Gout is a form of arthritis. It is a result of too much uric acid in the blood. Uric acid is produced from purines. Most can be excreted via the kidney processes, but when it can’t, it moves to the extremities of the body. This creates inflammation around the tendons. Inflammation is the body’s way of trying to fix a problem. Heat, pain and swelling are the result.
Gout comes in four stages.
- Asymptomic gout means there is a high level of uric acid in the blood, but as yet you have no symptoms of gout. However, the chances that it will develop are high.
- Acute gout is when you have a short lasting attack that can typically last from a few days to a couple of weeks or so. There will be pain (often intense), heat and swelling.
- Interval gout is also known as intercritical gout and indicates the time in between the acute attacks. These periods are symptom free and can last for a few months to several years.
- Chronic gout means that the symptoms are there all the time and now damage to the tissue results.
Gout is a serious condition to have. Medical treatment consists of non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as Ibuprofen and Napoxen. If these don’t help, then corticosteroids, such as prednisone, are used. If these fail to help, then colchicine can be used, although this has more severe side effects.
None of these drugs treat the cause of the gout; they only treat the effect. Side effects of the drugs include stomach problems (such as damage to the lining, ulcers, bleeding) and heart failure, as well as the unknown consequences of mixing more than one drug at a time.
There are also a myriad of other side effects. All the medications are liver toxic and will lower your immune system, setting up problems for you later in life.
The natural gout treatment does not attempt to mask or suppress your symptoms. Instead, it tries to work out the cause and how to minimise any contributing factors.
Purine, the trigger of gout, is found in animal proteins. So the first thing to do to help yourself is to cut out all animal protein for a limited period. This means no meat, chicken, fish, dairy or eggs. Try this for a month. You won’t go short on protein if you eat plenty of fresh vegetables.
Other foods that create an acidic environment within your body are processed and synthetic foods, such as white sugar, white flour, synthetic sweeteners. These are often found in processed food and alcohol. So it is a good idea to cut these out, too.
This diet can eliminate your gout altogether. In time, you may be able to introduce small portions and not suffer at all. But the one thing that this process does show is how harmful a typical western diet is.
However, not everyone who eats badly is affected either by arthritis or by gout. The homeopathic approach probably offers you the best natural gout treatment there is. It works by identifying your unique expression (either of your gout or of you as a whole person) and matching that to a similar expression in nature. By taking the homeopathic remedy made from that natural source, you can eliminate gout for good.
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