The pain of gout causes sufferers to seek far and wide for remedies that might provide gout symptom relief. The information on this page provides a wide ranging overview of the cause of gout pain symptoms and gives good advice about how to diet can affect gout pain and how changes in diet can reduce the frequency of gout symptom attacks.
Gout: Foe for Your Toe
By Staff Writer
Gout is a misunderstood malady. Despite the intense pain that gout can bring, it is a condition that is rarely makes the glossy pages of a magazine. If you are ever personally hit with the sudden onset of gout, classically (50% of the time) seen as a sudden and excruciating pain in the big toe, you will have a newly found interest in the following information.
Gout is caused by elevated levels of uric acid in the fluids of your body. These uric
acid crystals deposit in joints, tendons and kidneys, damaging the tissues and
causing inflammation and pain. The pain is a result of countless needle-like
crystals that form from the excess uric acid.
There are two main types of gout, primary and secondary.
Most (90%) of gout
sufferers fall into the ‘primary’ category.
This is a pattern with a cause that is
generally unknown (idiopathic), although there are some genetic patterns that can
lead one to tend toward elevated uric acid.
Secondary gout is identified when uric
acid is elevated in response to some other disorder (such as kidney disease).
Some medicines (such as aspirin and diuretics) can lead to the onset of gout attacks
because they decrease the excretion of uric acid from the body.
The first sign of gout is usually an intense pain during the night. The attack is
commonly brought on following a day or evening of excess in alcohol, food, some
drugs, or surgery.
If the attack progresses, fever and chills will follow. Recurring
attacks are common (90%), mostly occurring in the first year.
While chronic gout is
quite rare, gout sufferers do have a higher risk of kidney dysfunction and kidney
stones.
Conventional treatment for the symptoms of gout is the anti-inflammatory drug
colchicine. Isolated from the autumn crocus, colchicine has a strong effect to
combat inflammation (though it has no effect on uric acid levels!). This provides
most sufferers relief within the day, although the drug may be difficult for many to
tolerate due to digestive side effects.
To prevent gout attacks, the following lifestyle should be considered:
• Avoid alcohol, a major influence in initiating attacks.
• Follow a low-purine diet. This includes organ meats, meat, shellfish, yeast,
and sardines, mackerel, etc.
• Reduce excess food intake including processed carbohydrates, excess fat
and excess protein.
If you find yourself or your loved one suffering from a gout attack, it is unlikely you
would hesitate to seek professional help. The pain of an acute gout attack has been
compared to the pain of childbirth.
However, gout sufferers are overwhelmingly (95%) male.
Written by the staff at http://www.treatment-info.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
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