What To Do When A Gout Attack Brings You Pain
When you have been lately diagnosed as having gout, you must have already experienced one major attack and flares between attacks. You also know the blinding agony that comes with an attack and the feeling of helplessness the first time you experience such agony. The most obnoxious thing about gout attacks is they regularly happen at night.
If you’re unprepared for such attacks, the pain can go on for days and the pain in the affected joint or joints could linger for weeks. Here are a number of critical things worth doing in case a gout attack occurs:
Pain Management. Foremost in your consciousness naturally is to get rid of the pain and swelling immediately! One fast pain remedy is to take nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAID); a number of these are over the counter like Ibuprofen, as an example Advil. Another ordinarily prescribed gout pain medicine is colchicine. Your health practitioner may prescribe a high dose initially to alleviate the intense agony and lower subsequent doses for prevention of attacks.
Remedies at home. Since gout is caused by high uric acid levels in the blood due mostly to the problem of the kidneys to remove them; drinking lots of water is a good home remedy for gout. In reality the North American Dietetic Society suggests drinking 8 to 16 cups (about 2 to 4 litres) of fluid a day, half or more should be water. They also recommend avoiding alcohol, eating small amounts of protein from healthy sources that are low in fats, low fat dairy, eggs and tofu. Limit intake of fish, protein and poultry to 4 to 6 oz. per day.
Medicines that lower Uric Acid . Ask your physician for these options if you have frequent gout attacks or have attacks that are not so frequent but devastatingly painful. Drugs that block uric acid production are called xanthine oxidase suppressants. Ordinarily prescribed includes febuxostat and allopurinol. Drugs improving uric acid removal in the blood vary in availability from country to country, one example is probenecid. There are studies indicating a linkage between Vitamin C and lower risk of developing gout. Studies indicate that taking Vitamin C as supplement in addition to adequate nutritional intake may be beneficial in lowering uric acid in the blood. Be certain to discuss this first with your health practitioner.
At this point, be reminded of an old adage: prevention is much better than cure. Try hard to prevent future attacks. Keep the uric acid in your blood at a good level of less than 6mg/dL!
My website provides easy to understand info and offers some great proven products which will help you prevent gout discomfort. We have a wide range of information for every individual. We discuss everything from how to lower uric acid naturally to info on the various drugs available to reduce uric acid levels in your body.
Filed under Arthritis, Arthritis Care by on Jan 27th, 2012.
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