Gout Misdiagnosed: Pseudo-Gout

                

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The joints swell. The pain comes. Movement is limited. Yes, you have gout. Or do you?

Studies have shown that there is more than one explanation for the mind-deadening agony in the joints, and it is not always due to the high uric acid levels in the blood. This article will give you a run through of what gout is, and what is not.

Gout vs. Pseudo-gout: When gout is not gout

Gout is caused by the crystallization of monosodium urate, or uric acid, in the joints and soft tissues of the body. Generally, this is caused by elevated uric acid levels in the bloodstream and by the body's incapacity to dispose of the excess of uric acid. This acid comes primarily from the food we eat.

In contrast, pseudo-gout, which has essentially the same symptoms (inflammation and pain in the joints), is also caused by the crystallization of chemicals in the soft tissues, but by a completely different chemical. The culprit- calcium pyrophosphate. Unlike in the case of true gout, the calcification of the joints does not cause any pain. What does cause the pain however is the body's natural attempt to destroy the calcium crystals in the joints. Called neutrophils, these microscopic soldiers do destroy the crystals, but in doing so they also destroy the live tissue around. This is the true source of pain for pseudo-gout sufferers. Also, because the crystals in the joints inhibit range of movement, muscles and tendons grow tender.

The difference can be seen clearly under a microscope. Fluid extracted from joints with uric acid crystallization looks very different from fluid with calcium pyrophosphate deposits. This makes the diagnosis easier.

Treatment of pseudo-gout: What to do

Since pseudo-gout is usually a byproduct of post-operative dehydration, patients are advised to drink plenty of fluids before and after surgery. If a patient already has pseudo-gout, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs (pronounced en-seds) such as the generic ibuprofen are used to ease pain and swelling. For intense pain, the doctor may opt to inject a powerful corticosteroid directly into the inflamed joint. This will bring immediate relief, though excessive use of this may result in a weakening of the nearby bone that could cause more problems later on.

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Gout Causing Factors

                

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Gout or hyperuricemia is a rheumatic condition causing swelling and pain in the joints. It affects more frequently men, but anyone between the age of 14 and 75 can get the disease. The arthritic symptoms usually last a few minutes but can extend up to a few days and produce major discomfort if no medication is administered. Patients must know there are several drugs that can help them prevent acute attacks or at least treat the symptoms in case of one. According to ones health and lifestyle, Gout may give a few acute attacks per year.

The main symptoms of hyperuricemia are actually caused by the accumulation of high amounts of uric acid in the joints, a consequence of an increased blood level. When high concentrations of uric acid get into the blood, a part of the acid is stimulated to settle in the joints in crystallized form and produces the painful symptoms. Gout can be easily misdiagnosed as it very much resembles other conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. Common symptoms of the diseases are inflammation, irritation, heat, pain and stiffness of the affected joints.

A way of getting rid of the pain at least for a while is the physician?s recommendation to drink higher amounts of water to dilute the seric uric acid. Alcohol must also be avoided as it leads to an increase of the uric acid in the blood; beer is the most dangerous alcoholic beverage.

Dieticians advise patients to avoid food with high content of purines like food rich in proteins or low carbohydrate food. Purinic bases break down into uric acid and may lead to the occurrence of Gout attacks. Such dangerous food is mushrooms, sardines, shrimp and beans.

According to the latest researches, the causes of Gout are more complex, as it can also be inherited or result as a complication of other medical conditions. The resistance to insulin can trigger Gout as well. The genetic cause of hyperuricemia may lie in an enzymatic defect interfering with the normal breakdown of the purines and causing Gout in several members of the family. About 20% of the new detected Gout cases are inherited from other family members.

Poor diets are usually rich in Purinic bases and may lead to the occurrence of gout, as well as obese organisms that contain high amounts of uric acid. Environmental factors are proved to play an important role in Gout as well. Low aspirin doses, ant cancerous drugs, diuretics, Niacin, Cyclosporine and anti high blood pressure pills also trigger Gout attacks.

The most common causes of Gout have been defined as resulting from the accumulation of uric crystals in the joints. As the condition may be hereditary, an early medical consult might help you control and cure the disease from the beginning of the attacks.

