What is the Disease of Gout?
I remember when I first learned I had gout. I thought I had broken or badly sprained my foot and I did not even know how I did it.
My foot was so painfully sore I could not walk on it and the slightest touch sent me into agony. The big toe was swollen, shiny, and red.
I felt so bad I finally agreed to go to the doctor. My wife and her brother made me a crutch with a towel used for padding on the top of it. That enabled me to hobble out to the car and be driven to the clinic.
At the clinic I was told I had gout, and this began my education about the disease I had ignored all my life.
Gout often goes hand in hand with hypertension, psoriasis, diabetes, and obesity. It is considered to be a particularly acute and painful form of arthritis. No kidding!
Gout is aggravated by dietary factors. The root of the problem is a build up of uric acid in the body. Either too many foods high in purines cause the uric acid level to rise or, more likely, the kidneys are not doing well at filtering uric acid from the blood stream.
When the kidneys do not filter enough uric acid out of the blood, the levels in the blood supply can go high enough to start forming crystals in the joints, which is where the pain begins.
These sharp needle-shaped crystals create inflammation and often occur in the feet, particularly the big toe. One theory is that the cooler temperature of the foot allows the crystals to form.
The affected joint swells and the skin becomes shiny and red. The whole area becomes exceeding sensitive to the least touch. I certainly know that one very well!
Gout attacks are extremely painful and pose numerous challenges for treatment. Treatment usually involves anti-inflammatory drugs and drugs that either inhibit production of uric acid or that help remove uric acid from the blood stream.
The gout patient needs to alter his diet to assist in reducing gout pain. The whole process of treatment can fluctuate with unpredictable results.
Alternative remedies are often touted as the answer. In my case I drank many gallons of black cherry juice, which is supposed to be one of the best natural solutions for gout. I never noticed any results from it at all, to my dismay.
A diagnosis of gout set me on a course of frustration trying to find relief from the pain of gout.
Posted by admin / About Gout
