7 Natural Gout Home Remedies: Symptoms & Preventions | Foot, Hand:- Most patients I see have already heard about medicines like Allopurinol, which is used to prevent Gout.
But what they want to know: is how can you prevent Gout naturally?
Well, let me jump into the 7 natural remedies that work for Gout, and if you stick around I’ll answer what you should do if your Uric Acid level is too high.
7 Natural Gout Home Remedies: Symptoms & Preventions | Foot, Hand
What Is Gout And How Does A Person Get It?
Gout is a common form of arthritis that causes your joints to swell painfully. It affects about 1 in 40 people and happens when tiny, sharp crystals build up in your joints and irritate the tissues around it.
What Causes Gout?
It’s caused by a build-up of a chemical in your blood called Uric Acid. This forms crystals inside your joints and leads to a sudden attack of excruciating pain.
Crystals love to go to your big toe, but can also affect the hands, knees, elbow joints, ankles, and wrists. Patients I’ve seen with Gout describe getting severe pain, swelling, redness, usually in one joint that starts suddenly and often at night time.
They may wake up feeling like their toe is on fire and cannot walk on it. Most will see a doctor get medications to treat the acute attack.
Gout Home Remedies: How Can You Prevent Gout Naturally?
Well, I’m glad you asked! Let’s get on with how to stop it from coming back!
1. Low Purine Diet.
Imagine your body is like a bathtub with the water running into it. If the water level spills over, an electrical fire will start. Well, the water is like uric acid, and the electrical fire is a gout attack. So you must keep a low Uric Acid count.
Meaning, less than 0.36 mmol/L or 6 mg/dl on a blood test. You must limit your consumption of purines, which the body breaks down to make Uric Acid.
2. Avoid Medications That Raise Uric Acid.
I know this is easier said than done, but some absolute classic medications increase Uric Acid levels and therefore, cause Gout attacks.
Particularly, water tablets like Furosemide or Thiazide diuretics. Also, drugs that suppress your immune system, like Cyclosporin, can increase Uric Acid.
If you are taking one of these medications and are worried you might develop another Gout attack, chat to your doctor first about whether you can take alternative medicine.
3. Maintain Healthy Body Weight.
Being overweight increases your risk of Gout. Especially at a younger age. So try to lose weight slowly – if you rapidly lose weight, especially with fasting, you will increase uric acid levels and trigger another Gout attack.
4. Avoid Alcohol And Too Much Sugar.
There’s a reason that Gout was once the affliction of royal families and the aristocracy. I’ve been watching a TV series lately called “The Great” and all they do is drink vodka and eat cake!
Too many sugary foods and drinks increase your risk of getting Gout attacks. This includes sodas, juices, energy drinks, or anything that is sweetened.
Alcohol by itself increases uric acid in your blood, so limit the amounts you have each day to 1 or 2 standard drinks. Avoid it completely during a Gout attack.
5. Vitamin C.
Studies have shown that taking 500mg of Ascorbic acid or Vitamin C a day, lowers Uric Acid levels significantly. However, research hasn’t proven if this prevents Gout. But it is a step in the right direction.
6. Drink Coffee & Low Fat Milk.
Research has shown that drinking coffee, so about 4 cups or more a day, lowers uric acid and reduces the risk of Gout. This also may be true for black tea, but more research is needed to confirm this association.
Also, studies have shown that having low-fat milk products regularly can lower Uric Acid levels and your risk of a Gout attack. For example, having a bottle of yogurt or a cup of milk twice a day is an option.
A really interesting point I found when doing my research was that there seems to be this strange connection between low Vitamin D levels and Gout.
There aren’t studies on whether supplementing with Vitamin D improves uric acid levels, and therefore gout, but hopefully, there are some clever scientists who are looking into this.
7. Cherries.
This one surprised me – and probably those of you who are already clued up knew this link. Cherry products contain high levels of anthocyanins, which have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
It seems that gout patients who regularly have Cherry Extract or Cherry Juices, report fewer gout flare-ups than those patients who did not. Keep that in mind the next time you are in the supermarket in the fruit aisle.
FAQs
Well, there is a medical term for this which is Asymptomatic Hyperuricaemia. Which in English means a High Uric acid blood level, but no symptoms.
20% of the population have this, but never go on to develop Gout. However, a high Uric Acid level in the blood is like a canary in the coal mine.
It’s a very useful indicator that something is amiss in a person’s health. Having a high Uric Acid level is an independent risk factor for Chronic Kidney Disease, Cardiovascular disease, and Diabetes.
If your uric acid is high, I would seriously examine what you can do to improve your health.
Be it: lose weight, change your diet, exercise, or try some of my 7 tips for reducing Uric Acid in your blood.
