With so much hype and significance of effective gout treatment in recent years, you must be wondering what is gout?? While there have been important and successful researches on acute gout syndrome all across the world, such research essentially helps in understanding ‘what is gout’, the important symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and dietary controls.
Gout is an acute metabolic disease in the human body that is caused due to the increased formation of uric acid in the blood, and inability to remove such excessive production from the body. Understanding what gout is needs essential insight to the reasons behind such excess uric acid formation in the blood, and the subsequent repercussions on the body. Uric acid is naturally formed into the body with consumption of certain food items that are rich in protein, purine and fat. Such uric acid amount is generally flushed away with urine in the normal course of the body causing no repercussions. However, when the body fails to correctly process the high protein and purine intake properly, it leads to an increase in uric acid in the body. Sometimes due to kidney malfunctioning, such excessive uric acid cannot be removed from the body also. As such, the excess uric acid, unable to be processed out of the body, accumulates within the body itself causing severe health issues.
Now, understanding what gout is, it is essentially a severe,medical syndrome where the long standing, escalated level of uric acid in the blood causes it to accumulate around certain joints and tissues of the body. Such uric acid crystals when comes into contact with white blood cells causes extreme pain and red, hot inflammation in the joint parts. This is the early symptom in knowing what gout is. Such swollen tenderness and acute painful attacks can lead to chronic arthritis if not treated properly at the earliest. Escalated uric acid levels can also lead to precipitation of the uric acid crystals in the kidney, causing kidney stones as well. As such, it is highly important to understand what gout is at the preliminary level, and follow it with effective treatment procedure.
According to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculo-Skeletal Disease, almost 275 out of 100,000 people suffers from intense gout disease all over the world. Moreover, men are more prone in developing gout syndrome than most women. This is essentially because of the differences in lifestyle patterns in both men and women. In comprehending what is gout, it is significant to understand the lifestyle influences on gout disease and how to prevent it. Too much indulgence in alcohol, smoking and lack of a nutritional dietary habit, can essentially be the reasons behind elevated uric acid formation in the body, thus leading to acute gouty arthritis.
While understanding and analyzing what gout is, you must be aware that the preliminary episodes of gouty arthritis starts between the ages 40 to 50 in men, and generally after the menopause in women. However, such symptoms can be seen before menopause as well, but with menopause and hormonal imbalances, the situation worsens all the more. It is important to know what gout is because it can affect anybody, anytime, without any prior notice. However, analyzing the important gout symptoms and early diagnosis can promote knowledge on what gout is and how to prevent it. Gout is more of a rheumatic syndrome caused due to uric acid accumulation in the muscle joints. At a preliminary stage, it generally affects one or two body joints, but with subsequent attacks and inflammation, it gradually spreads across various joint parts like toe, ankle, knee, wrist, elbow or fingers.
While it is essential to understand what gout is, it is also important to know how it forms. Hyperuricemia, or excessive uric acid build-up, is the main cause behind severe gout syndrome. The excess uric acid deposits in the joints in sharp crystal forms that causes intense pain and swelling of that joint. The joint inflammatory attacks can occur suddenly and may last for few hours. It is more of a recurring attack and the intensity varies with each passing day.
Understanding what is gout, proper medication and maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle can help reduce the repercussions of gouty arthritis and severe inflammation.