All You Need to Know About Gout

Gout is a type of acute arthritis that can cause severe swelling and pain in the joints.

This condition usually has an effect on the big toe but there are cases wherein the ankle, heel, elbow or wrist may also be affected. Back pain can also be experienced because gout arthritis affects the spine as well. It comes suddenly and eventually goes away after five to seven days. Gout is different from other types of arthritis because the condition happens when levels of uric acid in the blood is high, which results to uric acid crystals that can settle in the joint tissues.

Urate crystals slowly form in the joints as a result of high uric acid levels. Though urate crystals in the joints cause no symptoms for a long time, there are factors that can bring on the signs of symptoms of gout arthritis. These factors include injury of the joints, infection, eating the wrong foods, drinking too much alcohol and surgery.

Common symptoms are tenderness, pain, warmth, swelling and redness of the joints. Usually, gout attack starts in the middle of the night, which involves severe pain. The skin covering the joints may be shiny, dry and red and the condition may come along with mild fever. Though the symptoms may disappear for about a week and may not be experienced for months and even years, gout arthritis attacks can recur more frequently.

Gout arthritis affects an estimate of one million individuals in America and men are more affected by the condition than women. Puberty in men usually causes the levels of uric acid to increase and the symptoms may be seen in their late thirties or early forties of their lives because it usually takes twenty years of hyperuricemia to cause the symptoms of gouts to appear. On the other hand, gout commonly develops on women later in life, which begins in their sixties.

According to experts, as the levels of estrogen fall during the menopause stage, urate crystals can develop in the joints because estrogen is known to be a protection against hyperuricemia. In addition, consuming too much alcohol, excess body weight, taking medications for blood pressure and high levels of serum triglycerides or certain fatty substances can cause high risk of developing gout arthritis and even heart disease.

Most of the time, doctors can determine gout after performing physical examination and knowing the medical history of the patient. Doctors can execute certain tests in order to measure the uric acid levels in the blood. Though normal and even high levels of uric acid do not eliminate the occurrence of gout, the existence of hyperuricemia can increase the risk of developing gout.

Treatments for gout arthritis tends to relieve the pain, avoid future severe attacks and prevent permanent damage to the joints. Aside from taking prescribed pain medications, patients are recommended to rest and increase fluid intake.

Gout can be treated with different medication such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and nonaspirin. If a person has a kidney disease, it is necessary to avoid taking these drugs for they may aggravate peptic ulcer. In cases wherein nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs cannot be taken, most doctors usually prescribe colchicine. However, this medication can cause diarrhea.