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What is Gout?

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What Is Gout?
Written by Kate Smith   
Just what is gout?  This condition is one that millions of people face each day.  It is a condition that s characterized by sudden bouts of pain that are severe located in the joints.  Many people deal with this type of reaction on a day to day basis.  Usually, gout comes on suddenly, leaving the individual with a severe amount of pain that seems to come from no where.  The pain may be very tender and may even cause individuals to feel as if it is intolerable.  Acute gout attacks happen to many and leave individuals with pain, tenderness in their joints that just seems intolerable to deal with.

What Is Gout Medically?

Although men are more likely to have gout then women are, it can affect anyone.  It is a complex disorder that stems from various areas.  Women that have gone through menopause are more likely to get gout than those that have not.  Nevertheless, understanding this disease is important because it can happen to anyone at any age.  Medically speaking, gout can be treated and medications and treatments are used to keep it from reoccurring often.

Symptoms Of Gout

Do you have gout?  Many people do and do not realize it until symptoms become intense to the point of requiring attention.  Most signs and symptoms of gout happen at night, but are nearly always acute.  Most patients have no indication that the pain is coming on until it is fully something they must deal with.

One thing that is characteristic of gout is intense pain in the joints.  The most common location of the pain is the joint located in the largest toe, though it can happen in other regions as well.  This includes your wrists, your knees, ankles, feet and hands.  Pain in these regions comes on suddenly and then will last between five days and ten days, depending on severity.  After this point, the pain subsides and it seems as if the joint is back to normal.  A secondary symptom of gout is that of inflammation and redness.  This too happens in or on the affected joints.  The joints become swollen severely and often red.  They are often too tender to touch.

What Is Gout And Its Cause?

Gout is caused by an inflammation that is located in the joint where the pain is evident.  This is usually due to an accumulation of urate crystals in the location.  Substances called purines are found throughout your body and in various types of food.  They product a product called uric acid as a waste product from these foods.  The build up of this acid leads to the gout pain you feel.  These substances are found heavily in foods such as organ meat (namely brains, kidney, liver, and sweetbreads) as well as in asparagus, mushrooms, herring and anchovies.  Consuming large numbers of these foods can cause gout to occur.

The pain that you feel is the build up of these crystals in your joints and the surrounding tissues of them.  The normally functioning body has the ability to dissolve uric acid in the blood which later passes from the body through urine.  But, many times, the body just can not do so because it makes too much of the acid or there may even be too little of it.  When it is deposited in the tissues near your joints, it causes the skin to swell and become inflamed.  This leads to intense pain in the region.

Do You Have Gout?

Gout is a condition that can affect many, but some risk factors can help you to understand if this is condition is one that you are likely to be effected by.  For example, your lifestyle may indicate that you are likely to have gout.  If you consume large amounts of alcohol you have an increased risk of getting gout.  This is usually more than two drinks for men per day or more than one drink per day for women.  Another risk factor includes becoming over weight by 30 pounds or more over your ideal way during your adult life.

Some individuals are more likely to experience gout due to other medical conditions they have.  If you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol in your blood, or high levels of fats in your blood, you have more risk of getting gout.  Medications such as thiazide diuretics can also cause gout as can taking low dose aspirin regularly.  It is also believed that gout is a disease that is past from one family member to the next (if your parents had it, you have an increase risk of having gout.)

What Is Gout's Treatment?

If you feel that you could be experiencing gout, a talk with your doctor will give you some help in determining what you should do for treatment.  Usually, the first step is in the medication.  Non steroidal anti inflammatory medications can be used (called NSAID's) to help provide help.  This includes over the counter medications like ibuprofen, and naproxen.  It is important to monitor your usage of these medications because they can cause bleeding and ulcers with over use or in some more sensitive users.  For those that have severe cases of gout, your doctor may provide with another medication.  For example, corticosteroid drugs can be used, such as prednisone.  These provide effective and noticeable relief quickly.  Again, they too can cause side effects that you should be aware of.  

Once the medications are able to stop the pain that you feel from the inflammation in your joint, your doctor may work with you to find a treatment that will stop the gout from reoccurring.  This may include making lifestyle changes, improving the overall rate that your body produces uric acid or to increase this rate, depending on your specific situation.

If you believe that you have gout, or that you could, getting more information from your doctor is a must.  In most cases, doctors can quickly and effectively diagnosis what gout is, allowing you to get treatment quickly so that you do not have to live with the pain.
 
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