Can Tissue Salts Ease A Gout Attack?

                

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The pain of a gout attack is not something a sufferer soon forgets, which is why finding treatment that provides sufficient relief for an attack is mandatory. Although there are different medications to treat gout, there are also different non-drug treatments such as tissue salts which can provide relief.

What are tissue salts? They are inorganic compounds that play a vital role in the function and growth of cells in the body. Mineral tissue salts exist in the human body and were found to be beneficial in treating certain health conditions by Dr. Wilhem Sch?essler, a 19th century German doctor.

Sch?essler theorized that tissue salts were essential for bodily tissues to function normally and prevent health problems. Hence, by ingesting the deficient tissue salts, a resulting illness could heal. To prove his theory, Sch?essler conducted studies on his own patients and achieved successful results.

How do mineral tissue salts work to ease a gout attack? First of all, there are 12 mineral salts:
1. Calcium fluoride
2. Calcium phosphate
3. Calcium sulphate
4. Ferrum phosphate
5. Kali muriaticum
6. Kali phosphate
7. Kali sulphate
8. Magnesium phosphate
9. Natrum muriaticum
10. Natrum phosphate
11. Natrum sulphate
12. Silica

Different combinations of these tissue salts make up every cell in the body. Each tissue salt is designed to correct deficiencies or imbalances that occur in cells. They work by restoring, maintaining and improving good health when used as long-term treatment.

The mineral tissue salts used for treating a gout attack are ?

Natrum phosphate ? This tissue salt is an acid neutralizer. It helps to regulate bile and is constituent of the fluid between cells and is also an element of brain, blood, muscle and nerve cells. This tissue salt helps to treat all forms of inflammation, especially inflammation caused by gout. Natrum phosphate is commonly used for treating chronic gout as it helps with the production of overacidity.

Natrum sulphate ? This tissue salt eradicates excessive water from blood, tissue and other body fluids. It cleans and purifies toxins from the fluid that borders each of the body?s cells. Natrum sulphate plays an essential role in the healthy functioning of the pancreas and the liver. It is ideal for treating gout attacks that occur after eating purine rich foods and alcohol. This is because it effectively eliminates the toxins associated with each food product from the body.

How are mineral tissue salts taken? Mineral tissue salts come in tablet form and are usually taken before drinking or eating, and are dissolved under the tongue. The recommended dosage of mineral salts depends on the severity of a gout attack. However, the general dosage for an adult is 4 tablets taken 3 times daily. For more acute attacks, tissue salts may be taken every hour. Once symptoms have subsided, the dosage of salts is lowered and treatment is slowly stopped over the course of 3-5 days until it is ceased altogether.

How quickly will you experience relief from gout symptoms? Usually it takes 1-2 weeks before effective relief occurs. This is normal, because your body will need this time to regain its natural balanced state. Thus, a standard mineral tissue salt treatment can last for a number of months.

How safe is this treatment? When taking the recommended dosage, tissue salts are quite safe and do not have any notable side effects. However, if you suffer from a chronic health problem or have high blood pressure, you should consult your doctor before using mineral tissue salts.

Where can you find tissue salts? You may find them in your local health or nutrition store or online. Nevertheless, be sure to consult your doctor before taking this treatment for a gout attack, as mineral salts should be prescribed by a qualified individual who is experienced in this alternative medicine.

By Lisa McDowell. Sign up for a free newsletter & discover how to treat your gout attack with a exercise as an effective natural cure for gout.

Does A Gout Prevention Diet Work?

                

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You've woken in the small hours of the morning in screaming agony - your big toe is red, hot and extremely swollen. So painful that the weight of your bedding is unbearable. It could be gout and what a lot of sufferers want to know is will a gout prevention diet stop a further attack?

Doesn't seem very likely does it, that what you eat can cause such excruciating joint pain? However, for a lot of gout sufferers this is the case.

To understand why diet can bring on and also prevent an attack you need to first understand what causes gout.

Gout is caused by the build up of uric acid crystals in the spaces and inter-connecting tissues between the joints. It usually flares up in the feet and ankle joints. This is because uric acid is sensitive to temperature and will form crystals in a cooler environment. Your feet are the furthest point from your heart and therefore cooler than the rest of your body. This is why your feet and ankle joints are the most common spots for gout, although it can strike in any joint.

Uric acid is a natural by-product that is found in the blood. It is produced when a compound called purine is broken down. Purine is found in the body and also in a lot of food that we eat, but mainly animal protein.

