What is Gout ?

Gout is becoming more and more a problem of modern society, as the number of gout patients is increasing every day and getting younger and younger. The disease is not life-threatening but greatly affects the quality of life. However, many people at high risk for Gout still do not fully understand it. What is gout?  Who is at high risk for gout?  What is the initial manifestation of the disease? 

1. So what is gout?

✅ Gout is a type of arthritis that suddenly causes redness and pain in the joints. The main cause is due to the amount of uric acid build up in the blood causing inflammation in the joints (According to Medicalnewstoday.com). You should also know uric acid origin red meat, seafood, wine, beer. The most characteristic of this disease is the sudden pain typically causing swelling in the leg joints, less often in the joints of the hands (hands, wrists, elbows).

2. The cause of Gout

✅ Gout is caused by a disorder of purine metabolism in the body. Purine is a chemical compound found in the foods and drinks we eat every day such as red meat, seafood, and alcoholic beverages (beer). Uric acid is a metabolite of purines. Normally, the kidneys will take care of the task of eliminating 70% of uric acid from the body every day, but in gout patients, the uric acid level in the blood often rises, causing the kidneys to work to the level of functional decline severe. Impaired kidney function means the elimination of uric acid is stopped, facilitating uric acid deposition, accumulation in the kidneys, joints, forming urate salt crystals, and cause gout pain.
✅ As can be seen, impaired renal function is the leading cause of gout. In particular, the longer gout is the weaker kidney function, and conversely the weaker kidney function, the more severe gout and difficult to cure. In addition, if you regularly use foods containing purine (seafood, organ, red meat), drink a lot of alcohol or people who are obese … the risk of gout is also higher. Here are some common causes:

2.1 Due to the diet

✅ This is the main cause of gout. Excessive intake of purine-containing foods such as red meat, animal organs, fatty fish, mushrooms, and uncontrolled drinking wine and beer habits will stimulate an increase in uric acid levels in the blood. Read the ARTICLE for details of foods to limit.

2.2 Use some medications

✅ Some medicines that reduce the ability of the kidneys to excrete, such as diuretics, aspirin. This reduces the ability of uric acid to be excreted in the urine, leading to increased uric acid deposition in joints. So in case of using these drugs, you should consult your treating doctor.

2.3 Overweight and obesity

✅ Obese people have higher levels of uric acid in their blood than normal people because they have a disorder of metabolism of substances in the body by a diet of excess nutrition. This will increase blood fat and uric acid in the blood and impair the ability to eliminate uric acid. Studies show that people are 4 times more likely to suffer from gout than normal people, and the weight gain also makes pain worse in the foot joints.

2.4 Drink a lot of alcohol

Drinking any kind of alcohol can cause gout pain because it reduces the kidney’s ability to filter uric acid, making them more likely to build up in painful joints. The more alcohol you drink, the higher your risk of gout will be. Therefore, limit alcohol to the maximum to prevent gout more effectively.

2.5 Use too much soda contains fructose

Drinking too much soda with high fructose content is also the culprit increasing uric acid concentration and causing gout symptoms. Research has demonstrated that using high fructose-containing soft drinks can cause elevated blood uric acid levels in both men and women. Accordingly, experts recommend that people who are at risk of gout should switch to diet soda (not fructose) or limit the use of bottled soft drinks. In addition, high fructose soda can be found in many fruit drinks, store-bought baked goods, ice cream, candy, fast foods …

2.6 Dehydration

✅ Dehydration is also the cause of high blood uric acid levels. Make sure to drink 6-8 glasses of water a day (about 2 liters of water), or maybe more in the summer and after exercise.

3. The early symptoms of Gout

• I have to report the bad news that in the beginning, the disease developed silently without any specific signs. The disease usually occurs in the joints of the foot is mainly, up to 70% of pain occurs in the big toe. In addition, pain can occur in a number of other locations such as ankles, feet, knees, hands, fingers and other characteristic joints. The pain is usually sudden onset, lasts a few hours and suddenly goes away, and the accompanying symptoms such as swelling, redness will subside within 1-2 weeks. The result is that after the pain is gone, the skin will be peeling, itchy, or red as an infection.
• In many cases, the manifestation of gout is not as obvious as the appearance of lumps in the limbs, but the pain is only mild. It is very easy to confuse patients with symptoms of joint damage due to excessive exercise or sports, without knowing that it is also a warning sign of possible gout.
• After the first gout attack, it may take 2 years for the pain to return, if the patient does not go through a thorough examination to detect the disease promptly, then the next return, the pain will last longer, pain much more and the opportunity of treatment is very low. You have to be very attentive to this.