Gout – Its Existing Facts, Diagnosis and Prevailing Treatments

Today’s food habits and busy schedule has resulted in arising several health related disorders. One such problem is Gout. It is considered to be the painful as well as potentially disabled form of arthritis that has been arise in the early times. The initial symptom of this disorder is intense painful swelling in feet, single joints and big toe preceded by red and warm swollen area. It generally occurs when uric acid gets accumulated in the body with the continuous deposition of needle-like urate crystals. These crystals attract WBCs leading to severe and painful gouts and chronic arthritis.

Basically, this kind of worst phenomenon arises because kidneys become unable to remove excess uric acid from the body thus, resulting in the accumulation.

Gout Facts

• By avoiding alcohol and certain fish and meats, you can prevent yourself from being gout victim.
• Intensely painful joint swelling, especially in the big toe or other foot part, indicate gout symptom
• Patients may need medications to lower their elevated blood uric acid levels that governs gout.
• Treatments exist, but therapy should be tailored for each person

Both age and dietary lifestyles are the major factor that leads to causing Gout. While, at the same time, certain dietary factors like alcohol, corn syrup, red meat and sea foot can also acts as a causative agents for gout.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis is completely dependent on finding the distinguishing crystals. he physician may use a needle to infuse fluid from an overwhelmed joint and will study that fluid under a microscope to find whether urate crystals are present. Crystals also can be found in deposits (called tophi) that appears underneath the skin. Levels may either be normal for a short duration of time or even low during attacks. X-rays may show joint damage in gout of long duration. Ultrasound and dual energy CT can detect early features of gouty joint involvement.

Treatment

Colchicine is used for treating active gout. This medicine has been proved effective only in the initial stage of the disease, but its side effects include vomiting, nausea, diarrhea and other side effects. On the other hand, Nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs abbreviated as NSAIDs are aspirin like medications that reduces inflammation and pain in joints and other tissues. NSAIDs like indomethacin and naproxen are the major choice of treatment for treating acute gout symptoms. But its side effects include ulcers, stomach upsets or diarrhea. Sometimes, anakinra (Kineret), an “interleukin 1 beta antagonist is being prescribed by health care providers, as it relieves gout symptoms very rapidly. But this drug hasn’t been approved by FDA.