Gout
Gout refers
to a
certain form of inflammation of the joints and
swellings of a recurrent
type. Although chronic in character, it breaks in
acute attacks. It is
a disease of the wealthy and chiefly affects
middle-aged men. Women,
after menopause, are also sometimes affected by this
disease.
Symptoms
An attack
of gout is
usually accompanied by acute pain in the big toe,
which becomes tender,
hot and swollen in a few hours. Usually, it is
almost impossible to put
any weight on the affected foot during the acute
stage of the disease.
It may also similarly affect other joints such as
the knees, and the
wrists, and sometimes more than one joint may be
affected at a time.
The attack usually occurs at midnight or in the
early hours of the
morning, when the patient is suddenly awakened. The
acute attack
generally lasts for a week or so. During this
period, the patient may
run a slight fever, and feel disinclined to eat. Their
general health
generally remains unaffected.
The attack
may
occur again after several weeks or months. The
interval becomes shorter
if the disease is not treated properly. The joint
generally becomes
damaged by arthritis. This is chronic gout, in which
chalky lumps of
uric acid crystals remain in the joint and also form
under the skin.
Another
serious
complication of gout is kidney stones containing
uric acid, causing
severe colic pains in the stomach. In some cases,
the kidneys become
damaged and do not function properly. This is a
serious condition as
the poisonous waste products which are normally
removed by the kidneys
accumulate in the blood.
Causes
The chief
cause of
gout is the formation of uric acid crystals in the
joints, skin and
kidneys. Uric acid is an end-product of the body’s
chemical processes.
Those affected by gout have a higher level of uric
acid than the
normal, due either to the formation of increased or
reduced amounts of
acid being passed out by the kidneys in the urine.
This uric acid
usually remains dissolved in the blood. But when the
blood becomes too
full, the uric acid forms needle-shaped crystals in
the joints
which bring about attacks of gout.
Heredity
is an
important factor in causing this disease and certain
races are prone to
gout. Other causes include excessive intake of
alcoholic drinks,
regular eating of foods rich in protein and
carbohydrates and lack of
proper exercise. Stress is also regarded as an
important cause of gout.
During the alarm reaction, millions of body cells
are destroyed and
large quantities of uric acid freed from these cells
enter the tissues
after being neutralized by sodium.
Treatment
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