What is gout in short: A sudden painful form of arthritis. Happens mostly in the big toe of men between 40 and 50. Remedies for gout include medication and a change in diet. Caused by too much uric acid for your kidneys to handle.
What is gout: detailed explanations
Maybe you do know what is gout but you just don't know that it is called gout. And not all gout symptoms occur on your big toe...
Myself it took me quite a lot of doctor visits in different countries to learn that the arthritis in my left index finger actually was caused by gout.
More than 5 million people in the United States live with gout. In Europe it's called a rich men's disease... Since I don't consider myself rich at all, it took me quit a while to find out the painful attacks in my finger where called gout attacks.
It did take me so much research about what gout is, what the symptoms are and most importantly how to cure it, that I want to share my knowledge about all things gout to you.
Gout is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis in men between 40 and 50 and it affects approximately 3 times as many men as women. Myself I got my first gout attack when I was about 42. The number of newly diagnosed gout cases is on the rise.
What is it about gout being a rich men's disease?
Hippocrates called gout disease “the disease of kings”. Gout was associated with a rich diet of rich people.
This explains why there are now gout diets and lists with foods that cause gout. You can avoid gout by not eating these foods but on top of that there are gout foods to prevent you having your next gout attack.
In reality, there are a number of gout causes but home remedies for gout include a good gout diet. Needless to say you can buy gout diet cookbooks.
What is gout pain
The pain of gout (called gout attacks or gout flares) feels like somebody is poking your joints from the inside with a needle.
And this description is very close to what really causes your gout attack: needle-like crystals are deposited in connective tissue and/or in the fluids cushioning a joint (called "synovial fluid").
These needle crystals are actually uric acid crystals, a substance produced when the body breaks down purines found in human tissue and many foods we eat.
We will elaborate more about uric acid and food that contain purines on our other pages.
Normally, the kidneys eliminate uric acid from the body in the urine. But when the kidneys don't manage to do this, uric acid will build up in the blood which is hyperuricemia. At this stage you don't have uric acid needles yet though!
A gout attack usually starts with a sudden, severe pain in the large joint of the big toe. With me it occurs in my left index. This attack will fade away after 3 to 10 days. According to your gout food and gout diet, the next gout attack maybe is due for a few months or even a few years.
If gout symptoms are not treated well, gout attacks will become more severe, occur more often, last longer and affect more than one joint. That's why you need to follow one of the many gout treatments available to keep your gout under control or prevent it from returning.
I would say I keep my fingers crossed never to get a gout attack again, but in my case my gout finger already looks a bit crossed without having to make any effort...
What is severe gout
Severe gout is gout that causes so much damage to the joints that the person suffers from some sort of disability.
Luckily there are enough remedies for gout to control your gout symptoms in an acceptable manner.
Home remedies for gout
After popping up some Celebrex pain killers, I stumbled upon lot's of other treatments to battle gout.
Gout treatments are categorized as such:
- medication to deal with acute gout pain
- medication to deal with chronic gout
- diet to reduce your purine intake (or foods to avoid when you have gout)
- diet to increase your excrement of urine acid (or " good gout food")
- other remedies like the ones I will add in my home remedies for gout blog.
To learn more about gout, gout symptoms and treating gout, please browse around on our site or ask a question at our blog about home remedies for gout.