When it begins

When it begins, most people feel the first symptoms of gout in the foot; the large joint of the big toe to be specific. Gout, a form of arthritis caused by an accumulation of uric acid crystals in the joint is one of the oldest known diseases in the world. Now Gout is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing illnesses in the Unites States today, affecting over 8 million people. Stop it before it starts. Learn how to protect yourself and your family members by avoiding practices that lead to Gout.

Gout -Symptoms, Target Areas, and the Victims

When it begins, most people feel the first symptoms of gout in the foot; the large joint of the big toe to be specific. Gout, a form of arthritis caused by an accumulation of uric acid crystals in the joint, is extremely painful. Uric acid, a byproduct of the body’s normal processes, is made from purines – a chemical that our cells release when they die. A cell can die in many ways – through infection, poisoning, overeating or lack of oxygen. The uric acid is made from purines. Most of the time uric acid passes through the blood to our kidneys and is expelled through our urine. However, when uric acid is more than the kidneys can process, the high uric acid levels develop and may trigger a gout attack.

John Davis, a 52 year-old business owner, suffers from Gout. He came to the hospital when he thought an old football injury to his knee had flared up. Although John, had problems with his knee before, he never experience the severe pain that he awoke to that morning.

“It was as though I had my knee caught between a closing elevator door that continued to try and close, what are the symptoms of gout squeezing my knee tighter and tighter with each passing second,” John explained to the doctor. “It had gotten so bad that I couldn’t even stand to have the blanket touch it. When I threw the covers off my knee I saw that it was red and swollen as though my knee had actually been stressed in between a hard elevator door.”

After a long series of tests, Dr. Felton Snow, John’s Orthopedist, finally figure it out. He told John that his symptoms favored those symptoms of gout in the knee. John asked if it was genetic, recalling that his mother had suffered with symptoms of gout in the foot, specifically, her big toe. The doctor explained that it could be genetics, but it could also derive from a diet high in fructose, high blood pressure, diabetes, excessive alcohol intake, obesity or a number of other factors.

“Obesity?” John asked. “My wife suffers with obesity and a few other illnesses. She had gone to the doctor, but they never fine anything causing her foot pain. Do you think she needs to come in and get checked out for gout? She has a hard time just walking and lately she has been really complaining of pain in her foot. ”

“Symptoms of Gout in women are different from symptoms in men,” explained what is gout symptoms Dr. Snow. One reason that it is a little harder to detect is that the symptoms of gout in women are not as severe as they are in men.”

For example, while women have less intense pain during a Gout attack than do men, they are more likely to have more uric acids crystals accumulate within their bodies causing swelling and skin problems. Since it was once thought that Gout was a man’s disease, women with Gout are sometime misdiagnosed or harder to treat because of other diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney problems, and heart disease that sometime accompany the illness. As with men, however women usually experience symptoms of gout in the foot – the large joint of the big toe. This happens for one of two reasons – the big toe is more susceptible to a Gout attack because of pressure from walking; or because the big toe is the coolest part of the body and uric acid crystals form at the coolest body temperature.

One of the most important things you can do to control Gout is take in knowledge gout symptoms big toe of the disease so as to have an understanding of its root causes. Diet and exercise are key, but you may need to take medication if you are affected. To get more information about a plan that is right for you, go to: www.getridofgout.com.