What Is Gout? Symptoms, Causes, Treatment, Medication, Diet, Remedies

Content

• How Do Doctors Diagnose Gout?
• Relieving Acute Flare
• Medicines That May Increase Uric Acid
• When Should I Call My Healthcare Provider About Gout Symptoms?
• How Do I Know If I Have Gout In My Foot?

This painful condition can leave your joint permanently damaged and swollen. Gout is a general term for a variety of conditions caused by a buildup of uric acid. If other members of your family have had gout, you're more likely to develop the disease. After the most severe pain subsides, some joint discomfort may last from a few days to a few weeks. Later attacks are likely to last longer and affect more joints. Close management of blood pressure and diabetes management, if appropriate.

Untreated chronic tophaceous gout can lead to severe joint destruction and, rarely, renal impairment. Deposition of monosodium urate crystals in the kidney can result in inflammation and fibrosis, leading to reduced renal function or chronic nephropathy. Rarely, gout can produce spinal cord impingement when deposition in tissues produces a local mass. In the United States in 2015–16, the overall prevalence of gout in adults was 3.9%, corresponding to a total affected population of 9.2 million.

How Do Doctors Diagnose Gout?

Without treatment, episodes of acute gout may develop into chronic gout with destruction of joint surfaces, joint deformity, and painless tophi. These tophi occur in 30% of those who are untreated for five years, often in the helix of the ear, over the olecranon processes, or on the Achilles tendons. Kidney stones also frequently complicate gout, affecting between 10 and 40% of people, and occur due to low urine pH promoting the precipitation of uric acid. If these medications are in chronic use at the time of an attack, it is recommended that they be continued. Levels that cannot be brought below 6.0 mg/dl while attacks continue indicates refractory gout. Gout is partly genetic, contributing to about 60% of variability in uric acid level.

Do I have gout in my foot?

If you have gout, you'll probably feel swelling and pain in the joints of your foot, particularly your big toe. Sudden and intense pain, or gout attacks, can make it feel like your foot is on fire.

In addition, certain medications such as allopurinol and probenecid reduce the level of uric acid in the blood. Gout is a form of arthritis that causes sudden, severe attacks of pain, tenderness, redness, warmth, and swelling in joints – often starting with your big toe. And though gout may start with your big toe, it can also affect ankles, heels, knees, wrists, fingers, and elbows. At first, gout occurrences usually get better within a few days. As time goes on, the occurrences last longer and happen more often.

Relieving Acute Flare

Tophi are recognized as lumps under the skin and can occur in different locations in the body. Most commonly, tophi are found on the elbows, ears, and on the surfaces of joints. 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.

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.

Patients should be aware that some medical treatments may contribute to gout. These include certain diuretics, the organ transplant-facilitating drug cyclosporine, and chemotherapy, among others. The second stage is to prevent gouty arthritis attacks from happening again. AllopurinolThis medication decreases the formation of uric acid by the body and is a very reliable way to lower the blood uric acid level. Allopurinol is currently the gold standard of maintenance therapy. While some medications are used to treat the hot, swollen joint, other medications are used to prevent further attacks of gout.

Risks were elevated in both men and women and were higher in the younger age groups. The annual incidence of acute attacks of arthritic pain and swelling is about 1.3 per 1000 adults, but nearly 50% of adults develop radiographic changes typical of CPPD by age 80 years. Although the pathophysiology, clinical presentation, and acute-phase treatment of gout and pseudogout are very similar, the underlying causes of the 2 diseases are very different. Overproduction of uric acid may also occur in disorders that cause high cell turnover with release of purines that are present in high concentration in cell nuclei.

The presence of tophi indicates tophaceous gout and treatment with medications is necessary. 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. For this reason, it is important to recognize symptoms, understand risk factors, get an accurate diagnosis, and treat and prevent gout.

What does a gout diet look like?

Dairy Foods and Gout
Full-fat dairy products like whole milk and ice cream are often discouraged for people with gout. However, studies have shown that increasing the amount of dairy products you eat, including cheese, yogurt, and ice cream, may reduce your risk of developing gout.

Gout develops when hyperuricemia leads to the formation of urate crystals in joints, triggering an inflammatory response from the immune system. Anti-inflammatory medications can provide pain relief and lessen the length of an episode. Colchicine is often prescribed for patients with chronic gout. For overweight patients, weight loss can help control gout, but it’s important to lose weight at a slow and steady rate since rapid weight loss increases uric acid levels. Any treatment that decreases levels of uric acid in the blood can trigger an acute flare-up (mobilization flare-up).

Medicines That May Increase Uric Acid

In general, the higher your uric acid levels and the more often you have attacks, the more likely it is that long-term medicine treatment will help. Long-term medicine treatment depends on how high your uric acid levels are and how likely it is that you will have other gout attacks in the future. It's important to see your doctor even if the pain from gout has stopped. The uric acid buildup that caused your gout attack may still be irritating your joints and could eventually cause serious damage. Your doctor can prescribe medicines that can prevent and even reverse the uric acid buildup. Your doctor will ask questions about your symptoms and do a physical exam.

People who have hyperuricemia, but no other problems, usually do not require medications. A period of time when there are no symptoms at all, followed by other acute severe attacks. A sudden onset of joint pain and swelling that goes away after five to 10 days . Some people have one episode and never have any other problems with it. Others have several episodes along with lasting joint pain and damage.