What Can People With Gout Do To Stay Healthy?
Maintaining a healthy and balanced diet is very important. Avoid foods that are high in purines and drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Fluids can help to remove the excessive uric acid from the body.
Exercise regularly and maintain a healthy body weight. Try to lose weight if you happen to be overweight.
To help prevent future gout attacks, take the medicines prescribed by your doctor Follow the instructions carefully with regards to how much medicine to take and when to take it. Acute gout is best treated when symptoms first occur.
Update your doctor with your medical history and provide information on all the medicines and vitamins you are currently taking. The doctor should be able to tell you if any of the medicine will increase your risk of hyperuricemia.
If you or someone you know suffers from this disease, you may be involved in home care to manage discomfort and help the person to get through the difficult attack.
Tips for Gout Pain:
Keep the foot elevated. It’s hard to stay immobile for any length of time, let alone keep a foot aloft for several hours. Arrange a comfortable spot in the living room or family room where the person can remain part of family life and enjoy entertainments like the television, newspaper, and even guest visits. You might want to set up a second area in the bedroom where the person can rest in private or take a nap.
Make the support materials comfortable and firm. When propping the foot, use a solid pillow or folded blanket for support, taking care that they will not sag and gradually lower the foot. Place these in such a way that they are not likely to fall or tilt. Use clean and soft, rather than scratchy, fabric to keep the skin comfortable.
Avoid trigger foods. The doctor will provide a list of these, which include popular low-fat foods like turkey, so you will want to find suitable substitutes, especially if the person likes to keep turkey on hand for frequent meals. Go over the list with the gout sufferer and beside each forbidden food, come up with two or three replacements. Then shop for these and keep them on hand, since you never know when the next attack will occur, and they can come on suddenly.
Eat wholesome foods that reduce inflammation. The doctor should also be able to provide this list, which includes surprisingly tasty choices like cherries. Ask about flax seed oil as a supplement in addition to foods like salmon, with omega 3 oil, and tea, both of which have been shown to reduce or limit inflammation in the body.
Lose weight slowly: People suffering from gout are usually overweight with their body weight about 10 to 15 percent overweight. More your girth, higher your uric acid level. The higher incidence of the uric acid leads to frequent and intense gout attacks. But take care that you should lose weight slowly as crash diet leads to increase in uric acid levels.
Control blood pressure: Gout patients who also suffer from hypertension need to be extra careful. This is because the blood pressure medications raise the levels of uric acid. Hence it is advisable to control the blood pressure naturally by lowering the intake of the sodium, exercising regularly, reducing the excess weight and eliminating stress.
Skip liver: Certain foods contain purine that raise uric acid levels. Though it is found in most foods, it is advisable to skip certain foods like red meat especially organ meats, liver, certain types of fish and some green leafy vegetables like spinach.
Stop the drink: If you are suffering from gout, avoid alcohol. This is because alcohol stimulates the production of uric acid. Beer is the main culprit as it has higher purine content than the other wines or spirits.
Go heavy on water: Drinking lots of water will help kidneys flush out the excess uric acid. Dehydration is also known to trigger the gout attack. You can increase the urinary output by drinking at least five glasses of water a day.
Improve your sex life: It has been found that if you are a man, having frequent sexual activity reduces the levels of uric acid.
Prepare diversions. Keep entertaining videos, interesting books, letter-writing materials, or even a laptop computer nearby. Hand-held puzzles, knitting or sewing, and other stationary games or distractions can be of help. As Hamlet said, “The readiness is all.”
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