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Cures for Gout - Some Information and Tips to Help You Find Relief

By Janet Ashby
Jul 1, 2009
Cures for gout concentrate on prevention and relief of the pain and managing the uric acid levels in the blood. Gout is one of most painful conditions that anybody can experience. It is a sort of arthritis that's caused by uric acid crystals collecting in the joints and flares up periodically. An attack of gout might last from a few days to more than a week and causes swelling in the joint, tenderness to the touch, redness and excruciating pain.

Pain relief is generally aimed at reducing this inflammation, typically with NSAIDs (Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs) or corticosteroids. Additional pain relief treatments can also be used such as Tylenol, paracetamol etc. To prevent attacks of gout, uric acid levels must be reduced and this is usually achieved in 2 ways. First of all by blocking the production of uric acid and secondly by increasing its excretion.

Medications may be prescribed to impede the the production of uric acid. These include Allopurinol, Puricase and Febuxostat.To promote excretion of uric acid uricosuric medications may used although these cannot be used by anyone who has problems with their kidneys.

Alternative Cures for Gout

Lots of sufferers prefer alternative treatments to drugs that are prescribed by a doctor usually because of the side effects or because they have other health problems. Medications and cures address three areas related to gout.

Preventing the Triggers That Bring about Gout

Finding the the triggers for your gout might not be simple. Some are obvious for example diuretics and and need you to increase fluid intake. Further triggers might be medicines, illnesses, stress and sometimes diet.

Relieving the Pain of Gout

Non-drug remedies for pain and reducing swelling are specially helpful gout sufferers. Some helpful pain relief methods which don't involve using medications include techniques to stimulate the body's mechanisms to cope with pain.

Prevent Gout From Recurring

Losing weight and taking more exercise can be very helpful in preventing further periods of gout. Even though it is commonly thought that avoiding specific foods will help to avoid gout this has not really been proved. The body naturally produces uric acid which is eliminated by the kidneys and how efficiently they do this more influence on your gout than the food you eat.

Low purine diets have been commonly held to to effect gout but this has not been proved to lower the how much uric acid is in the blood. Losing weight if necessary and eating a healthy diet has a bigger influence than solely avoiding these kinds of foods.

Conclusion

Cures for gout concentrate on reducing the pain and blocking uric acid production or stimulating the the uric acid to be excreted more efficiently.
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