The body is designed to deal with uric acid by dissolving it in the blood stream and eliminating it via the kidneys or bowels. Gout becomes a very real possibility when the production of uric acid exceeds the levels that are being eliminated from the body.

A raised uric acid level in the blood is called hyperuricema and this is what leads to the crystallization of uric acid, and the deposits in the joints.

So, how can gout prevention diet help?

One of the ways to control gout is to control the amount of uric acid produced. As mentioned earlier, uric acid is formed during the breakdown of purines and this is where diet can play a big part in your gout prevention strategy.

Limiting or avoiding foods that have a high purine level will allow the levels of uric acid in the blood to stabilize and the kidneys to catch up on the elimination process.

The key concept behind a gout prevention diet is to bring the body back into balance and to minimize uric acid production. This means a low fat, low protein diet.

Proteins are high in purines, and should be avoided. But there are some that are higher purine that others, like animal proteins, organ meats, fish, gravies, pulses and yeast extracts.

Also, avoid low carb diets and going on 'crash' diets as these will have the opposite effect and raise uric acid levels; an open invitation for a gout flare-up to strike.

For more information about gout prevention diets and some sample recipes please visit our site and sign up for the free gout prevention newsletter.

Gout prevention diets don't have to be boring. Once you have your gout under control you can start to reintroduce some more protein based foods, but the trick is to do it in moderation.

By Lisa McDowell. Sign up for a free newsletter & discover how a gout prevention diet can be an effective natural cure for gout.

The Atkins Diet And Gout ? Do They Mix?

                

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Here is a question we are asked quite a lot. Does The Atkins diet and gout mix? or for that matter does any low carb diet and gout mix?

The problem with the Atkins diet and gout is that the Atkins Diet is based around the theory that a low carbohydrate, high protein intake allows the body to burn fat more easily. Great for losing weight, not so good for gout sufferers ? Let me explain!

One contributory factor to gout is being overweight and 'losing the extra pounds' is usually one of the first suggestions that a doctor will make. As gout is such a painful condition most sufferers are looking for a weight loss program that will take the pounds off quickly without leaving them feeling deprived. This is where diets such as Atkins fit the bill. However, there is a problem...

Your body develops gout when it is not processing uric acid effectively, because of either hereditary reasons, or an increase in production of uric acid through increased intake of purine rich food, or above normal rates of cell degeneration.

Uric acid is a natural waste product that the body produces. Uric acid is dissolved in the blood stream and is eliminated via urine. If there is elevated levels of uric acid in the bloodstream due to the body being unable to process and eliminate uric acid effectively, Hyperuricemia can develop.

Although, not dangerous in itself, hyperuricemia has the side effect of depositing excess uric acid, which then crystallizes, into the spaces between joints and the soft connective tissue which links the joints. The crystals are sharp, jagged needles that cause intense pain, swelling, redness and heat in the joint.

Excess uric acid can result from a number of factors such as: not drinking enough water to keep the levels dilute, drinking too much alcohol and eating a diet high in purine-rich foods.

Purine is found mainly in protein dense foods, and predominantly animal protein foods. However, these protein rich foods tend to form the backbone of the Atkins diet and other low carb diets.

The rationale for adopting a high-protein Atkins diet, and other similar 'low-carb' diets is to burn of fat quickly by cutting back on carbohydrates. The theory is that carbohydrates turn to sugar and the body will target sugars first when looking for fuel to burn. As you remove or heavily restrict carbohydrates in your diet, the body has no choice but the burn the reserves of fat.

This then gives the result of quick weight loss. However, this process of burning up fat produces lactic acid as a by-product, which then has to be processed by the kidneys before elimination; keeping uric acid levels in the blood stream higher and the likelihood of a gout attacks is subsequently increased.

Another risk of following a low carb diets, if you're predisposed to gout, is they can lead to a build up ketones in the blood stream, another compound which can push uric acid levels higher.

So, gout sufferers are usually better to follow a gout-friendly diet rather than a low-carb diet. Although the weight loss may be slower, your chances of suffering another gout attack is very reduced dramatically.

There is the option of adopting a tailored low carb diet that takes into account your gout risk, combined with other treatments to increases the expulsion of uric acid from the body.

For information and advice on choosing the right diet, between an Atkins diet and gout friendly diets sign up for a free newsletter on our site.

