Is gout a chronic disease?

Gout is one of the types of inflammation associated with an increase in certain acids in the body. In this article, we present you more details about gout, its symptoms, causes, and other useful information.

Is gout a chronic disease?

Before answering the question “Is gout a chronic disease?” What is gout? Gout is one of the types of arthritis that affects the body with age, and it is known that men are more susceptible to gout than women.

Gout usually occurs due to an increase in uric acid in the body and the formation of large crystals around the affected joint, which causes severe bouts of pain and a feeling of difficulty walking, especially in the morning period. Gout can cause other health problems, including kidney disease and the formation of stones.

Gout can affect more than one joint in the body, especially the smaller joints, such as the joints of the toes and the hand, and affects them with a number of clear symptoms, including:

Sudden joint pain called gout attacks.
The skin around the joint can become red and irritated.
Swelling and difficulty in moving for a while in the joint.
The pain may occur at night or when waking up.

Returning to the question, is gout a chronic disease? The answer is that according to the definition of the word “chronic”, which is the patient who continues with the disease for a period of more than 3 months that has not been cured with drugs, and often gout continues with the person for life, especially if it is of the type of chronic gout.

What is the difference between acute and chronic gout?

Gout is divided into two parts, acute and chronic, and acute gout can turn into chronic after increasing the number of attacks or neglecting its treatment, and it is possible to distinguish between the types of gout as follows:

Acute gout

Acute gout, which is the lowest degree of gout disease, affects a few joints, including the joints of the foot, knee, and hand, and it occurs in the form of severe bouts of pain more than once a week and increases at night, and it may usually occur in separate periods, and it is important to note that it may develop into chronic with frequent recurrence.

Chronic gout

Chronic gout causes more pain than acute gout and affects more than three joints in the body, including the wrist and elbow, and it may happen to the patient more than once in one year, and when neglecting his treatment and following the instructions of doctors, it can cause atrophy in the joint, deformities in it, and a hard bump that appears at the top of the joint.

How to diagnose gout

Doctors perform more than one procedure to accurately identify a person’s gout infection in order to prescribe the appropriate medication for the patient, and the doctor does the following:

Examine the patient seriously and identify the symptoms that have been repeated with him recently.
The patient performs blood tests in order to identify the percentage of uric acid in the body.
Doing a joint fluid test in order to see the crystals formed due to uric acid.
The doctor may order x-rays of the patient to determine the condition of the joint and its impact on the inflammation.
Doctors use ultrasound to identify uric acid deposits in a patient.

Can gout be cured?

Gout has more than one type of treatment, including pharmacological and conservative ones. Gout can also be treated with herbs, but it is worth noting that different types of treatments can reduce the severity of symptoms and make there a spacing between attacks.

Treating gout with medication

Drugs can be used to treat gout, including treatments to reduce inflammation and reduce swelling that occurs due to injury, and examples of drugs used are indomethacin, naproxen, and ibuprofen. Doctors also tend to use colchicine, which is one of the natural extracts.

Allopurinol can be used in cases of treating acute gout attacks, reducing its symptoms, and helping a person to deal more freely and practice his daily activities more, among the drugs used also probenecid and febuxostat work to reduce uric acid in the body.

Home treatment for gout

The patient can take some conservative measures that help the person to live with gout and reduce the attacks of infection. These instructions include:

A person can increase the amount of water they drink throughout the day.
The patient can take more rest so as not to overload the joint.
Use cold water and hot water compresses to relieve pain and reduce redness.
Follow a balanced diet to lose weight and enhance the body’s ability to fight inflammation.
Reducing red meat and soft drinks that cause symptoms to increase.

Treating gout with herbs

Herbs can be used in order to limit the purposes of gout, and a number of natural elements found in herbs can be used, including:

Ginger: It can help reduce inflammation that occurs due to increased uric acid, and its use topically can help relieve joint pain.
Turmeric: The patient can put it in his diet, take it as a hot drink, or make compresses from it with honey, which are used topically on the joint for 15 minutes.
Celery: Celery can help reduce the percentage of crystals formed around the joint and cause inflammation and redness. You can eat it in the form of juice or take celery seeds daily.

Doctors sometimes resort to surgery, such as joint replacement, in the case of severe inflammation that causes joint deformity.

Is walking good for gout patients?

One of the common questions related to gout is “Is walking useful for a gout patient?” The answer is affirmative because the physical activities that a gout patient does can help reduce the increase in symptoms and reduce the increase in uric acid that causes gout.

A gout patient can practice simple exercises such as walking or cycling, which help him cope with the disease, remove the excess uric acid in the body, and maintain the joints and blood vessels that reach the joint cartilage.

The person needs to notice the inflammation because, in cases of increased or severe pain due to the progression, he must stop and return to the resting position in order not to cause damage to the joints, but if the pain does not increase, the gout sufferer can continue to walk as much as possible.