Can Chronic Gout Cause More Serious Problems?

Content

• What Are Possible Complications Of Gout?
• What Gout Affects
• How You Can Protect Your Joints From The Effects Of Gout
• How Gout Can Affect Your Kidneys

A 2018 Arthritis Care & Research study, for example, found that adults 65 and older have at least a two-fold risk of heart attack compared with those without gout. Gout also ups risks for stroke and peripheral vascular disease. Learn about the four most common warning signs.Article Gout Gout is an inflammatory type of arthritis that more commonly affects men. Gout is a painful and potentially disabling form of arthritis that has been around since ancient times. It is sometimes referred to as the “disease of kings,” because people long have incorrectly linked it to the kind of overindulgence in food and wine only the rich and powerful could afford. In fact, gout can affect anyone, and its risk factors vary.

Colchicine- This anti-inflammatory medicine works best if taken within the first 24 hours of a gout attack. Excess weight increases your risk of gout and health problems that go along with it. Finally, gout does run in some families and we know that certain genes increase the risk of gout. The result is an impressive dossier on the risk factors for gout, at least as they pertain to men. Gout treatments exist, but therapy should be tailored for each person.

What Are Possible Complications Of Gout?

But while it's true that nine out of 10 people with gout are in indeed men older than 40, women get gout as well. Prescription medications or injections are used to treat the pain, swelling and inflammation. The inheritance pattern of gout is unclear because many genetic and environmental factors appear to be involved. However, having a close relative with gout likely increases a person's risk of developing the condition. This procedure involves removing the painful joint and replacing it with artificial parts. The goal of joint replacement is to provide pain relief, as well as to maintain joint movement.

What Gout Affects

People who have had a kidney transplant have a high risk of developing gout. Other organ transplants, such as heart and liver, also increase the risk of developing gout. This is because the surgery itself raises the risk of developing gout, as does the medicine cyclosporine used to prevent rejection of the transplanted organ.

Many conditions and drugs have been associated with an increase in plasma urate levels, particularly metabolic syndrome. A genetic predisposition for hyperuricemia exists; except in rare genetic disorders, however, the development of gout in hyperuricemic individuals appears to be mediated by environmental factors. Advances in early diagnosis and the availability of definitive treatment have significantly improved the prognosis of gout, as evidenced by the declining incidence of disabling chronic tophaceous gout. However, tophaceous gout may still develop because of misdiagnosis, poor management, medication intolerances, or poor patient adherence.

Why Flare

Since uric acid is filtered through the kidneys, the two diseases are related. Some people with severe chronic gout have only short breaks in between attacks and feel symptoms of gout most of the time. Arthritis is a common condition that causes swelling and pain in your joints.

What problems can gout cause?

Health problem linked to gout go beyond the joints, however. Excess uric acid can also damage kidneys, blood vessels, and other organs, and gout raises the risk for several disorders. These include kidney and cardiovascular disease, as well as diabetes, depression and sleep apnea.

People taking drugs to lower the blood level of uric acid should know their level, just as people with high blood pressure should know their blood pressure. The goal of drug therapy is to decrease the level to less than 6 milligrams per deciliter (0.4 millimoles per litre). Most tophi on the ears, hands, or feet shrink slowly when the uric acid level decreases to less than 6 milligrams per deciliter (0.4 millimoles per litre). With early diagnosis of gout, treatment enables most people to live a normal life. For many people with advanced disease, significant lowering of the levels of uric acid in the blood can resolve tophi and improve joint function.

How You Can Protect Your Joints From The Effects Of Gout

Sometimes people develop a mild rash when they start allopurinol, although rarely there's a dangerous allergic reaction. Old guidelines warned against prescribing allopurinol for people with kidney disease, but with proper dosing, the drug is usually well tolerated and effective even for people with kidney disease. Most people can take doses of 400 mg or more without any problems, although higher doses do mean taking extra pills. Some other kinds of arthritis can mimic gout, so proper diagnosis is key. Acute attacks are typically followed by periods of no symptoms. In addition to being located in the joints, crystals can form tophi, or swollen growths, under the skin, often located over a joint or on the outer ear.

“They can start to get bigger and burst open through the skin,” says Dr. Khanna. Tophi are also prone to infections that require antibiotics. If gout tophi get infected or too large, they need to be surgically removed. If you have large tophi that are draining, infected or are interfering with the movement of your joints, you and your doctor may decide to have them surgically removed. There are several kinds of operations that can be done to relieve pain and improve the function of the affected joints.

This is especially true in older women who take diuretics . Most of the uric acid goes through the kidneys and is excreted in urine. The remaining uric acid travels through the intestines where bacteria help break it down. Wikipedia's health care articles can be viewed offline with the Medical Wikipedia app. The term "gout" was initially used by Randolphus of Bocking, around 1200 AD. It is derived from the Latin word gutta, meaning "a drop" .

In severe cases, we may consider using the intravenous medication pegloticase (Krystexxa®), since it lowers the urate level the most dramatically, and can lead to the fastest shrinkage of the tophus. Certain carbohydrates, such as oatmeal, wheat germ, and bran have moderate purine content but have not been shown to be significant gout risk factors. For those interested in achieving the maximal lowering of uric acid by dietary means, two “Gout Haters Cookbooks” are listed in the “Books about Gout” section below.

Is There A Test For Gout?

In fact, gout is one of the few treatable and preventable forms of arthritis, an umbrella term for dozens of conditions that cause inflammation in the joints. The challenge is making sure people get the gout care they need and follow through on taking medications. Individuals should consult a qualified health care provider for professional medical advice, diagnosis and treatment of a medical or health condition. Some of the risk factors for gout are genetic, and those are not preventable. However, many of the risk factors for gout, such as obesity and diet, are controllable. Maintaining a healthy weight and a diet low in refined carbohydrates and low in saturated fat and red meat may prevent gout.

Asymptomatic Hyperuricemia

This article was published more than two years ago, so some information may be outdated. If you have questions about your health, always contact a health care professional. Corticosteroids, like prednisone, may be used to treat gout, but should only be used in the short-term, because of the risk of side-effects.