Forms of Gout

                

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Strictly speaking, gout is caused by hyperurecemia, an elevated level of uric acid in the bloodstream due to the body's inability to dispose of this acid. This causes the uric acid to crystallize in the joints, usually beginning with the joint of the big toe. However, there are many misconceptions about gout. Sometimes just when you think you have gout, you have something else instead.

Pseudo-gout: When Gout Isn't Gout

Gout and pseudo-gout both have the same symptoms of aching, swelling, inflammation, and loss of range of motion but the similarity stops there. While gout is caused by crystallization of uric acid in the joints, pseudo-gout is caused by the calcification of the joints. These two conditions appear very different when fluid is extracted from the joint and looked at under a microscope. Also, the source of the pain is different. While gout may be compared to trying to walk with shards of glass in your feet, the pain caused by pseudo-gout comes from the body's natural attempts to protect itself. By sending out special cells called neutrophils to destroy the affected area, the body also destroys some of the live tissue surrounding it, causing pain and swelling.

True gout: Not just in the toes

Gout, if allowed to go untreated, could begin to cause pain in other parts of the body. Contrary to most people's understanding of this affliction, gout is not limited solely to the joint of the big toe. It attacks any of the soft tissues in the body so all the joints are at risk. Scientists have attributed the onset of gout solely on the big toe to the fact that this is the part of the body that receives the least amount of blood flow, and consequently the least heat. Uric acid crystals have been observed to form faster in cold environments. Eventually, if gout continues to go ignored, crystallization of uric acid could spread to the vital organs, affecting basic tasks such as digestion and urination.

Be sure to see your doctor regularly and have medical checkups done annually, particularly if you are above the age of forty. Being prepared against the agony of gout is your best defense.

Gout provides detailed information on Causes Of Gout, Foods That Cause Gout, Gout, Gout Home Remedy and more. Gout is affiliated with Laser Printers.

Is Your Grocery List Promoting Gout? What Foods to Eat and Which Ones to Avoid

                

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If you have a condition like gout, one of the last things you want to think about is what's on your grocery list. After all, gout is painful and uncomfortable and the swelling is not only a nuisance, it can also be quite embarrassing. However, you don?t have much choice. Gout does require that you will have to avoid certain foods that will aggravate your condition.

How food is linked to gout

Gout is a condition caused by elevated levels of uric acid in the blood. In some cases, genetics could be the culprit. However, some people pre-disposed to gout may be asymptomatic, meaning they do not suffer from any symptom at all and will not require treatment.

There are some, however, whose lifestyles directly cause the occurrence of gout. Food and drink may contribute to the development of this condition and cause unnecessary discomfort and pain.

Certain foods promote the production of uric acid in the body. In normal levels, it is easily dissolved in the blood and excreted through the urine and therefore do not cause any harm. However, when too much food high in substances that produce uric acid is taken, the body may not have enough time or resources to properly process uric acid and dispose of it. This is where trouble begins.

How uric acid harms the body Uric acid is the end product of the bodys effort to metabolize purine and is obtained from guanine and adenine. These are purines that are necessary components of our DNA and RNA. It's not entirely useless because uric acid serves to rid our bodies with excess nitrogen.

Uric acid is not completely soluble and when increased to intolerable levels, can cause gout. This is the same uric acid that promotes the formation of kidney stones. It forms sharp, needle-like crystals that deposit themselves in the joints, causing inflammation, redness and pain.

There are two main reasons why uric acid levels increase in the body: either the kidneys are impaired and not functioning properly, or there's too much intake of substances (i.e., food) that promote the production of uric acid.

Foods that promote gout

Most foods are actually nutritious and are harmless by themselves. However, when taken in excess or in situations where gout is already pre-existing, they can produce unpleasant effects.

The foods that are most likely to aggravate gout are those that are rich in purine. These include sources of animal protein like red meat, organ meats or offal like kidneys, tripe, sweetbreads, heart and liver and some shellfish and seafood ? oysters, mussels, anchovies, mackerel and herring. Foods that are moderately high in purines are mutton, bacon, salmon, scallops, trout, goose, pheasant, turkey and other game meats.

