Important Facts You Need To Learn About Gout

Content

• Find A Gout Specialist
• Treatment For Gout And Gout Attacks
• What Are Symptoms Of Gout?
• Health
• Fact: This Tart Drink Doesnt Prevent Gout Flares

There are many conditions with symptoms similar to gout. With many years of combined experience, the podiatrists at Montgomery Foot Care Specialists in Montgomery, AL are well-equipped to recognize the symptoms of gout. One of our two doctors, Heidi M. Christie, DPM or Michael L. Rosenberg, DPM will begin with a full examination of the swollen joint. If they suspect gout, they’re likely to ask you questions about your diet and your family history.

Tophi can be aspirated or the tophaceous material expressed and examined under polarize microscopy as well to confirm a diagnosis of chronic tophaceous gout. You have had pain and swelling in one joint, especially the joint at the base of the big toe. It may sound like a disease that plagued kings in the Middle Ages, but gout still afflicts 2.1 million Americans today.

Find A Gout Specialist

Left untreated, patients may suffer from recurrent painful and disabling acute attacks of gout. Joint damage and other complications of gout may occur. However, excellent treatments for gout are available, and most patients respond very well to gout treatment with a good prognosis. Gout happens when high levels of a substance called serum urate build up in your body. When this happens, needle-shaped crystals form in and around the joint.

Treatment For Gout And Gout Attacks

Gout is an inflammatory disease where uric acid precipitates into crystals that deposit in various joints around the body, causing pain and inflammation. This video describes the pathophysiology, causes, symptoms, and treatment of gout. Patients with severe hyperuricemia should avoid foods with high purine content. Early recognition of acute gout attacks is critical, in that intervention with medication is much more effective earlier in the attack.

What fruit is bad for gout?

Fructose is what gives some fruits (and vegetables) their natural sweetness. Researchers report a correlation between foods high in fructose and gout symptoms, which can include chronic pain. These fruits include apples, peaches, pears, plums, grapes, prunes, and dates.

However, many people with high levels of serum urate will not develop gout. Left untreated, a gout attack will usually resolve itself within a few days or weeks. Chronic gout can permanently damage a joint’s tissues and decrease its range of motion.

What Are Symptoms Of Gout?

First, your doctor will examine the affected joint and ask you a series of questions about the nature of your pain, when it began, how long it has lasted, etc. Next, your doctor will administer a blood test to check your uric acid levels. High levels of uric acid don’t necessarily indicate gout. However, having normal uric acid levels doesn’t eliminate gout, either.

The health information contained herein is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace discussions with a healthcare provider. H&E stain, high power, of calcium pyrophosphate crystals, demonstrating their rhomboidal structure. Plain radiograph showing typical changes of gout in first metatarsophalangeal joint and fourth interphalangeal joint.

Health

Changes in lifestyle, such as limiting foods associated with gout, should be initiated in anyone who has had gouty attacks. The joint at the base of the big toe is the most common site of an acute gout attack. Over time, they can harm joints, tendons, and other tissues.

What foods get rid of gout?

What Foods Get Rid of Gout?Fresh fruits and vegetables.
Low-fat dairy products, such as yogurt and skimmed milk.
Nuts including nut butters such as almond butter and peanut butter.
Whole grains.
Potatoes, rice, whole-grain bread and whole grain pasta.
Eggs (in moderation)
Oils such as olive oil.
Flax and other seeds.

As is true for many painful conditions, the first-line treatment for a gout attack is taking one of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs , such as diclofenac, ibuprofen, or indomethacin. For people who can't take NSAIDs, a drug called colchicine is an alternative. It's been used for centuries — maybe even longer — specifically for gout. The trouble with colchicine is its side effects, especially the copious diarrhea. If neither an NSAID nor colchicine is an option, then gout attacks can be treated with an oral corticosteroid, such as prednisone, or with corticosteroid injections into the joints.

Whether or not you take medication for your gout, it is important to limit your intake of foods high in purines. For the first six months after starting allopurinol for gout, your diet is especially important in helping to prevent attacks. Men can be three times more likely than women to get it because they have higher levels of uric acid most of their lives. 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.

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