Gout: Causes, Symptoms, Types and Risk factors
January 14, 2021 | by Sravani Pathakamuri | Posted in Nutrition Facts
Gout is also known as gout arthritis, it is a common type of arthritis that causes severe pain, swelling, redness, tenderness and stiffness in a joint. It generally affects the joint in the big toe. Pain and inflammation occurs when too much uric acid crystallize and deposited in joints.
It is the most common inflammatory arthritis in men, and women become more susceptible to it after the menopause.
Gout attacks can come on quickly and stay for long time, the inflammation region tissues are slowly harmed, and can be extremely painful.
Causes
Gout is caused by a condition called hyperuricemia, where there is an excess of uric acid in the blood. Uric acid is formed when the breakdown of purines occurs in the body, purines are the chemical compounds that are found in high amounts in foods such as meat, poultry, and seafood.
In fact, uric acid is dissolved in the blood and is excreted through urine by the kidneys. If there is too much uric acid accumulation, or not excreted properly, it can build up and form needle like crystals that causes pain and inflammation in the joints and surrounding tissue.
If you had gout, you will experience severe pain and feel swelling in the foot joints, especially for toe joint. This type of sudden intense pain feel you like your toe is on fire.
Symptoms
- Lingering discomfort
- Intense joint pain
- Inflammation and redness
- Unable too move
- Tophi
- Flu-like symptoms
Gout usually suddenly shows the symptoms without any sign, occurs often in the midnight.
The main symptoms are intense joint pain that gives you discomfort, inflammation, and redness. Gout mostly affects the large joint of the big toe, but it can also affect the forefoot, ankles, knees, elbows, wrists, and fingers.
Due to this severe pain and inflammation , the persons movement range get limited. They can move or walk like before.
Risk Factors
Gout also effect many parts of the body and cause many health related diseases like hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and obesity.
Genetic factors: If your family history includes gout, then you are more likely to develop this condition.
Age and Gender: Gout occurs more often in men, as uric acid produced much in men primarily when compared, women tends to have lower uric acid levels. However after menopause, women’s uric acid levels approach those equal to men.
- Men develop gout earlier- between the ages of 30 and 50
- women – after menopause.
Obesity: If you are overweight, it increases the risk of gout, because there is more production of uric acid as a metabolic waste product, so that it become difficult to eliminate for kidneys. High body fat also increase levels of inflammation as fat cells produce pro-inflammatory cytokines.
Medications: Some medications can also increase the levels of uric acid in the body such as diuretics like thiazide and drugs containing salicylate, low dose of aspirin.
Other Health Problems: Some other kidney problems can reduce the body’s ability to remove waste products, which leads to increased levels of uric acid.
Recent Surgery or Trauma: If had any recent surgery or trauma has been linked with an increased risk of developing a gout attack.
Diet: Eating more meat and seafood and drinking beverages sweetened with fructose sugar increase levels of uric acid, which increase your risk of gout. Alcohol consumption, especially of beer, also increases the risk of gout.
Types
There are various types that progresses gout as follows:
Asymptomatic hyperuricemia
In this type of gout, uric acid levels elevate without any symptoms. Treatment is not required at this stage, but urate crystals may deposit in tissue and cause slight damage.
Acute gout
This stage occurs when the urate crystals that have been deposited suddenly. It cause acute inflammation and intense pain. Flares can sometimes be caused by stress, alcohol, drugs, and in cold weather.
Interval gout
This stage is the period in between attacks of acute gout. If not treated for long time, a sudden outburst may occur. During this period, more urate crystals are being deposited in tissue.
Chronic tophaceous gout
Chronic tophaceous gout is the most exhausting type of gout. Due to this, damage may have occur permanently in the joints and the kidneys. The patient can also experience from chronic arthritis and develop tophi, big lumps of urate crystals in toe. Without any treatment it takes about 10 years to reach the stage of chronic tophaceous gout.
Pseudogout
One condition that is easily confused with gout is pseudogout. The symptoms are very similar to those of gout, usually less severe.
Summary
Gout is a form of arthritis caused by excess uric acid in the bloodstream. The symptoms of gout are seen due to the formation of uric acid crystals in the joints. It mostly attacks big toe of leg. It suddenly fires at midnight without any warning. It can be prevented by proper diet and treated with special medications.
Recent Posts
Categories
- Arthritis
- B vitamins
- Berries
- Best time to take
- Breasfeeding
- cancer
- Chronic Diseases
- COVID-19
- Dairy
- Deficiency
- Diabetes
- Diet
- Diseases
- FAQ's
- Fats
- Fever
- Hair
- health
- Kidney
- Leafy Vegetables
- Lung disease
- mango
- Meat
- Millets
- Minerals
- Myositis
- Nausea
- Nutrition Facts
- Nuts and Seeds
- Oats and Oatmeal
- Psoriasis
- Recipes
- Rice
- Skin
- spices and Condiments
- Summer
- Thyroid
- Varicose Veins
- Vegetables
- Vitamins
- Vomiting
- water
- weight gain
- weight Loss
Archives
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020