By Lisa McDowell. Sign up for a free newsletter & discover more about atkins diet and gout diets, plus other natural cure for gout options.

Gout - A Disease Of Indulgence

                

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Gout develops when the level of uric acid in the blood is too high. In the past it was known as the patrician's malady because it was considered a diseased of over indulgence amongst the wealthy. High purine diet can affect gout and red meat is high in purine. The rich ate red meat while the poor could only afford grain.

Gout is predominantly a male disease up to the age of 50. It starts around 30 and the peak is between 40 and 50 years. It is rare in pre-menopausal women. Hippocrates wrote about gout as a disease of males and post-menopausal women and urate crystals were found in the big toe of an Egyptian mummy.

Gout can be classified as primary and secondary. In primary gout the body either produces too much uric acid or it cannot excrete it effectively to maintain a normal blood level. These patients benefit significantly from dietary changes. Secondary gout develops as a result of other factors. Some medical conditions can raise uric acid level and trigger gout. These include renal disease and myeloproliferative disorders. In leukaemia, the imbalance is due to excessive production of uric acid, and in renal disease the excretion of uric acid is impeded. Drugs can affect blood uric acid levels. These include diuretics especially thiazide diuretics, aspirin and cytotoxic drugs. Gout is also linked to obesity and alcohol.

Acute gout usually develops during the night. 70-90% of acute gout develops in the big toe and typically affects the first metatarso-phalangeal joint. This is called podagra. Within hours the pain becomes severe and throbbing. The big toe swells up and can feel hot. It is extremely painful to the touch and even the touch of the bed sheath can induce excruciating pain. The acute episode resolves on its own but can take over a week. Medication can shorten this time.

Since the introduction in 1951 of probenacid and allopurinol in 1963, chronic gout is rare apart from non-compliant sufferers. Before these drugs were introduced chronic gout caused severe distress amongst sufferers. Acute gout was frequent and severe. In addition urate crystals separated out into other joints, kidneys and other organs leading to polyarthritis, kidney stones, heart disease and tophi.

Diet and weight loss has an important role in gout management. A low intake of purine can reduce blood urate level by up to 20%. Foods high in purine are meat especially liver and other organ meat, sausages and other processed meat, seafood, milk, eggs and certain beans. Alcohol increases the possibility of gout. Beer is the worse culprit. It contains guanosine. This chemical is converted by the gut flora into uric acid.

Today, with screening and tests done for insurance purpose, we are seeing a group of individuals with high uric acid without any signs of gout. These people need to be monitored. Once all potential factors that can influence gout are eliminated or reduced and diet and weight loss in place, if the uric acid level remains high, then maintenance therapy in the form of allopurinol is recommended to keep the blood uric acid level within the normal range. This stops urate crystals separating out into important parts of the body.

Dr.Phil Hariram is retired General Practitioner. He has treated gout and arthritis for 27 years. http://www.arthritissage.com

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What Is Gout?

                

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Trying to find an answer to the question "What is gout?" So are millions of scientists. There is a bulk of research on how gout occurs in the body, but the simple truth is that most doctors and scientists have published a number of articles on how to treat the symptoms of gout, but they simply cannot seem to predict the causes of gout. Most gout reference gooks will tell you that the question of "what is gout?" is one that doctors have been struggling with for years. Hopefully new genetic research will help them uncover the truth about this mystery, offering hope to millions of gout sufferers.

Gout is caused by a build up of uric acid in the body. That information has been clear for many years. Uric acid, which is present in most people's bodies, builds to an extraordinarily high amount in the blood in some people. While many doctors say there are pretty clear cut ways to avoid this build-up, the reasons for someone's predisposition to that build-up are completely unknown. In fact, the only idea they have at this point is that eighteen percent of gout sufferers have the disease in their family. Eighteen percent does not present very convincing evidence for the idea that it is a hereditary illness. Once the uric acid builds up in that person's body, the kidneys simply cannot handle the overflow. They are supposed to work as filters for the body, but once inundated, they cannot take the stress. The uric acid then crystallizes in the joints. This causes pain and inflammation.

As doctors continue their research into the question of "what is gout," millions of people will continue to struggle with outbreaks. Visit some of the other articles on our site to discover ways to learn to deal with your outbreaks.

Dean Iggo is the webmaster of www.treating-arthritis.com a website providing the best osteoarthritis treatments as well as unbiased reviews of popular arthritis remedies and gout treatment products.