Gout is a permanent disease

Anyone who has gout will not be able to get rid of the disease

05/09/2011

Gout is a relatively common disease, especially in the elderly, where deposits of uric acid crystals (urate) in the tissues or joints form and cause significant pain to the patient. The risk factor for the disease is an excessively high level of uric acid in the body, which according to the experts, today affects around two percent of Germans. Although the predisposition for gout is generally hereditary, but an unhealthy lifestyle can promote the onset of the disease. Gout is not treated, „so shorten the intervals of acute attacks of gout“, Warns Professor Stefan Schewe at the University Hospital in Munich. The disease is also dangerous because the acute pain subsides after a few years, but the crystals settle more strongly. This in turn causes severe bone damage, broken bones and kidney disease. And, as a recent US study has shown, the increased level of uric acid also causes severe heart disease that can inevitably lead to the patient's death. Often gout is associated with other so-called diseases of affluence such as diabetes or hypertension. The duplication of illnesses can increase the risk of serious heart disease such as heart attack.

Purine Metabolic Disease Gout occurs in spurts
The so-called purine metabolic disease gout (uricopathy) usually occurs in spurts, with the deposition of uric acid crystals in the joints, bursae, tendons and tissue painful inflammations form the long term to damage the kidney, and in the worst case renal insufficiency (Kidney failure). During the acute episodes of the disease, gout manifests itself as severe pain, extreme sensitivity to touch, redness, swelling and overheating of the joints. According to experts such as Stefan Schewe, Professor at the University of Munich Hospital, these often occur after specific events such as luscious, high-fat meals with a lot of meat, shellfish and offal or after copious consumption of alcohol. Lack of exercise and obesity also act as potential risk factors.

Men more often affected by gout
Especially men between the ages of 40 and 60 years are among those affected, with the pain often occur during the night and relatively often the joints of the big toes, but also the leg joints are the starting point of a gout attack, so the statement of the doctor of the professional association of German rheumatologists , The pain of an acute attack of gout is similar to that of a broken bone, but go back after the episodes of the disease and can stop completely over the years. However, Prof. Stefan Schewe also sees this as one of the most critical points of gout disease. Because after the painful episodes of the disease without medical treatment are initially recorded in ever shorter time intervals, the acute pain may disappear completely after a few years and the patients weigh in safety. The deposition of urinary crystals, however, does not stop, so that long-term chronic joint destruction, damage to the bones, joints and kidneys threaten, explained Prof. Schewe.

Treatment of gout
As conclusions for an efficient treatment of gout, the expert called the reduction of uric acid level. Concerned, the disease should by no means be taken lightly and should also take the prescribed medication in the pain-free phases in order to avoid further deposition of urinary crystals, explained Prof. Schewe. In addition, the GPs may not be too hesitant in the prescription of drugs in the treatment of gout, since the uric acid level in any case must be lowered permanently, said the expert. Because the symptoms worsen over time, many people no longer take their medicines on a regular basis or leave them at some point altogether. This can have fatal consequences, as the physician explained.

In order not to let gout progress, the acidification of the body must be stopped. Patients have to reach a uric acid level of less than six milligrams per deciliter, says Schewe. This means in practice, to move actively and necessarily diet. Doctors order the gout-plagued a purine-poor diet. According to them, people should avoid alcohol, avoid red meat and not eat seafood. But purines are also legumes, which is why they can only be eaten in moderation.

Gout treatment in natural medicine
In natural medicine, concomitant gout is administered primarily with medicinal herbs to promote the excretion of uric acid. Good results could be achieved with the herbs Goldenrod and Brennesel. The herbs are usually drunk in the form of tea. The fluid additionally supports the excretion of uric acid. In an acute gout attack wraps own, to relieve the pain. Patients should also pay more attention to a diet consisting of three-quarters of basic foods.
In an alternative therapy, however, the agreement with the attending physician is indispensable. Those who let the disease, who does not change the diet and continues his current lifestyle, will be confronted with gout attacks again and again, as well as the warning of the experts. (sb, fp)

Read about gout:
Lemonade favors gout risk
Gout risk due to fasting and diuretic diets
Fructose increases gout risk

Picture credits: sokaeiko