Living With Gout - What You Can Do to Decrease Symptoms and Pain

For individuals who have been diagnosed with gout, treatment options can seem somewhat limited.
Prescription drugs are commonly offered, but each comes with a unique array of side effects and few really offer long term relief.
There may certainly be times when medications are needed to help control inflammation or to decrease uric acid within the body, but true gout treatment requires more than this.
Today we will look at some advice for living with gout without becoming a slave to the condition.
Can Gout Be Prevented? This is a common question for people who are new to gout treatment or who have been recently diagnosed.
While there is no known cure for gout, preventative measures can go a long way in reducing symptoms and increasing the number of days in which you can be free of pain and swelling.
Creating a Gout Friendly Diet While only about a tenth of the uric acid in the body comes from your diet, eating the right foods can make a big difference.
Because uric acid comes from the breakdown of purines, avoiding foods that are high in these can make a significant difference.
Liver, kidneys, and other organ foods are incredibly high in purines, as are fish such as anchovies and sardines.
You will also find that most other meats and fish are high in purines as well.
While dairy products also contain higher than average purine counts, research shows that dairy foods can actually reduce the risk of developing gout.
Exercise and Lifestyle Moderation as Part of Preventative Gout Treatment While exercising or even walking during a painful flare of gout can be excruciating and is certainly not advised, proper activity in the absence of symptoms can do much to increase the effectiveness of gout treatment.
Even moderate exercise, such as walking or gardening, can help reduce stiffness and increase both strength and range of motion in the affected joints.
Research also shows that exercising regularly helps to increase the body's tolerance for pain, although again it is important to keep in mind that exercising a joint that is inflamed is certainly not medically advised.
Lifestyle changes can also do a great deal in helping to reduce the appearance and severity of gout symptoms.
Reducing or eliminating alcohol intake is crucial, as alcohol greatly increases the risk of high uric acid levels, and you will find that eliminating cigarettes can be equally important.
Maintaining a healthy body weight can also help eliminate unnecessary stress on the joints, while the right diet can also decrease uric acid intake.
The bottom line is that gout treatment is and should be about much more than simply taking prescription medications.
While there will likely be times that these are necessary for symptom management, there is no substitute for prevention.
Learning as much as possible about living with gout is always a wise decision, and you will find that there is much that you can do to reduce your symptoms.