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Gout is caused by an auto-immune response to urea crystals deposited in joints or tendons.
Gout is caused by an auto-immune response to urea crystals deposited in joints or tendons.
It is a painful arthritis-like condition which strikes me as being poorly researched at present.
Diet and drugs have some effect (I switched to being vegetarian for a while) and used anti-inflammatories. I didn't use some of the other drugs but they were to be the next stage if it didn't improve.
My own review of the scientific literature made me come to some conclusions.
The key is to prevent urea from coming out of solution (blood). Since using these tactics, I have only had a few (infrequent and low-pain) twinges compared to previous experience of high levels of pain. When I get a twinge, I know how to prevent further problems.
- Drink lots of water (reduces concentration of urea, allows more to be expelled)
- Bad attacks - use a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda in a glass of water (baking soda, not baking powder!) - increases pH (less acidic blood). May have to do a few times a day during an attack, but once an attack was over I rarely used.
- Warm affected area (hot water bottle in fabric cover if acute, but be careful not to burn), wear socks in bed, warm socks instead of thin during the day. If your core is 36+ Celsius, your knee might be 33 and your ankle/toe 29 Celsius. Don't underestimate how effective warming will be to combat gout. You want to keep the extremities where gout occurs warm. It really helps. Your body will be at its coldest at around 04:30 in the morning, so that is when the urea will precipitate out.
Cold blood precipitates out urea when concentrations of urea are high, blood is acidic and cold.
Concentration of urea and pH apply to the whole body, while temperature is a local aspect.
