What Is Gout?
Gout is caused by the buildup of too much uric acid in the body. Uric acid comes from the breakdown of substances called purines. Purines are found in all of your body’s tissues. They are also in many foods, such as liver, dried beans and peas, and anchovies.
Your body can deal with almost everything that you throw at it, but if you have any sort of kidney disease or problem then your body will have problems dealing with uric acid. The uric acid that can’t be filtered and expelled in your urine will turn into crystals and these crystals congregate in your joints and cause gout pain.
No one ever thinks about their kidneys until they start to malfunction in some way, one of the functions that your kidneys perform is to clean uric acid from your system and send it out of your body in your urine. When your kidneys stop filtering and removing uric acid you are in with a good chance of developing gout.
Heavy consumption of purine rich foods will also cause a build up of uric acid in the body. High level of uric acid in the blood is called hyperuricemia. Although hyperuricemia will not necessarily develop gout but it can lead to its development when the excessive levels of uric acid take a crystalised form.
If you are reading this and you are a man then there is a good chance that you have or will develop gout, the risk of women developing gout is much lower than men. This may be due to the differences in diet or alcohol intake. Men tend to eat more red meat than women and that is a contributing factor for gout.
When you notice your toe joint swelling and turning red it may well be the start of a gout attack, they often start in one joint. Many men have said that their attacks start in their big toe and while they may progress to other joints the pain is so bad that it really doesn’t matter. Gout can be an extremely debilitating illness.
You are in charge of your gout, you can reduce the frequency and the severity of your gout attacks just by changing what you eat and drink. Keep a diary of what you eat and drink for 3 months and you will see that your attacks almost always follow a bout of eating or drinking either in excess or items that are high in purines.
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