All About Gout and Arthritis

All About Gout

Gout – it’s not something you hear much about these days. In fact, you might think this condition died out after the Dust Bowl. But this old-fashioned ailment is making a comeback and now affects approximately three million Americans.

Are you at risk? If you’re a man, you may be. Gout is nine times more common in men than in women. And it can strike any time between age 20 and 70. But women can develop gout too, although it doesn’t usually occur until after menopause. Fortunately, you don’t have to be part of this growing trend. A few simple precautions can help you avoid a bout with gout.

Cause and Effect

Gout is a form of arthritis, known as metabolic arthritis. It occurs when there is too much uric acid in the blood. Most of the time, having too much uric acid isn’t harmful. In fact, many people with high levels in their blood never get gout. But when uric acid levels in the blood are too high, the uric acid may form hard crystals in your joints.

Uric acid is produced naturally by the kidneys to break down purines, which are also produced in the body. As a result of this imbalance in uric acid, uric crystals get imbedded in and around the body’s joints, causing inflammation and swelling in the feet, ankles and legs, knees, fingers and toes. This condition can become chronic and lead to hardened deposits of uric acid that affects the joints. It can also result in decreased kidney function, kidney stones, and even deformity. While the pain can be minimal, it can also be excruciating. If left untreated, gout can lead to permanent joint damage.

Your chances of getting gout are higher if you are overweight, drink too much alcohol, overindulge in soda pop, or eat too much meat and fish that are high in purines. Other foods that increase uric acid levels are anchovies, asparagus, legumes, mushrooms, meat, and shellfish. Some medicines, such as water pills (diuretics), can also bring on gout.

The most common sign that you’ve got gout is a nighttime attack of swelling, tenderness, redness, and sharp pain in your big toe. You can also get gout attacks in your foot, ankle, or knees. The attacks can last a few days or many weeks before the pain goes away. Another attack may not happen for months or years.

To ease the pain during a gout attack, rest the joint that hurts. Taking ibuprofen or another anti-inflammatory medicine can also help you feel better. But don’t take aspirin. It can make gout worse by raising the uric acid level in the blood.

If the pain is debilitating and doesn’t seem to be easing anytime soon, your doctor can give you a shot of corticosteroids. But this should be considered a last ditch remedy since corticosteroids can cause pain, infection, shrinking of soft tissue, and loss of color in the skin. Doctors usually limit corticosteroid injections to no more than three or four a year.

Instead of relying on synthetic drugs to rescue you after gout strikes, wouldn’t it be better to avoid the attack in the first place? You can – and it isn’t as hard as you think.

So Long Soda

One of the easiest ways to prevent gout is to limit the amount of soda pop you drink. According to a new study by researchers from Harvard Medical School and the University of British Columbia, drinking just two sodas a day can increase the chances of getting gout by 85 percent!

The researchers gave food frequency questionnaires to nearly 46,400 men over 39 years of age. During the next seven years, the participants were tracked to see what conditions, if any, they developed. While the men fell victim to a variety of illnesses, one seemed more prevalent than any other – gout.