7 Gout Symptoms And Risk Factors You Should Know

Content

• Columbiadoctors
• How Does Gout Affect Quality Of Life?
• Not Just The Big Toe: The Most Common Places Gout Harms
• Attacks Can Often Worsen Over Time If Left Untreated
• Gout Topics
• Why Do Gout Attacks Happen More At Night?
• About Veritas Health

Also called "gouty arthritis," gout is a painful form of arthritis caused by too much uric acid in the body. Gout usually appears in a single joint at a time, but it can spread to multiple joints if it is left untreated and cause additional health complications. It is also more likely for multiple joints to be affected in recurrent gout attacks. It is important to take action at the first signs of gout.

Uric acid is normally cleaned out of the blood by the kidneys, and passes out of the body along with urine. However, high levels of uric acid can accumulate in the body, either when the kidneys excrete too little uric acid or when the body produces too much uric acid. This condition is known as hyperuricemia, according to the NIH.

Columbiadoctors

En español | Gout isn't just for paunchy Pickwickians who overindulge in Stilton cheese and a tawny port. More than 8 million Americans have this painful and potentially disabling form of arthritis, and that number is rising. Indeed, gout is now the most common type of inflammatory arthritis in men over age 40. A person’s diet is incredibly important because uric acid is a breakdown product of purines and purines come from what we eat. Reducing the intake of purines can help to prevent gout.

How Does Gout Affect Quality Of Life?

Factors that influence rates of gout include age, race, and the season of the year. While historically it is not recommended to start allopurinol during an acute attack of gout, this practice appears acceptable. Allopurinol blocks uric acid production, and is the most commonly used agent.

However, while gout is due to an excess of uric acid, pseudogout results from the presence of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystals. The medical name for pseudogout is calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease . As the “pseudo” in its name suggests, pseudogout is not actually gout—but it does have very similar symptoms. Both cause intense pain and swelling in a joint due to the buildup of crystals in the affected area. Gout is most commonly seen in men older than age 40, but it can strike anyone, especially postmenopausal women.

Not Just The Big Toe: The Most Common Places Gout Harms

High concentrations of uric acid levels in the blood — the medical term is hyperuricemia — are necessary for the crystals to form. Yet many people with hyperuricemia never develop gout, and even when they do, they often have had high levels of uric acid in their blood for years without any symptoms. People with hyperuricemia with no symptoms might be coached to make lifestyle changes — losing weight would often top the list — but hyperuricemia by itself is usually not treated. If those do not help to control symptoms, colchicine may be useful within the first 12 hours of an attack. NSAIDs or oral colchicine may be prescribed in small daily doses to prevent future attacks as well.

Overall weight reduction is also a way to avoid gout attacks. A diet low in fats and calories, combined with a regular exercise regime can help decrease the likelihood of a gout attack. Untreated gout can also lead to kidney stones, which is known in the medical field as nephrolithiasis. Kidney stones are hard deposits that form in the kidneys and are ultimately excreted through the urinary tract. While kidney stones are unlikely to cause permanent damage, they can be very painful to pass. Gout symptoms include intense joint pain, redness, swelling, warmth, and a limited range of motion at the affected site.

Your doctor can prescribe medicines that can prevent and even reverse the uric acid buildup. Gout flares often can occur when you first start to use medications that lower blood uric acid levels. Patients can help prevent flares when starting these medications by also using low‐dose colchicine or NSAIDs. Often, doctors advise patients to keep taking colchicine in a low, preventive dose together with the uric acid-lowering medicine for at least six months. It causes severe pain, swelling, redness, and stiffness in the joints.

Gout Topics

Hyon Choi, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, says the pain can be so severe it feels like a bone has been broken. “It often happens abruptly in the middle of the night and is so intense you can’t put a bed sheet on top of it,” he says. The gout attacks can last a few days or even a few weeks before the pain goes away, and another episode might not occur for months or years. Most importantly, diuretics may be necessary to control blood pressure and prevent strokes or heart attacks. Gout is a chronic autoinflammatory disease with regular acute flares, which cause very painful joint inflammation . It occurs when there is too much uric acid in the blood.

How can you tell the difference between gout and arthritis?

Both cause pain, swelling, and stiffness of the joints that can limit your range of motion. However, the cause differs. RA is an autoimmune disease, which means the body's own immune system attacks the joints, whereas the pain of gout is due to elevated levels of uric acid in the blood.

The exact cause of hyperuricemia sometimes isn't known, although inherited factors seem to play a role. Not everyone who has a gout attack will have all of these symptoms. In addition to the pain, you may also notice that the affected joint is stiff, swollen, warm, red, and very tender. Symptoms including swelling, redness, and tenderness in affected joints are usually noticeable before a painful “gout attack” happens. People with a history of gout should check the base of the big toe for changes that can alert them to a flare-up.