What is Gout? About gout...
Gout symptoms are usually a painful inflammation of a joint, it's a rheumatoid arthritis. Most of the time, it's the toe of the foot the only articulation affected. The joint is red and swollen. The pain is sudden and intense. The skin that covers the inflamed area is stretched, shiny and hypersensitive to the touch; If it's the big toe that is affected, the leg support is often impossible. More rarely, the gout pain may be located in the knees, ankles, wrists or fingers and create bumps under the skin.
Gout: Who are affected?
Typically, gout patients are about 95% men, 5% women.
• Approximately 5 million people in the United States suffer from attacks of gout.
• Gout is 9 times more common in men than in women
• It predominantly attacks males after puberty, with a peak age of 75. In women, gout attacks
usually occur after menopause.
The gout symptoms
Joint pain, mainly located in the toe of the foot, and sometimes in the joints of the legs and arms. General ill feeling, with fever, or chills. But you could also be experiencing gout symptoms and you will not have any idea. [+] see all gout symptoms
Gout cause: what cause gout
This gout pain is the result of an excess of uric acid in your blood. When its concentration is too high, it forms crystals that are located inside your joints and cause intense pain.
Why do I have an excess of uric acid?
Several causes may explain this excess of uric acid.
- Your body produces too much uric acid or doesn't eliminate it enough. It's an abnormality of your metabolism.
- Some diseases may be at the origin of this anomaly: psoriasis or renal failure.
- Some treatments may be involved, including chemotherapy, diuretics or even aspirin low dose (self-medication)
- Some situations, such as the excessive consumption of alcohol, fast weight loss, fasting, overeating and including protein rich meals...
Risk Factors for Gout: Have some people more risk than others?
Yes. Most affected people are men (9 cases out of 10) between 30 and 50 years. This imbalance is explained by the level of uric acid in blood normally higher in men than in women. However, the onset of gout is possible in women from menopause (60 years old) and sometimes during pregnancy, we have to be so careful. Heredity also seems to be involved. A genetic or family predisposition (18% of the cases) would be at the origin of this metabolic disorder.
Age is also a factor predisposing: the kidneys are less effective and eliminate less well the waste of the body. This promotes the elevation of uric acid in the blood.
Gout affects essentially developed countries. It was called "the Royal disease", because it's due to a diet too rich, as that of the Kings.
What is the evolution of the gout?
In general, the frequency and numbers of gout pain increased with time.
After several years, in addition to joint pain, the disease may cause deposits of crystals under the skin called tophi. They are friable whitish or yellowish masses located on the outside edge of the ear, on the elbows or near the elbows, on fingers, on toes or close to the Achilles tendon. If these tophi is deposited in bone structures then we talk about gouty arthritis. Joints are gradually destroyed, and this is especially characteristic in the hands, wrists, feet...
Crystals may also settle in the kidneys. In the absence of treatment, they will interfere with their functioning and ultimately lead to renal failure.
Is there a relationship between gout and kidney stones?
Yes. An excess of uric acid in your body can cause the formation of kidney stones. The formation of these stones in your kidneys can then cause renal colic that result in severe kidney pain (in the back, below the ribs).
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