Gout is considered a form of arthritis, but it is unique in at least one aspect. What you eat and drink will have a major impact on when you feel the intense pain of a flare up. In fact, even herbal remedies and medications can play a role in this disease.
The usual course of events when a flare up happens can involve your activities the day before. Consuming a large amount of protein, or perhaps a beer or two (or both). You go to bed feeling perfectly fine. When you wake up (sometimes in the middle of the night), your bed sheet is to painful to bear. Welcome to gout.
It is best to have this diagnosed by a doctor, as there are other things that can mimic it. One is called pseudo-gout, and is treated in a totally different way. The doctor will do both blood and urine tests to find out the amount of uric acid in your body.
This is another way in which this form of arthritis differs from osteoarthritis. It is caused by something your body produces. Uric acid is the waste product from purine, a substance found in most proteins, both plant and animal. Most of the time, it is filtered out by your kidneys. However, if there is a large amount, the kidneys may not be able to filter it all away.
The unfiltered acid circulates around your blood stream, and as more is added it begins to crystalize. Eventually, the crystals get too heavy to be moved and it gets dropped off into your joints. They irritate the tissue, causing pain, inflammation and redness.
What should you do if you are diagnosed with gout? Three things can be done, but they may require you to substantially change your life. The most important is your diet.
While most proteins have purine, they don’t all have the same amount. Organ meats of all animals (including fish and seafood) contain the most. Processed meats such as hot dogs and salami are also very high in this component. Other cuts of meat and vegetable proteins have less, but still enough to cause problems if you overeat them.
What you drink may have to be changed. Beer and its relatives have two problems. Alcohol dehydrates, raising the risk of crystal formation and yeast contains purine. Cherry juice, on the other hand, can be very useful in stopping an ongoing flare up and preventing future attacks.
The last thing is to take a good look at your medications and supplements. Even fish oil contains some of the constituent causing problems. Also aspirin should be avoided, and by extension, so should willow bark. If you are on low dose aspirin, it shouldn’t cause problems. If you take a higher dosage regularly and/or take other medications that raise your risk factors, speak to your doctor to see if they can be changed.
For more information about gout, you can purchase my eBook, Home Remedies for Gout. In it you will find:
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