Gout

~ a form of arthritis .
~ caused by a build up of uric acid in the blood .
~ when uric acid crystallises in the joints , it causes inflammation and pain .
~ recurrent swelling in the big toe as the surrounding tissue is packed with uric acid crystals.
~ at the beginning of the disease, patients usually experience intermittent gout attacks and remissions, followed by a chronic phase where painless but firm tophi start to form in one or more joints of the body.
~ starts when one reaches 40.
~ affect more men than women.
~ after 65 years old, affects both sexes equally.
~ older patients tend to develop tophi early in the course of the illness.
~ younger ones develop tophi after years of intermittent attacks.
~ become more common because of the obesity epidmic .
~ dietary choices also raise the risk of gout.
~ consuming a lot of meat, seafood, sugar and alcohol especially beer- can trigger attacks of gout.
~ soda drinkers are also at risk, there is evidence that fructose, the main sweetener in many sugared beverages, increases uric acid levels in the blood.
~ high blood pressure is another major risk factor, get complicated because diuretic taken to lower blood pressure can also increase uric acid levels.
~ lose weight, cut back on alcohol, meat, and seafood, and eat more fruit, vegetables and low-fat dairy foods.
~ patients have to take drug to lower uric acid levels for life.
~ treatment:- (1) to reduce the patient's blood uric acid levels.
- (2) to relieve the pain and inflammation during a gout attack.
~ for surgical removal is when a patient's tophus is infected or when it puts a lot of on pressure on surrounding structures (nerve).
~ reduce blood uric acid level below 0.36mmol/L or 6mg/dL, the uric acid that is deposited will dissolve by itself with time.
~ stay away food that rich in purine, a chemical compound that break down into uric acid in the body.