What Is Gout? Causes, Symptoms, And How It's Diagnosed

Content

• Typical Presentation Of Gout
• When Should Someone Seek Medical Care For Gout?
• New Gout Treatment Guidelines Emphasize Genetic Risk, Need For Medications

However, it is caused by calcium phosphate, not uric acid. Environmental factors, such as diet, actually trigger the disease. After the acute attack, it may subside to a dull ache.

Typical Presentation Of Gout

The reasons this happens are not entirely known, but some of the leading ideas are dehydration, lower body temperature, and changes in hormone levels during sleep. Chronic gout can lead to permanent joint stiffness, damage, and deformity. Gout causes inflamed, painful joints due to urate crystal deposits at the joints. Gout comes fromgutta, Latin for drop, a reference to the belief that it was caused by a drop-by-drop accumulation of humors in the joints. This old disease is becoming more common, but gout can be easily treated and then prevented — with the right care.

Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. See your doctor to get an accurate diagnosis and start treatment. Gout is caused when an excessive amount of urate builds up in your blood. Urate is produced by your own body as it metabolizes, or breaks down, a substance in the foods and drinks you consume called purines. The joint most commonly involved in gout is the first metatarsophalangeal joint , and is called podagra. Any joint may be involved in a gout attack with the most frequent sites being in the feet, ankles, knees, and elbows.

When Should Someone Seek Medical Care For Gout?

Treatment for these conditions may help prevent gout. Losing excess weight may help decrease uric acid levels in the body. Uric acid crystals can form stones in the kidneys, in the ureters or in the bladder itself.

Losing weight, which helps reduce urate levels and can help stop or lower the number of flares you have if you are overweight or obese. Some people with gout may be more likely to develop other conditions or complications, especially with the heart and kidneys. The most common symptom of gout is pain in the affected joint, such as the big toe.

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. Between gout attacks, you may have no symptoms at all.

In fact, pain in the big toe is often one of the first symptoms people report. The pain is accompanied by more typical arthritis symptoms, such as swelling and warmth in the joints. Studies in the early 2000s found that other dietary factors are not relevant. Specifically, a diet with moderate purine-rich vegetables (e.g., beans, peas, lentils, and spinach) is not associated with gout. Alcohol consumption is strongly associated with increased risk, with wine presenting somewhat less of a risk than beer or spirits. Eating skim milk powder enriched with glycomacropeptide and G600 milk fat extract may reduce pain but may result in diarrhea and nausea.

Gout pain relief is possible with proper diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care. Uric-acid-lowering medicine, such as losartan or allopurinol. The new gout guidelines recommend taking these with a three- to six-month course of NSAIDS. A number of different drugs can be used to treat gout flare-ups. Hard white deposits or lumps under the skin, called tophi, found on the elbows, ears, or fingers. The sooner you start treatment, the sooner your pain will go away.

Medical Encyclopedia

Make sure to see your healthcare provider for a diagnosis. Explore interactive models that show how gout affects the human body—in this case, the foot—and how chronic inflammation can lead to the formation of hard, crystalline tophi over time. , flare-ups can occur as the uric acid level in the blood first decreases. Gout is generally more severe in people whose initial symptoms appear before age 30.

You may not be able to do something as simple as accompany your kids to the school bus stop or walk your dog during an acute episode of gout. Depending on your situation, gout attacks could be a “big deal,” even if others around you don’t really understand what you’re going through. They tend to start at night and extreme pain and swelling may waken you. Sometimes the gout episode is tied to a stressful event or an illness. For most people, gout episodes clear up in three to ten days without any treatment. There can be long periods between gout attacks — months or even years.

It is, however, not recommended if a person has a history of kidney stones. Pegloticase is an option for the 3% of people who are intolerant to other medications. Pegloticase is given as an intravenous infusion every two weeks, and reduces uric acid levels. Pegloticase is useful decreasing tophi but has a high rate of side effects and many people develop resistance to it. Potential side effects include kidney stones, anemia and joint pain. The majority of gout cases are treated with medication.

How can I check my uric acid levels at home?

A uric acid test measures the amount of uric acid in the body. Uric acid is a chemical that's produced when your body breaks down purines.
How is a uric acid urine test performed? 1. On day 1, urinate into the toilet after waking up.
2. After that, take note of the time and collect all urine for the remaining 24 hours.

Some patients do not respond to treatment because they fail to follow protocols, have alcoholism, or are undertreated by physicians. Gout comes in sudden, and sometimes severe attacks, also called flares, or flare-ups. During a gout attack you may have pain, swelling, and/or redness in your joints.

Arthritis

If your doctor has prescribed colchicine to prevent gout attacks, the attacks will return if you stop the drug. When the body has high levels of uric acid, or hyperuricemia, uric acid crystals can concentrate in the joints. However, many people with higher uric acid levels never get gout. Urate-lowering medications are the primary treatment for gout. These medications decrease the total amount of uric acid in the body and lower the serum uric acid level.