Gout Articles
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What is gout?
Gout is a disease that triggers joint inflammation. Also called hyperuricemia or arthritis by some, gout develops when we have an overload of uric acid in our body. Tiny crystals or urate are then deposited in our joints resulting into painful inflammation.
Gout can soon develop into chronic gout pain which in turn attacks your joints. If left untreated it can lead to joint destruction, decreased kidney function, and kidney stones.
Throughout our medical history gout has been recorded as one of the most frequently recorded medical illnesses. Many gout sufferers are unable to process uric acid in their body which is often the condition on which the disease manages to build upon.
If you don’t know what uric acid is, here is a short explanation: uric acid is the result of broken down purines. Purines are part of everyday foods we eat.
If the human body can’t break down these acids we get painful arthritis, also called a gout attack. Further to this we can also develop kidney stones and if the worst happens, kidney failure.
Many gout patients are exposed to this debilitating disease within days. The rapid onset on joint inflammation is not only painful, but makes it hard to go about your daily activities undisturbed. The inflammation itself is precipitated when white blood cells engulf the uric acid crystals. This triggers a chemical chain reaction resulting in heat, pain and redness of the joint tissues.
