Get to know the symptoms of gout based on severity

Contents:

• Medical Video: 5 Common Signs of Gout
  
• Overview of gout
  
• High causes of gout
  
• Risk factors for high uric acid disease
  
• Age and sex
  
• Family health history
  
• Medical history
  
• Excessive weight
  
• Take certain drugs
  
• Do not apply healthy living habits
  
• Dehydration
  
• Side effects of surgery or injury
  
• Signs and symptoms of high gout
  
• Some stages of gout symptoms that you can feel
  
• 1. Initially only includes one joint
  
• 2. Start to feel in various joints
  
• 3. The duration of symptoms is longer
  
• 4. Pain in gout that affects the skin
  
• 5. Risk of kidney disease
  
• Various treatment options for high gout
  
• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
  
• Colchicine
  
• Steroids
  
• Other drugs
  
• Overcoming high uric acid at home
  
• Pay attention to food intake
  
• Pay attention to fluid intake
  
• Exercise routine
  
• Is rheumatism and gout a common disease?
  

Medical Video: 5 Common Signs of Gout

High uric acid occurs when the purine content exceeds the normal limit which is usually caused by eating too much food containing a lot of purine. Unfortunately, if gout is not treated and treated properly, the body is at risk for kidney problems and other health complications.Therefore, it is important for you to know the symptoms of gout in detail to reduce the risk of future health complications.

Overview of gout

Gout is a form of arthritis that causes sudden redness, swelling and pain in your joints. This disease can attack all joints in the body, but the knee, ankle, foot and thumb joints are the parts most often affected by gout.

Actually uric acid is a natural compound produced by the body. As long as uric acid levels in the body are normal, you will not experience problems. But when the levels rise, then it can trigger disease.

Frequent gout is associated with older people, whereas high uric acid can affect everyone regardless of age and sex. But in many cases, men are more likely to experience gout than women.

High causes of gout

Risk factors for high uric acid disease

Signs and symptoms of high gout

In some cases, gout does not show any symptoms at first. Symptoms of gout usually begin to appear when the patient has experienced an acute or even chronic condition. The most common symptoms of gout are:

• Joint pain is severe and sudden, which often occurs first in the morning
• Swollen and soft joints
• Reddish joint
• Heat around the joint

Symptoms of gout usually appear suddenly, unpredictable, and often occur in the middle of the night. Most symptoms of gout only occur within a few hours for 1-2 days. But in severe cases, joint pain can occur within weeks. If you experience these symptoms, your gout is quite severe.

Meanwhile, there are also those who experience gout symptoms for up to 6-12 months, with different intensities each day. If you experience this, your health condition is quite severe and you should immediately see a doctor.

There may be signs and symptoms not mentioned above. If you have concerns about a particular symptom, consult your doctor.

Some stages of gout symptoms that you can feel

Symptoms of gout generally vary in each person, depending on the severity of the condition. Some people with not too high uric acid levels may not even experience any symptoms. The following are the stages of gout symptoms that you can pay attention to:

1. Initially only includes one joint

When uric acid crystals attach to the joints, symptoms that appear initially include pain, swelling, redness and if pressed or touched feels painful. Joints that feel hot at night can also be a symptom of gout.

2. Start to feel in various joints

According to National Institute of Arthritis Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, signs of gout relapse initially felt in the painful part of the big toe. Some other joints that might be involved in pain include ankles, knees, heels, fingers, elbows and other body joints.

This recurrence of gout will usually occur within 10-30 minutes at night. The affected joint is generally only one part at the beginning of the symptoms. While the following attacks are likely to attack other joints.

3. The duration of symptoms is longer

If you have been diagnosed with gout, the pain that lasts for 12 to 24 hours in the first symptoms.

Also, when severe joint pain has subsided, your joints will experience discomfort for several days or even weeks. If gout is not immediately treated with appropriate medical treatment, it is feared that it can lead to permanent joint damage.

4. Pain in gout that affects the skin

After years of suffering from gout and feeling relapses, uric acid crystals may form lumps under the skin. This lump does not hurt, but will cause discomfort.