Other foods that need to be either avoided or taken in moderation are dried peas, beans, spinach, mushrooms, cauliflowers, asparagus, oatmeal, wheat germ and wheat bran.

Purine may also be found in other kinds of meat, poultry and fish, although in small amounts. Therefore, their intake should be limited, preferably to 6 oz. per day at most.

Other foods that need to be avoided are junk food and sweets, including ice cream, pastries, rich desserts and those made with simple carbohydrates. Fructose is a main contributor to weight gain and people suffering from gout need to watch their weights more carefully. Overweight and obese people have high levels of uric acids in their blood.

If going on a diet, avoid crash diets or fasting, since these can raise the blood's uric acid level. It would also be wise to stay away from diets that use high protein and low carbohydrates to promote weight loss.

Drinking too much alcohol can also aggravate a gout attack and can contribute to its occurrence. Alcohol and beer interferes with the body's ability to excrete uric acid which may lead to hyperuricemia, a condition where there is increased levels of uric acid in the blood. However, there is no proof that wine can increase the risk of gout occurrence and may be taken in moderation.

Managing gout does not necessarily mean completely eliminating the abovementioned foods from your diet just to avoid an attack. The trick is to take them in moderate amounts and if it can be done, to eat alternative foods like tofu, low-fat dairy products and eggs instead, which are low in proteins. Meats don?t have to be avoided completely either, as long as portions are smaller and leaner and prepared with little or no oil.

Lee Dobbins writes for http://gout.topicgiant.com where you can learn more about how to combat symptoms of gout and which gout foods to avoid.

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 http://www.arthritissage.com/blog

Gout

                

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Gout is an arthritic condition that occurs primarily on the feet, although it certainly can manifest itself in other parts of the body. It affects about 3% of the population and is predominantly a male disorder with only 5% of the cases affecting females, generally post menopause.

Gout is associated with hyperuricemia, which is an increased amount of uric acid crystals circulating through the blood, however, not all people with hyperuricemia experience gout attacks.

Unlike osteoarthritis or the "wear and tear" arthritis we all suffer, the symptoms of gout are different in that it is manifested by an acute onset of severe pain, redness and swelling, many times for no apparent reason. Many patients will complain of a sudden onset of pain occurring early in the morning while asleep. The theory behind this is that when sleeping, the feet are elevated and there is a slight diminishment of blood to the feet which in turn decreases the temperature of the feet just enough for the uric acid to crystallize in the joint of the foot and create pain.

Other factors that may precipitate a gout attack include local trauma, including foot surgery, with an acute medical illness, or following a high purine (protein) diet or alcohol binge.

Gout attacks most commonly occur in the foot, primarily in the big toe joint. The next most common locations are the middle of the foot followed by the ankle joint. They can also occur at the attachment of tendons such as the Achilles tendon into the heel. It is possible to have gout attacks in more than one area at the same time.

Diagnosis is generally on clinical appearance and the presenting history because it is not uncommon for a patient's uric acid level to be normal during an attack. Colchicine is the drug of choice in acute gout attacks and is almost diagnostic for gout if the drug alleviates the pain. There are other drugs available, primarily the anti-inflammatory class of drugs, but it is important to note that they all do not work in gout. In fact, low doses of aspirin will actually worsen a gout attack. Consultation with your foot specialist is essential.

The pain of gout generally lasts a few days, and then begins to diminish. The problem is when a person experiences multiple gout attacks over short periods of time. Aside from the pain of the attack, each attack does damage to the affected joint and a person can reach the point where there is so much damage from the repeated gout attacks, which the joint now becomes constantly painful and surgical intervention is usually necessary.

In those individuals experiencing repeated attacks of gout it is necessary to find out why. Generally speaking, it is usually from either the body overproducing too much uric acid or the kidneys excreting too little uric acid. In either event there is too much uric acid circulating throughout the body. Consultation with your family doctor is necessary to determine the cause. There is medication available to treat both causes.

