Gout Symtoms Relieved
Dear Friend,
Gout symtoms are usually what drive you into the office of your primary care doctor. They usually see more men than women for gout. This is rather unusual because so many chronic diseases are led by women and not men. Gout is one painful disease to have to deal with. Understanding which issue plagues you the most is what will help your doctor get to the bottom of this.
How Gout Starts
Basically gout is just another name for a form of arthritis. It used to be that people would joke about getting older and experiencing many aches and pains. Gout was likely one of those jokes. But if you are afflicted with this disease it is no laughing matter.
Gout symptoms are rather standard. They include but are not limited to swelling of the joints, redness or discoloration of the skin of the infected area, warm to the touch, sore, and it is so painful. Some people with gout have explained their cases to say that not even a sheet or light clothe can touch the inflamed area. Now that just sounds so painful.
What Can You Do About Gout?
Since gout is an internal disease one characterized by the buildup of crystals in the bloodstream that often affects the joint fluid areas. For instance a popular area is an elbow, the big toes, knees, and of course your back. The amount and duration of pain may extend from anywhere from five (5) to ten (10) days.
The body can normally filter out the purines that are the byproduct of metabolizing the crystals. But the Uric acid is really the culprit after the purines are broken down. These uric acid levels can be used as the target for which certain drugs are used to reduce their levels in the body. The theory is that once the bodies uric acid levels are lowered, the amount of “gout attacks” will reduce and ultimately disappear.
Many people do not believe that gout should deter them from living their lives on their terms. Who says you should be sitting up on the sidelines. Not active. Unable to enjoy your children or your grandchild’s activities. You should make conquering gout a goal. Strive to learn all that you can about it and move into action.
Are All Purines Bad?
Purines are already part of the natural flow of your body. What you can do to further exacerbate your gout condition and not make your gout attacks sky rocket is first to watch what you eat. What you eat has a direct link to the amount and duration of your gout attacks.
When you consider that certain foods once eaten will elevate your purines, you would be wise to avoid or eliminate them from your diet completely. The top foods to avoid are:
1. Asparagus
2. Mushrooms
3. Certain Seafood (shellfish for instance)
4. Organ meats (eg. tongue, heart, livers…)
What the top four foods do is increase the amount of uric acid in your system. Though most patients kidneys are able to excrete the acid, it is probably best for you to experiment with avoiding them. Why not replace them with some other foods?
As you can see gout causes lots of pain, discomfort and decreasing the value of your quality of life. No one should have to go through this. You can do something about it by taking the first steps to avoidance, eating the right foods, and talking with your doctor or health care provider about medications that will decrease the dreaded uric acid.