For more resources regarding Gout or even gout symptoms please visit this web page http://www.gout-info-center.com/gout-symptoms.htm

Recognizing Gout Symptoms

                

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The symptoms, and problems associated with gout affect a great many people. Although, it is rare in children and young adults, gout is still estimated to occur in approximately 840 out of every 100,000 people.

Adult men, between the ages of 40 and 50, are those most likely to develop gout. Adult women may also be affected, but rarely develop the disorder before menopause.

The symptoms of gout can be quite difficult for doctors to diagnose because they can be rather vague, and may often mimic other conditions. One of the conditions would be a joint infection. This can either be confirmed, or ruled out by checking for the presence of bacteria.

In order to confirm a diagnosis of gout, a doctor may draw a sample of synovial fluid (this substance lubricates the joint) through the use of a needle inserted into an inflamed joint. This fluid sample is then examined by a microscope with the technician looking for the presence of monosodium urate crystals. However, this is not totally conclusive. The absence of these crystals does not completely rule out the gout diagnosis. Additional gout testing may include the examining of the chalky, sodium urate deposits (tophi) located around the joints.

Common Gout Symptoms

* Severe pain in the area of a joint.

* The presence of uric acid crystals in the joint fluid.

* Multiple attacks of acute arthritis.

* A swollen, red, and warm joint that developed arthritis in one day.

* Hyperuricemia (a high level of uric acid in the blood).

* Arthritis attacks effecting only one joint, usually a knee, ankle, or toe. This is referred to as Monoarticular Gout, and 60% of the time will turn up in the big toe.

* Symptoms in the elderly will usually occur in the joints of the upper extremities; especially in the fingers. These gout symptoms will occur in multiple joints, and are referred to as Polyarticular Gout.

* Additional associated symptoms of gout may include, fever, chills, and a loss of appetite.

Should you be diagnosed with gout, it will be very important for you to take any prescribed medication regularly, adhere to any lifestyle changes that you have been advised to make, follow the necessary dietary changes, and maintain a healthy weight.

Recognizing gout symptoms, and controlling the condition will greatly enhance ones quality of life.

Copyright &copy2007 Carl DiNello

Carl DiNello is an Article Author whose articles are featured on websites covering the Internet's most popular topics.

To read more on this topic, please visit Natural Gout Treatments!

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What You Must Know About Gout And Arthritis

                

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A number of 4 million Gout patients live in the USA today and about 3 million and a half are men as women only develop Gout after menopause. It is generally known that high purines food like fish, mushrooms, beans, animal protein and seafood must be avoided to prevent Gout attacks. Alcohol, especially beer and also dairy products are believed to be implied in the variations of the seric uric acid. But no actual sustained clinical studies were made on how diet can influence the occurrence of Gout.

In one major health study made on different health workers such as dentists, pharmacists or pediatricians, a number of questions they had to answer about their medical condition revealed past Gout attacks in about 2500 of the total 50000 persons. The subjects found to have suffered further Gout attacks were removed from the study.

The food diet, weight, medications and medical conditions were recorded every two years to follow the medical evolution of the subjects. All the ones suspected from Gout were transferred to further testing.

The subjects were divided into study groups according to the amounts of meat, seafood, purine rich vegetables, dairy products and animal protein they ingested. In the next 12 years, 730 new cases of Gout appeared in subjects aged 55-64. Groups with higher consumption of meat and seafood seemed to have double numbers of Gout cases than the lower quintile groups. These products proved to have a major role in the development of Gout.

The groups with a high amount of daily consume in dairy products showed a 50% decrease of new occurred Gout cases than the group with a low dairy use. Subjects that drank at least two milk glasses per day or ate at least a serving of yogurt halved their risk of getting Gout.

The groups consuming high fat dairies, rich purine vegetables and total proteins were proved to have no real involvement to changing the risk of Gout development. Body weight and alcohol consumption did not affect the occurrence of Gout attacks.

The study proved the old medical presumption that meat and seafood products rich in purines strongly increase the risk of Gout. But other factors like alcohol or genetics are also implicated in the occurrence of Gout attacks. Dairy products seem helpful to prevent hyperuricemia as they stimulate the elimination of uric acid into urine. High protein vegetables have a minor protective effect towards Gout as it stimulates the uric acid excretion.

