How to Prevent a Gout Attack

When my new boss stood up and left his cubicle, he hobbled as if he were 30 years older than he looked. A co-worker in the next cubicle leaned toward me and mouthed one word: gout. In recent years, experts have learned a great deal about this disorder and how to prevent it if an individual has one or more of its risk factors or has already suffered an attack.

What is Gout?

This disorder is one of the complex types of arthritis. According to the Washington Post, for centuries, it was considered an illness of the wealthy.

Experts believe that the incidence of the disease in the United States has tripled since late in the 1970s due to Americans' lifestyle changes. Around eight million patients now suffer from this disorder in the U.S.

One of the greatest surprises is that gout, long associated with men, is now affecting women in growing numbers, particularly post-menopausal females.

Patients who suffer from gout report sudden attacks. They experience acute pain plus redness and tenderness in their joints. Often the pain centers in the joint located at the base of a big toe.

Doctors use a joint fluid test to look for urate crystals, signs of the disease. Some but not all gout sufferers have high levels of uric acid in their blood, the Mayo Clinic reports.

Treatment usually requires medical intervention.

Risk Factors for Gout

Individuals who have high uric acid levels face an elevated risk of developing gout. The most common risk factors, according to the Mayo Clinic, include:

Lifestyle. Daily choices, particularly in food and drink, can increase the chances of developing gout. One is excessive drinking. This equates to more than two alcoholic drinks a day for males and more than one for females.

Age. Men are most likely to develop the disorder between 40 and 50. Women, however, are most at risk after menopause.

Sex. Overall, men have higher risk levels than women do because of males' higher levels of uric acid. Once women go through menopause, however, their uric acid levels tend to mimic men's.

Medical issues. Among the conditions that increase the risk of gout are high blood pressure, diabetes, elevated levels of fat and cholesterol in the blood and narrowing of the arteries.

Family history. Patients whose family includes other members with gout face an elevated risk of developing the disease.

How to Prevent an Attack

For at-risk individuals and those already diagnosed with gout, two courses of action help prevent attacks.

Medication. Several medications are helpful on a preventive basis. For patients who have already had an attack, they need to be taken after an attack has waned.

Doctors often recommend low-dose nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like Advil, Motrin and Aleve. More potent versions are available by prescription.

Low-dose colchinine helps some individuals. However, some patients report significant side effects like nausea and vomiting.

The drugs allopurinol and febuxostat block the amount of uric acid in the body.

The medication probenecid (Probalan) enhances the kidneys' ability to remove uric acid from the body.

Diet. Health care professionals advise specific dietary changes during periods when there are no signs of gout. Among them is maintaining a high fluid intake: 8 to 16 cups a day, at least half of which should be water.

Eliminating or at least limiting alcohol-especially beer-is important for many individuals, particularly males. The ideal overall diet should include fruits, whole grains, vegetables and milk products that are either fat-free or low-fat.

Dairy products labeled low-fat are the best source of protein for an at-risk individual. While small amounts of meat, fish and poultry work for some patients, they can cause problems in others.

Finally, for patients who are overweight, shedding extra pounds is important in preventing the symptoms of gout. This is because losing weight, if accomplished slowly, can decrease the body's level of uric acid. However, fasting or losing weight too rapidly can cause these levels to become temporarily elevated.

Sources:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/07/AR2011030703990.html

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/gout/DS00090