Gout, gout go away, come again another day…or better yet, don’t come back at all! I wish I could say that there was a wand that could magically make Gout… “POOF”! and disappear. Unfortunately, no one invented such a gadget yet. Even a Dr. prescribed medication that could prevent Gout from turning me into a limping, irritable wreck would appease my quest for a cure. Well, I’m sorry if you came here in hopes for a magic wand or a perfect medicine that wouldn’t give you more side effects than the actual problem. However, there is help and hope for all you fellow Gout sufferers out there. Although I can’t suggest a cure that will allow you to ingest everything your heart and appetite desires, I can share some tips that I found to be helpful.

So you ‘accidentally’ ate something you knew you shouldn’t have and now you are going through a painful regret session. You should have stayed away from those purine-rich foods but you didn’t. There’s no turning back at this point. You’re already feeling the tingling, numbing sensation on your big toe. All you can really do at this point is think positive and pull out your Rolodex of options, you can either, head to your garage, pick up your buzz saw and sever your toe off (you can’t tell me this hasn’t crossed your mind when you had a Gout attack underway) or head to your medicine cabinet and surrender to Aleve, Advil or some type of Ibuprofen. I have an emergency Advil bottle for my car, my medicine cabinet and office. I’m telling you, it saves me almost all the time.

During a Gout flare up, you should also get bed rest. Meaning, this may not be the best time to participate in your company’s soccer tournament. However, this is a perfect time and reason to get pampered at home. Perhaps, breakfast served to you in bed or a nice little back rub while your bubble bath is running? You do as you please…or at least what you think you can get away with. Bottom line, try not to be on your feet too much because doing so will aggravate and worsen your flare. You should also apply an ice pack onto the affected area. This will help lessen the swelling and also helps to alleviate some of the pain.

I also found through experience that drinking plenty of water and or fluids helped to dilute the uric acid in my blood which helped me to get better faster! You can also experiment with cherry juice or a half-pound of cherries. It is said that the Vitamin C in cherries will also help lower your uric acid level. There is one caveat, if you are going to drink a half pound of cherry juice and a whole jug of water in one sitting, you may be getting up on your feet to use the bathroom more than you prefer. You can also practice deep breathing exercises and meditation to assist your blood circulation.

Last and definitely my least favorite, you can see a Doctor. The Doc will measure your uric acid level so that they can try to predict your chances of future Gout attacks. They can prescribe you medications. Most of the medications will not stop Gout when it is already underway, but it will reduce symptoms in the future. Some medications will actually increase your gout symptoms for at least 6-12 weeks. After that time period, the medicine could actually help prevent future attacks. If you’re a trooper, this may be the option for you. Either way you look at it, at least you have options. You can try one option, two options or go for it all. I hope this helps. Good luck in experimenting with these Gout treatment options!

James DeVoos researcher and sufferer of Gout Symptoms, more personal remedies and stories at http://gout–symptoms.blogspot.com

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 6th, 2008 at 11:30 am and is filed under Arthritis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.