In conclusion, persons with cases of Gout in their families must avoid meat and seafood products and try to consume as many dairy products as they can.

For more resources regarding Gout or even foods that cause gout please visit this web page http://www.gout-info-center.com/foods-that-cause-gout.htm

Does a Low Uric Acid Diet Stop Gout Attacks?

                

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A gout attack van be one of the most painful episodes that a person has to endure. They can come on unexpectedly, usually at night, and can leave the effected joint, red, swollen and the sufferer in absolute agony. So can a low uric diet stop gout attacks from striking?

If gout runs in your family or you have had a gout attack in the past, you are at risk of experiencing an attack or having a reoccurrence.

As anyone who has had the misfortune of suffering through a gout attack will tell you, the pain is extreme and can be pretty debilitating, often leaving you housebound and off work.

So, what can you do to avoid a gout flare-up? The easiest approach is to look at and adjust your diet to a low uric acid diet.

As the old saying goes; prevention is better than a cure ? so making changes as soon as you realize you are at risk is very important.

The problem is that gout is caused by a build up of uric acid in the blood stream. When a specific saturation point is reached excess uric acid is deposited in the spaces and connective tissue of the joints. These deposits crystallize and the sharp, jagged crystals are the source of the swollen, painful joints.

Gout normally strikes in the big toe or one of the other foot or ankle joints, although it can effect any of the joints in the body. The reason for commonly affecting the feet is because they are the furthest points away from the heart and uric acid crystallizes in cooler temperatures.

Uric acid is formed naturally when the body processes purine, which is found in the tissues of our body and also in many of the foods we eat in a western diet - particularly animal protein.

When we have a diet that is high in purine-rich foods our uric acid levels can go up, which leaving the kidney with a harder job to eliminate the excess uric acid in a timely fashion.

The excess uric acid floats around in our bloodstream until it becomes saturated. At this point uric acid crystals are deposited in the joints.

There are two ways of tackling these high levels of uric acid, either speed up the kidney processes so that uric acid is processed and expelled quickly or reduce the amount of uric acid produced. An effective way to do this is by following a low uric acid diet.

Getting to grips with a low uric acid diet doesn't have to be hard. It boils down to these factors: Avoid foods high in purine and substitute these with foods with a low purine content.

The basic guidelines for this sort of diet is to avoid red meat, processed meat, shellfish and yeast extracts. Instead your diet should consist of gout friendly foods such as, cereals, some green vegetables, fruits and fruit juices, corn and tomatoes.

For a fuller list of foods to eat and avoid please sign up for our free newsletter, details at the end of the article.

By eating foods with a low purine content and avoiding those foods high in purine you will start to reduce the amount of uric acid in the body and allow the kidneys to get on top of their processing tasks.

Sticking to the low uric acid diet, avoiding alcohol and drinking lots of water can offer you the prevention necessary to avoid a further gout attack.

By Lisa McDowell. Sign up for a free newsletter & discover how a low uric acid diet can be effective as a natural cure for gout.

Can Reflexology Get Rid of Gout?

                

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Hydrotherapy is a treatment that can help you get rid of gout, but is not the only alternative remedy out there. Reflexology is a treatment that is often used to treat gout, and has worked effectively for some sufferers.

What is reflexology? Reflexology, also known as zone therapy, is an alternative treatment that involves the stimulation of specific points on the feet, hands and ears, for the purpose of promoting positive healing effects on other parts of the body. Reflexology may also be used to improve overall health. Although reflexology can be performed on the hands or ears, it is primarily administered to the feet, which is the method that would be used to get rid of gout.

A reflexologist believes that the foot is made up of various reflex zones that correspond to all of the other energy zones in the body. The theory is that applying pressure through massage to the ?gritty? or ?tight? points of one?s foot will stimulate the body energy connected to the foot point encouraging self-healing. Reflexology only seeks to cure imbalances in body energy and is not used to cure or diagnose medical conditions.

How does reflexology work? A qualified practitioner massages designated points on the bare foot with their hands. No other drugs or tools are used. Reflexology treatment has been known to ?

