia. It mostly affects men after 40 years, however, it triggers in women post-menopause. Also Read: Gout: Causes, Symptoms And TreatmentGet Relief From Pain And Swelling With Our Best-Selling Ayurvedic Supplements And Oils For Treating Gout Pain!
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How To Prevent Gout
1. Watch What You EatThe triggers of gout are mainly diet related, as certain foods can raise uric acid in your blood even more. Stay away from foods that are high in purines, such as seafood, organ meats like liver, and fatty foods.
2. Cut Out Alcohol and Other Sweet DrinksFructose-sweetened drinks and alcohol can also lead to more pain. Alcohol, especially beer, and especially in excess, can lead to a gout flare up.
3. Be Cautious of Weight GainSince being heavier can make you more susceptible to gout, watching your weight gain is one way to prevent it. Eating a healthy diet low in purines and sweetened drinks can lower your uric acid and reduce your risk of gout attacks. Leading an active lifestyle and regular exercise will help you stay in shape and keep your weight in check.