Your Aching Big Toe! What To Do For Gout

Content

• Risk Factors
• Medicines For Gout Attacks
• Books About Gout Annotated Bibliography
• What Else Should I Ask My Healthcare Provider About Gout?
• Who Should Diagnose And Treat Gout?
• Easing Summer Swelling

Uric acid is generated as we metabolize the food we eat and as the body's tissues are broken down during normal cell turnover. Purines are also found in certain foods, including red meat and organ meats, such as liver. Purine-rich seafood includes anchovies, sardines, mussels, scallops, trout and tuna.

What is the fastest way to get rid of uric acid crystals?

Natural Ways to Reduce Uric Acid in the Body 1. Limit purine-rich foods.
2. Avoid sugar.
3. Avoid alcohol.
4. Lose weight.
5. Balance insulin.
6. Add fiber.
7. Reduce stress.
8. Check medications and supplements.

The drugs commonly used to lower uric acid levels in gout are probenecid and sulfinpyrazone . Your doctor will adjust the amount of medication you take based on your blood uric acid level. When a normal level of uric acid is reached, no more crystals will be deposited in your joint.

Risk Factors

Colchicine can reduce inflammation and pain if you take it within 24 hours of a gout attack. Gout Quiz Learn what causes those painful crystals to form during a gout flare. Take the Gout Quiz to learn all about this painful arthritic condition. Avoiding meats that contain high levels of purine might help to reduce a person’s gout symptoms.

There is no cure for gout, so a combination of medications and home remedies can help keep gout in remission. Applying an ice pack to the painful joint may help ease pain and inflammation. Wrap a pack in a dish cloth and apply to the area for 20- to 30-minutes at a stretch several times a day. This site is for educational purposes only; no information is intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice.

Medicines For Gout Attacks

Pain often causes people to seek medical attention before any long-term changes can be seen on an X-ray. But X-rays may help to rule out other causes of arthritis. Rapid weight loss, as might happen in hospitalized patients who have changes in diet or medicines. Gout may first appear as nodules on the hands, elbows, or ears.

The fluid is examined under a microscope to see if there are gout crystals or signs of a bacterial infection present. Sometimes other crystals can be found in the joint fluid, such as calcium pyrophosphate, which is caused by an entirely different condition called pseudogout ("like gout"). Goicoechea M, de Vinuesa S, Verdalles U. Effect of allopurinol in chronic kidney disease progression and cardiovascular risk. Increased uric acid levels that are not causing a disease such as gout or urolithiasis are not an indication for pharmacotherapy . Long-term therapy should begin no sooner than 2 weeks after the beginning of an acute gout flare .

Although medications are the most effective way to prevent and treat gout, a few lifestyle changes go a long way in reducing the risk of future attacks. Gout treatment can be categorized into medicines used to treat an acute attack, and medicines used to prevent gout complications, such as tophi. If you experience sudden, intense pain in a joint, see your doctor for a diagnosis. Gout that is not treated can cause irreversible joint damage, kidney stones and the formation of tophi. It is critically important to follow up with a doctor.

It usually affects one joint at a time--often the large joint of the big toe. It also can affect other joints such as the knee, ankle, foot, hand, wrist and elbow. In rare cases, it may later affect the shoulders, hips or spine. Cleveland Clinic offers expert diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation for bone, joint or connective tissue disorders and rheumatic and immunologic diseases.

What Else Should I Ask My Healthcare Provider About Gout?

As with all other known types of arthritis, Gout has particular joints it tends to attack, and the foot is its most common location. Gout especially favors the bunion joint, known as the first metatarsophalangeal joint , but the ankle, midfoot and knee are also common locations, as is the bursa that overlies the elbow. Foods can also lead to overproduction of uric acid, such as meats and meat gravies and beer, which contain high levels of purines. In mammals other than man and the great apes, the enzyme uricase breaks uric acid into the more soluble allantoin, which can be more easily excreted in the urine.

Whatever the mechanism of the elevated uric acid, the key event in gout is the movement of uric acid crystals into the joint fluid. This cycle also recruits more white blood cells to the joint, which accelerates the inflammatory process. These medications treat your symptoms, and they can help prevent gout attacks. Your doctor will work with you to develop a gout treatment plan—one that may include a combination of treatments such as medications and diet modifications.