Gout: Treatment and Prevention of the Excruciating Pain

One night you are soundly asleep under the comfort of your blanket, you feel a terrible pain on your feet, and notice a swelling on your big toe - you might have been attacked by gout. Regardless of your age, gout can occur at any moment.

Consumer Reports mentions that almost nine million American adults are suffering and experiencing the unbearable pain gout provides. Medical News Today added that gout attacks could come on quickly and keep returning over time, slowly harming the tissues in the region of inflammation, and extremely painful. A study stresses in a WebMD article that gout is becoming more prevalent because there is a surge in obesity and high blood pressure among Americans.

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What are Gout and its symptoms?

(Photo: cnick)
Inflammation and redness of the affected area is the usual manifestation of gout.

Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) describes the painful condition as the common form of inflammatory arthritis that usually affects one joint at a time. Mayo Clinic added that the condition is characterized by sudden, severe attacks of pain, redness, swelling, and joints' tenderness, typically at the big toe base. Their article further states that gout flares (when the symptoms worsen) can last for days or weeks and may also affect the lesser toe joints, knee, and ankle.

In an interview with Consumer Reports, a medicine professor at University of California Los Angeles' (UCLA) David Geffen School of Medicine, John FitzGerald, MD, Ph.D. said that an acute attack of gout, which usually strikes one of the big toes, is hard to ignore. He added in the interview that gout attacks are intensely strong and come on quickly. Consumer Report added in their article that patients who suffer in so much pain because of gout end up in emergency rooms to get medical help as soon as possible.

Consumer Reports also mentioned that this phenomenon's cause is the formation of urate crystals around the joint. Mayo Clinic added that urate crystals are formed because of high uric acid levels present in the blood.

You may be thinking that since gout can pester you from sleeping makes it a condition that has no symptoms. Well, no, because the manifestation of this painful condition can be evident. In his interview, Dr. FitzGerald mentioned that gout usually looks like an inflamed joint that is difficult to move and weigh on. Mayo Clinic added that lingering discomfort of the affected area that lasts for days and even weeks is one of the symptoms of Gout.

Treatment and Prevention

Since you experience a lot of pain, Consumer Reports stresses that over-the-counter medication like ibuprofen, anti-inflammatory drugs, and prescription steroids may help ease the pain you feel. They also added that your physician might recommend Urate Lowering Therapy (ULT). Mayo Clinic suggests drinking plenty of fluid or water can help lower your risk of the condition for prevention. They added that maintaining desirable body weight and limiting alcohol intake may also help prevent yourself from experiencing pain.

Check out more news and information on Arthritis on MD News Daily.