| Ah, gout. The disease of the elderly retired British | | | | and gout (although gout does not always happen if |
| military man, with his white walrus moustache, shiny | | | | you have high levels of uric acid in the blood) if you |
| monocle, red face and irascible nature, not to | | | | have or do any of the following: |
| mention his crystal decanter of brandy nearby. You | | | | 1) Obesity |
| can just picture him, can't you? | | | | 2) Diabetes |
| Actually, gout really doesn't have anything to do with | | | | 3) High blood pressure |
| being British, although it is more likely to occur in men | | | | 4) Consume alcohol |
| than women, and in older men rather than young | | | | 5) Eat large amounts of foods containing purines |
| ones. In fact, women usually don't develop gout | | | | 6) Kidney disease |
| unless they're post-menopausal or have had a | | | | 7) Sickle cell anemia |
| hysterectomy. | | | | 8) Leukemia |
| So, what is gout, anyway? Because it affects the | | | | 9) Take certain medications (some diuretics, aspirin, |
| joints, it's actually a type of arthritis, one that's | | | | the vitamin niacin) |
| precipitated by an unusually high amount of uric acid | | | | As noted above, an attack of gout is usually |
| hanging out in the blood. Uric acid itself is a natural | | | | extremely painful, and it often comes on quite |
| byproduct of breaking down cells in our food (like | | | | suddenly. You may go to bed at night, feeling the |
| meats) and building up body tissues. It gets dissolved | | | | world is a happy place, then wake up in the morning |
| into the bloodstream and usually gets excreted in | | | | in excruciating pain. Gout is sneaky like that. The |
| urine, where it passes on to the sewers. (Sewers | | | | affected area (again, often the big toe joint) will |
| don't really use uric acid in any way.) Unfortunately, | | | | become inflamed, which means swelling, redness, |
| some people naturally produce more uric acid than | | | | pain, and heat. The skin over the joint may begin to |
| usual, and others have trouble getting rid of uric acid | | | | look tight and shiny. Even light touches can cause |
| in the blood. This results in a condition known as | | | | extreme pain, so you may not even be able to stand |
| hyperuricemia, which is a higher than usual | | | | the weight of a sheet or blanket over your gouty |
| concentration of uric acid in the bloodstream. Eating | | | | toe. You may also experience fever or chills, or aches |
| foods that are high in purines (like organ meats and | | | | throughout your body. In fact, gouty attacks are |
| other foods) tend to result in higher levels of uric acid | | | | sometimes mistaken for infections. Attacks will peak |
| in the blood, and may result in a gouty attack. When | | | | within a few hours, but you'll probably continue to |
| uric acid in the bloodstream reaches a certain level, it | | | | experience symptoms for several days, especially if |
| may start to crystallize in a joint (or sometimes other | | | | the attack is not treated. Over 50% of people who |
| tissues). These needle-shaped crystals cause | | | | experience one attack of gout will experience |
| extreme pain and make the joint swell up. Gout most | | | | another. Gradually, the time between attacks |
| often develops in the big toe joint (where the big | | | | diminishes, and the joint will eventually become |
| toe connects to the foot), although it also may occur | | | | permanently damaged. |
| in the knee or ankle, or other joints or tissues. Uric | | | | Like diabetes, gout can be controlled by following the |
| acid seems to crystallize in parts of the body that | | | | instructions of your friendly podiatrist. And really, |
| are cooler, or that have experienced trauma. Because | | | | there's no reason why you should spend your life |
| the big toe joint is located so far from the rest of | | | | cooped up with your monocle and old war stories. |
| the body (and thus is cooler), and because it's | | | | With proper maintenance, there's no reason why you |
| frequently under such stress, it seems to be most | | | | can't live completely free from gout attacks. (And, |
| susceptible to the formation of uric acid crystals. | | | | okay, you can probably keep the monocle anyway. |
| You may be more prone to developing hyperuricemia | | | | But only if you want to. |