All That You Need To Know About Gout: Symptoms, Causes And Treatment

Gout is a general type of arthritis that causes immense swelling, pain, and even stiffness in the joints. It generally affects your joint in the big toe. The gout attacks can occur quickly and keep on repeating with time. And slowly harm the tissues in the areas of the inflammation. It is even related with the metabolic cardiovascular disease and can cause immense amount of pain in the joints of an individual. It is usually observed in men, also, women after menopause become susceptible to it.

Quick Facts

• Gout most classically affects the joint in the base of the big toe.
• Most gout cases are treated with specific medications.
• Gout is a form of arthritis caused by excess uric acid in the bloodstream.

Treatment In a majority of gout cases, specific kind of medications is used. Medications are generally used to treat inflammation, symptoms of gout attacks, reduce the risk of gout complications, and even prevent future flares. The usually used medicines include corticosteroids, colchicine, and anti-inflammatory drugs. These medications help in reducing the swelling and pain in the inflammation areas affected highly by gout. These medications are usually consumed orally. There are even various brands available that can be purchased online. Also, medications may even be used to reduce the production of uric acid or even improve the kidney's ability to remove uric acid. Without any medication, the effect of acute gout attack may last from 12-24 hours since it began. A person suffering from gout may become alright after almost 2 weeks without medication. Diagnosis and Tests It may be a little tricky task to diagnose this condition, as the symptoms related to this disease are quite similar to other common diseases. Hyperuricemia usually occurs in individuals suffering from gout, the symptom may not arise during a flare. However, doctors do carry a certain test called as Joint fluid test wherein the fluid is removed for the infected joint and it is examined that if the urate crystals are present, if yes, then it is gout. Doctors can even search for the urate crystals in the joints through CT or ultrasound. Causes Excess of uric acid in the blood leads to the problem of gout. If the amount of uric acid produced is very large, and not much is being excreted, it can form and build up needle-like crystals that cause immense swelling, pain, and inflammation in the joints and surrounding tissues.

Risk Factors

• Gender
• Age
• Lifestyle choice
• Genetics
• Being over-weight

Tips to prevent gout

• Maintain a healthy body-weight.
• Limit or avoid alcohol.
• Maintain a high-fluid intake of around 3-4 liters a day and stay hydrated.