Gout a painful condition
Gout is a particularly painful condition where uric acid builds up in the body and forms as crystals that lodge themselves in the joints. Mostly they settle in the big toe, but they can also camp out in the joints in your ankles, wrists, fingers and elbows. You’ll know it when you get it if you get it. It doesn’t take much to set off the radiating waves of searing pain it produces. A sheet brushing against the gout-riddled joint could turn the toughest, baddest dude into a diaper-wetting crybaby. Avoiding alcohol, organ meats like liver and sausage, along with certain seafood like anchovies, mackerel and shellfish, along with drinking a lot of water can help reduce your chances of getting gout. But if you have a family history of gout, you may be doomed. It’s only a matter of time.
Treatments for Gout
Fortunately there are a mess of treatments your doctor can give you to clear up gout once you’ve been nailed by it. But if you want to avoid the side effects these drugs have, you can also reduce the amount of purines in your diet. Purines are what cause the build-up of uric acid which is what causes gout. Foods like milk, cottage cheese, mozzarella, egg whites, and pulp-free fruit juice go a long way in cutting down the uric acid. The New England Journal of Medicine even said a diet with a little extra dairy will lower your chances of getting gout. That doesn’t mean you can load up on the ice cream and whipped cream, though.
What can you do?
Gout is more likely to happen in people who are overweight. Like everything else, maintaining a healthy weight goes a long way to cut down on the chances of getting gout. But don’t rush headfirst into a crash diet. Purines come from the body recycling dead cells. The sudden change in your diet and activity that comes with a crash diet speeds up the breakdown of body tissue, and thus increases the likelihood of gout. Slow and steady wins the race.
And watch what you drink, too. Not only does alcohol increase the conditions that create gout, but so do the super sugared drinks like soda and some juices. Too much alcohol, and the kidneys won’t work right, the liver makes more lactic acid, that blocks the secretion of urate, and gout ensues. And as for soda, that’s forbidden, too. Two or more fructose-loaded drinks a day, this includes juice from apples or oranges, increases your risk of getting gout by 85 percent.
If you have a family history of gout, these steps may not stop you from getting it, but they’ll go a long way in preventing a gout attack.