“Gout Demystified: Causes, Signs, Symptoms, and Treatments”

Alright, let’s dive into this gout stuff. So, imagine waking up one day with your big toe feeling like it’s on fire – that’s gout saying hello. It happens because there’s too much of this thing called uric acid hanging out in your body, and it forms these tiny, sharp crystals in your joints. Ouch, right? But don’t worry, we’ll chat about what causes it and how to deal with it in simpler terms.

WHAT IS GOUT?

A gout is a form of arthritis that causes redness, swelling, severe pain, and tightness in a joint. It happens when the crystal-like deposition of uric acid in a joint. A gout attack can be intense and painful. Recurring gout attacks might require long-term medication to prevent bone and cartilage damage and kidney damage.

CAUSES

• Urate crystals can develop when you have high uric acid levels in your blood. Uric acid produces from the body and food. Kidney filters extra uric acid and passes it through urine.
• If the body produces too much uric acid or cannot excrete it through urine, the monosodium crystals form in the joint and tendons. These crystals cause severe inflammation resulting in pain, swelling, and redness.
• Gout can be linked with other common diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF GOUT

Recurring episodes of gout are frequent if the uric acid level of the body is not kept under control. Symptoms include:

• Sudden intense pain in a joint. Gout mainly occurs in the large joint of the big toe, but it can affect any joint. The pain is likely to be more severe within the first 4 to 12 hours of starting. Sometimes the pain may last for a few days or weeks.
• Formation of nodules beneath the skin that causes tenderness, swelling, redness, and discomfort in the joint.
• Tenderness and stiffness may cause the joint to be hot or warm to the touch and look red or violet.
• Gout pain can limit the joint range of motion so that you might feel difficulty in moving your joint.

DIAGNOSIS

Your doctor might do some test to know whether you have gout or something else.

• FLUID TEST OF A JOINT- Your doctor can use a needle to take out fluid from your affected joint. To study under the microscope if any urate crystals are there or not.
• X-Ray- Joint X-rays are useful to know the cause of joint swelling.
• BLOOD TEST- To check the level of uric acid. Sometimes an increased level of uric acid doesn’t always mean gout.
• ULTRASOUND- This pain-free test uses sound waves to examine areas of uric acid.
• X-ray imaging of a hand showing swelling and deposition of urate crystals in a joint. Gout is often linked to high blood pressure, heart and kidney disease, or the use of drugs that increase uric acid levels.

HOME-CARE TREATMENT OF GOUT

You can prefer home treatment methods to get relief from pain and to reduce swelling.

• The use of cold packs can help you to reduce swelling in your joints.
• Do not apply ice directly on the joint wrap the area with a towel then, apply over it.
• Drink enough water. It will help to flush out the uric acid through the urine and also helps to reduce swelling and gout pain.
• Do not eat diet triggers. Like red meat, seafood, consumption of alcohol, and sugar can trigger gout.
• Eat apples and bananas. Apples will help you to reduce the uric acid level. Bananas are rich in potassium. It especially converts uric acid crystals into liquid form inside our body, which makes it easier to precipitate with urine.
• Do exercises to maintain the movement of your joint.
• Drink coffee. It helps to reduce the high level of uric acid. You can drink coffee regularly.
• Add vitamin C supplements that will help you to decrease the high uric acid level in your blood. Ask your doctor for a reasonable dose of vitamin C.
• The two types of medicines which help you to control the acute attack of gout are colchicine, NSAIDs, and corticosteroids. Contact your doctor soon if you feel the worst pain and swelling.

RISK FACTORS

There are numerous risk factors for gout. Factors which raise the level of uric acid in your body include:

• Obesity is one of the causes of the risk factor in gout. If you’re overweight then, there are more chances of having gout. As overweight leads to pressure on the kidney, and your kidneys are having more struggle in getting rid of uric acid.
• Medical health conditions. There are some diseases and conditions that increase the risk of gout, such as untreated high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney problems, and heart diseases.
• Family record of gout. It might be possible if your other family member has or had gout then, you are more likely to develop the disease.
• Treatment of some types of cancer may cause gout due to high levels of uric acid released when cancer cells are destroyed.
• Sex and age also impacts on gout. Gout occurs most frequently in men, mostly because women tend to have lower levels of uric acid.
• However, after menopause, female uric acid levels are similar to those of men. Men are more likely to get gout at the age of 30 and 50.
  The recent event of surgery may increase higher risk of developing gout.

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