? Improve posture
? Improve circulation
? Increase the nutrients and oxygen in cells
? Improve chemical function in the body
? Remove toxins from the body
? Calms nerve endings
? Encourage overall relaxation
? Reduce stress
? Encourage normal body functioning
? Encourage pain management

What benefits does reflexology offer gout sufferers? If a person needs to be rid of gout, reflexology can be used to help restore balance to the kidneys. The kidneys are the organs that are in charge of uric acid production. Therefore, if the body energy related to the kidneys is stimulated through the corresponding point in both feet (boot feet need to be involved as there are two kidneys), this could help the kidneys lower uric acid production.

Reflexology can also be used to break up uric acid crystal deposits that may be present in the foot.

Are their side effects? Side effects are not common. However, some people may experience nausea, headaches or sinus congestion after treatment. This side effect is commonly referred to as a ?healing crisis?, and reflexologists believe it is caused by the body releasing toxins. These side effects usually last no longer than 24 hours.

Precautions - Although reflexology may effectively get rid of gout in some sufferers, it is imperative that you know reflexology is a preventative gout treatment and should not be sought during an active case of gout. Think about it - considering the pain gout causes in the foot can be so intense that the weight of a bed sheet is unbearable, just imagine how your foot would feel during a deep massage. Ouch!

You should also consult your doctor before attempting reflexology treatment if you ?

? Have kidney stones
? Are a diabetic
? Have problems with blood pressure
? Have cancer
? Severe problems with circulation in the legs or feet
? Have Osteoarthritis in the foot or ankle
? Are pregnant

Reflexology can be an effective treatment for gout if performed properly by an experienced practitioner. Just make sure you consult your health care provider first to find out if this treatment is the best course of action for you to get rid of gout.

Grab your free copy of Lisa McDowell's brand new Gout Newsletter - Overflowing with easy to implement methods to help you discover more about gout recipe and for information on gout symptom please visit Cure Gout Now.

Foods To Avoid With Gout

                

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People always have the mentality that as long as one does not eat junk food, one can be considered to have a healthy diet. Actually a diet that is considered healthy to one might be unhealthy to another person, it can be quite subjective in this context. Gout patients are usually advice to go on a special diet, which will help to alleviate the pain cause by gout attacks. This diet will require one to avoid food that will increase the uric acid in the body. The list of food to avoid will also include certain food, which are considered healthy by most standards and definitions.

Gout, which is a common form of arthritis especially among man of age 40 to 50, is caused by the deposits of excess uric acid in the bloodstream on the joint connections area. By avoiding food that will cause the body to generate more uric acid than necessary in the body is very critical. Food items containing high purine level is found to increase the production of uric acid in the human body. It is essential for people with gout to avoid such food completely.

The list of high purine food is actually quite long thus it is very important for gout patients to be wary of the food they consume daily. Some of the common beverages, which gout patients should avoid, include coffee, tea, cocoa and even chocolate. Some of these beverages are already part and parcel of ones daily life that it is seriously a bit different to imagine having to abstain drinking them. If you think it is really no big deal to indulge in it once in awhile, you will really have to think twice. Is the pain from a possible gout attack really going to be worth it from your indulgence?

The second list of food gout patients should avoid includes gizzard, kidney, seafood, heart, gravy and red meats. Alcohol should also be place in the list of food to be avoided. Any form of alcohol including wine or beer can trigger attacks of gout. It is significant to memorize the list of food to avoid as it can help to reduce the amount of gout attacks controlling drugs one will have to take.

The third and somehow the list which most people consider as the most healthy choice is simply a bit hard to comprehend why it should be avoided by gout patients. Peas, spinach, lentils and beans are vegetables that should be avoided if one is diagnosed with gout.

It is seriously important for people with gout to bear in mind the types of food items that are harmful and beneficial to their gout conditions. Since you now have a better knowledge of the food types that should be consumed, it might be a good habit of what to buy and what not to buy when you do your grocery shopping the next time. Even though choosing the correct food to consume is important for people with gout, drinking plenty of water is also essential. Drinking lots of water will help the body to remove the excessive uric acid in the body through the urinal system. Exercising regularly will also help gout patients to improve their overall gout conditions.

By restricting your diet and only sticking to food that are low in purine levels will definitely help to reduce complications associated with gout and the need for medication to help control the pain due to an gout attack. To completely be free of the tortures of gout, one will have to bear in mind all the above mention method and pointers.

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