Your Complete Guide to Gouty Arthritis

Gouty arthritis can cause a sudden attack of stiffness,medications in a daily basis. Effects of the medications
burning pain and joint swelling. These sudden attacksusually start within twenty-four hours.
can occur repeatedly unless gouty arthritis is treated.To lessen the pain of gout attack, it is best to rest the
Eventually, this condition can be harmful to yourjoints. Taking anti-inflammatory medicine or ibuprofen
tendons, tissues and joints.can help ease the pain. However, do not take aspirin
Gouty arthritis is caused by excessive uric acid in thefor it may worsen the gout as it may increase the
blood. People with high levels of uric acid in the bloodlevel of uric acid in the blood.
do not usually get gout but when the levels of uric acidIn order to prevent gout attacks in the future, there are
gets too high, it may create hard crystals in the joints.prescribed medications to help lessen the buildup of
Individuals drinking too much alcohol, who areuric acid in the blood. Make sure to follow the doctor's
overweight or eat too much fish and meat rich inadvice to lower uric acid levels. Many people continue
purines are more prone to getting gouty. In addition,taking the medicine for the rest of their lives to
some medications such as water pills can bring goutexperience permanent effects.
as well.It is important to pay attention to what kinds of food
Some of the common signs of gout are suddenyou eat in order to manage the condition. Eating
attacks of tenderness, redness, swelling and intensemoderate amounts of healthy foods to control weight
pain in the big toe. It is also possible to experienceis essential. Prevent eating too much seafood, meat
attacks in the ankle, foot and knees. These attacksand alcohol. It is also recommended to drink a lot of
usually last for a few days or several weeks andwater and other fluids.
another attack may happen after months or evenResting the affected area for twenty-four hours can
years. It is necessary to see a doctor even you areease the pain caused by the attack. In addition, you
no longer experiencing pains from gout because theneed to control your weight and having a low-fat diet
uric acid buildup can still be harmful to the joints.can help. However, prevent fasting or diets that have
In order to diagnose the condition, the doctor asksvery low calories because these diets tend to
questions regarding the symptoms and performs aincrease the uric acid amount produced by the body.
physical examination. In addition, the doctor may takeIn the past, gouty arthritis was believed to be because
fluid samples from the joints to look for crystalsof too much alcohol intake and eating too much rich
formed by uric acid. It is also required to do a bloodfoods. Though drinking alcohol and eating certain foods
test in order to measure the uric acid amount in thecan trigger gout attacks, these factors may not be the
blood.major causes of gout. The condition is actually caused
To stop the attack of gout, the doctor can prescribeby an excessive production of uric acid in the blood.
corticosteroids or a large dose of one or more