Crystals that collect under the skin due to gout are referred to as tophi. Tophi usually arises on the wrists, fingers and toes, and below the elbows.

5. Risk of kidney disease

The most dangerous risks of gout include can cause kidney stones to death. Crystals formed due to excessive levels of uric acid, may stick to the urinary tract, and men are usually more susceptible to this condition. Symptoms of kidney stones due to gout complications can be felt with pain in the waist, fever, until the urine bleeds.

Various treatment options for high gout

Treatment options for gout are actually based on the severity of the disease itself. But usually the doctor will provide several prescription drugs to help reduce high uric acid levels.

It must be understood, there is no gout medicine that can make a person escape from this disease forever. Even so, gout medicine can be consumed to control and relieve the symptoms that appear. Some gout medications that are commonly prescribed by doctors are:

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)

This drug is used as a pain reliever, pain, and inflammation due to high levels of uric acid. Usually the doctor will prescribe this gout medication if the symptoms are severe and acute. Examples of NSAIDs are ibuprofen, naproxen sodium, and indomethacin diclofenac, and etoricoxib.

Colchicine

Colchinie (Colcrys, Mitigare) is also a type of gout medicine that functions as a pain reliever. This gout medication works in two different ways, namely to treat symptoms of acute gout and prevent recurrence of gout. Generally, doctors will prescribe this gout medication if NSAIDs are not suitable for you.

Steroids

This gout medication will be given if NSAIDs and Colchinie drugs cannot overcome the symptoms of gout. Just like NSAIDs and Colchinie, corticosteroids have a main function, namely as a pain reliever. Examples of steroidal drugs, namely prednisone and methylprednisone.

Other drugs

Some other gout drugs that function to control the level of uric acid in the blood include, allopurinol, probenecid, pegloticase, and febuxostat.

Overcoming high uric acid at home

Taking gout medicine regularly according to your doctor's prescription is key. However, making lifestyle changes become healthier is also important to overcome and prevent gout. Some of the lifestyle changes you can take to control this disease include:

Pay attention to food intake

Not only do a low purine diet, however, you should also avoid foods that contain high fat and sugar. Besides being bad for health, these foods will also increase your risk of developing diabetes later on.

Pay attention to fluid intake

It is important to make sure your fluid intake is sufficient to keep the body properly hydrated. As much as possible to drink more water, rather than consuming water that has sweet taste.

Exercise routine

Routine exercise can make you maintain an ideal body weight and even maintain your overall health. Exercise regularly at least 3 times a week with moderate intensity.

Is rheumatism and gout a common disease?

Although it looks similar and has the same symptoms, which make joints painful, reddish, until swollen, actually rheumatism and gout are different diseases.

Rheumatism in medical language is called rheumatoid arthritis, a type of autoimmune disease that makes the joints stiff and inflamed. Inflammation caused by rheumatic symptoms is caused by a compromised immune system. So, the immune system attacks the body's joint tissues to make them damaged.

While joint pain due to symptoms of gout is caused by too much uric acid level (uric acid) in the body. As explained above, high levels of uric acid in the body occur due to eating foods that contain purines.

In the body, purines will be processed into uric acid and under normal circumstances, the body will be excreted through feces. However, if there are too many, these substances will accumulate and turn into crystals in the joints, then inflammation occurs.

In order not to be confused, here are the different symptoms of rheumatism and gout that you should recognize:

• Pain due to gout symptoms usually attacks one joint at a time. This pain is also more common in the legs and parts of the toes, especially the joints of the big toe. While rheumatic symptoms can cause pain in any part of the body and can attack several joints at one time.
• Symptoms of gout are always accompanied by swelling, redness, and pain that often appears. While rheumatic symptoms also cause pain, swelling or redness does not always appear in the joints.
• Joint pain due to symptoms of rheumatism can vary in intensity, sometimes mild to severe pain. While pain because of symptoms of gout tend to be frequent and severe.

However, the best and most accurate way to find out if you experience gout or rheumatism is to see a doctor. The doctor will also help you with the treatment and care needed.