Important Facts You Need To Learn About Gout

Content

• Lifestyle Factors And Gout
• Lifestyle Modifications Can Prevent Gout Attacks
• Gout Basics

It would be nice to have such a targeted area to deal with, but gout can affect several other joints. The base of the big toe just happens to be the most common. The knees, ankles, elbows, and wrists are also susceptible to urate crystal formation, as is nearly every other joint in your body.

Symptoms produced by elevated uric acid levels are pain and swelling of the Big toe, painful joint especially the knee joint. Many patients even remain symptom free despite of high uric acid levels patients with gout alone or combined with renal stones should be distinguished prior to treatment. Abnormalities in serum uric acid metabolism may cause hyperuricemia and gout.

Lifestyle Factors And Gout

Only patients with good kidney function who do not overproduce uric acid should take these therapies. The information on this site should not be used as a substitute for professional medical care or advice. Contact a health care provider if you have questions about your health.

Lifestyle Modifications Can Prevent Gout Attacks

Lifestyle changes may make it easier to manage this lifelong disease. Suggestions include gradual weight loss, avoidance of alcohol and reduced consumption of fructose‐containing drinks and foods high in purines. This medicine can be effective if given early in the attack. However, colchicine can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and other side effects. Patients with kidney or liver disease, or who take drugs that interact with colchicine, must take lower doses or use other medicines. Colchicine also has an important role in preventing gout attacks .

Purine-rich seafood includes anchovies, sardines, mussels, scallops, trout and tuna. Alcoholic beverages, especially beer, and drinks sweetened with fruit sugar promote higher levels of uric acid. Gout usually affects the big toe, but it can occur in any joint.

However, they can also occur without an obvious trigger. 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. Get more information about treatment goals for inflammatory arthritis, which includes both pain management and the prevention of joint and organ damage.

Loss-of-function mutations in SLC2A9 and SLC22A12 causes low blood uric acid levels by reducing urate absorption and unopposed urate secretion. The crystallization of uric acid, often related to relatively high levels in the blood, is the underlying cause of gout. This can occur because of diet, genetic predisposition, or underexcretion of urate, the salts of uric acid. Underexcretion of uric acid by the kidney is the primary cause of hyperuricemia in about 90% of cases, while overproduction is the cause in less than 10%. About 10% of people with hyperuricemia develop gout at some point in their lifetimes. The risk, however, varies depending on the degree of hyperuricemia.

Take the medicines your doctor prescribes as directed and tell your doctor about all other medicines and vitamins you may take. Work with your doctor on healthy and safe gradual weight loss and to establish regular exercise. Gout is a very painful form of arthritis that most often affects men after age 40. Women can also get the disease, but typically only after menopause. "Diet is not the exclusive cause of gout, and lifestyle changes alone cannot treat or prevent it", Dr. Lowe says.

Medication can be used to treat the symptoms of gout attacks, prevent future flares, and reduce the risk of gout complications such as kidney stones and the development of tophi. 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.

Can you get rid of gout without medicine?

Most gout attacks will go away by themselves in several weeks, even without treatment.

When levels are between 415 and 530 μmol/l (7 and 8.9 mg/dl), the risk is 0.5% per year, while in those with a level greater than 535 μmol/l (9 mg/dL), the risk is 4.5% per year. Long-standing elevated uric acid levels may result in other symptoms, including hard, painless deposits of uric acid crystals known as tophi. Extensive tophi may lead to chronic arthritis due to bone erosion.

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