Patients who are prone to gout attacks should modify their diets in regards to a low purine diet and should abstain from organ meats such as sweetbread, liver, kidney; anchovies, sardines; rich gravies and alcohol.

A podiatrist with over 25 years experience discusses various conditions of the foot, ankle and lower leg. This discussion is in the same manner that he discusses various problems on a day to day basis with his patients; people just like you. Visit his web site for more information or to ask a question. http://www.foot-pain-explained.com

Common Causes of Gout: Sometimes They're Not Easy to Avoid

                

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Gout is certainly not a fun condition to have. It's a common rheumatic disease and it counts rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis among its close cousins. Figures show that some 840 people out of 100,000 are afflicted with this disease, most of them men. Just what are the causes of gout, and are there any effective ways to avoid it? More often than not, gout is a result of lifestyle choices, but there are other factors that contribute to the disease's occurrence.

A condition called hyperuricemia is one of the causes of gout. This is when the body fails to eliminate excess amounts of uric acid. Some people are born with a genetic metabolic defect in which they not only produce extra uric acid, but they fail to excrete it efficiently as well. This is bad because excessive amounts of uric acid will lead to the formation of uric crystals, which will then become embedded in the joints and the tissue surrounding them. These crystals are also known as tophi, and they are the cause of joint inflammation and pain. Gout usually appears in the joint of the big toe, but it can also become manifest in joints in the ankles, feet, knees, wrists, hands, and elbows. Pictures of a gouty toe almost always show the same characteristics: swelling and redness, and as you can probably imagine, pain.

Gout can also be caused by certain medications, such as thiazide diuretic drugs, which are prescribed for heart failure and hypertension. Figures show that the majority of people who use this kind of drug acquired gout later in life. Other drugs that may contribute to a higher risk for gout are immunosuppressants (such as cyclosporine), low doses of aspirin, and pyrazinamide, an anti-tuberculosis agent. Gout is also strangely related to organ transplantation. Heart and liver transplants can heighten the risk, but perhaps it's a kidney transplant that poses the greater risk, since renal problems can prevent the elimination of uric acid from the body.

A number of health problems have been shown to lead to gout. Certain cancers or diseases involving blood-manufacturing organs are specifically cited, such as lymphoma and leukemia. A skin disease called psoriasis has likewise been linked to the emergence of gout in a number of people. And over-exposure to lead does not only cause birth defects and blood poisoning, it can lead to gout as well. Another all too common health problem among many people, especially those in the West, is obesity. Being overweight can cause not only gout, but other diseases as well, including diabetes, hypertension, and other forms of arthritis.

From obesity, we move to related causes of gout, specifically dietary and food habits. There are many types of food that have large amounts of purines, or substances that play a large role in uric acid production. It's kind of disturbing to find out that most foods that are rich in protein and fat also have a high purine content. But in today's fast-paced mode of life, this is just the kind of food that we're accustomed to eating! To further reduce the risk of acquiring gout, one should also refrain from taking in too much organ meats or sweetbread (including heart, kidney, and liver delicacies). Some seafoods, such as scallops, mackerel, and mussels are also dietary no-no's because these too are rich in purines. Intake of high-fat dairy foods should also be curtailed, including comfort foods like ice cream, butter, and cheese.

Alcoholic beverages should strictly be avoided or at least restricted to an occasional glass or two. This is because alcohol has a high purine concentration and contributes in significant ways to the body's production of uric acid. Not only does it spur the body on to produce more uric acid, but it also affects the ability of the kidneys to flush out excess amounts of this substance. Plus, alcohol is fattening, and we know that surplus weight can also lead to gout.

Though scientists are as yet uncertain about how gout really occurs, they have discovered that the causes of gout can be genetic or environmental in nature, as discussed above. Knowing the things and events that can cause the disease would be a big step in reducing one's risk of acquiring it.

Rheumatiq.com provides you with information on rheumatoid arthritis symptoms, arthritis help, osteoarthritis, psoriatic arthritis, causes of gout, and gout treatments. We want to help battle the pain.http://www.rheumatiq.com/