How To Make Gout Pain Go Away – When you experience gout inflammation and pain, it can be difficult to focus on work or other daily activities. Symptoms can last for days or even weeks, with the worst pain usually occurring in the first day or two.
While the best thing to do is talk to your doctor, there are a few steps you can take to immediately relieve your gout symptoms:
How To Make Gout Pain Go Away
Too much uric acid in the bloodstream can cause uric acid crystals to form in one or more joints, resulting in gout. Read:
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Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen or naproxen, can help relieve gout pain. Avoid aspirin and other medications that contain acetylsalicylic acid, which can make gout worse. 1 Ben Salem C, Slim R, Fathallah N, Hmouda H. Drug-induced hyperuricemia and gout. Rheumatology (Oxford). May 1, 2017; 56 (5): 679-688. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/kew293 Note that NSAIDs have potential side effects such as increased blood pressure, 2 Snowden S, Nelson R. Effects of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on blood pressure in hypertensive patients. Cardiol Rev 2011 Jul-Aug; 19 (4): 184-91. doi: 10.1097/CRD.0b013e31821ddcf4, 3 Aljadhey H, Tu W, Hansen RA, Blalock SJ, Brater DC, Murray MD. Comparative effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on blood pressure in patients with hypertension. BMC Cardiovascular Disease. 2012; 12:93. Published 2012 Oct 24. doi:10.1186/1471-2261-12-93 so discuss this treatment with your doctor.
If you have had a previous gout attack, your doctor may prescribe medication to treat the attacks. These may be your first line of defense, or you may use them only when NSAIDs do not relieve your pain.
Opioid pain medications, such as codeine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone, are not recommended for the treatment of pain caused by gout.
Cold therapy can provide significant pain relief by reducing inflammation and dulling pain signals. If this treatment works for you, you can apply the cold pack intermittently throughout the day for 10 to 20 minutes at a time.
Tips For Coping With Gout Pain
Elevating the affected joint can relieve pressure and reduce pain. If your big toe is affected (about half of all gout cases affect the big toe), put it on a pillow or mat.
Rest the affected joint and keep the pressure until your pain subsides. Carry wide shoes so you can keep your feet comfortable until the attack.
Drinking water throughout the day helps flush uric acid from your system. Aim to drink 8 glasses a day. Avoid alcohol and sugary drinks, such as soda and sports drinks, which can make your gout worse.
For severe cases of gout that do not respond to the above treatments, your doctor may recommend corticosteroid injections into the affected joint. Injections can also be helpful for people who are sensitive to oral medications. Whether you’ve had gout in the past or you’ve never experienced it, chances are that when a gout flare strikes, you’ll quickly know something is very, very wrong. Incorrect: Excruciating pain and swelling that often occurs in one joint (usually the big toe) is very difficult to ignore.
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If you’ve never had a gout attack and think people with gout must be exaggerating, consider this: 37 percent of people with gout said they would give up a winning lottery ticket if they never had a gout attack. again, according to a patient survey.
Of course, such a transaction is impossible. So what real choices do you have? Your best bet is to see a doctor – stat. “As soon as you feel pain, you need to seek medical attention,” says Joseph Huffstutter, MD, a rheumatologist with Arthritis Associates in Hickson, Tennessee. “The sooner you treat a gout attack, the easier it is to treat.”
Here’s a look at why gout flares happen and how to get rid of the pain as quickly as possible.
Gout is a type of arthritis that flares up and subsides, especially at first. Common symptoms of gout include:
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Gout, a type of inflammatory arthritis, occurs when the level of uric acid—a normal byproduct of your body’s metabolic reactions—gets too high, says Kenneth Saag, MD, professor of medicine in the Department of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology at the University of California, San Francisco. Alabama at Birmingham. When this substance is not sufficiently dissolved and excreted in the urine, it begins to crystallize, and those crystals settle in the joints, where they cause severe inflammation.
Certain risk factors, such as family history/genetic predisposition or chronic kidney disease, can influence the development of gout over time. Taking certain medications (such as diuretics for high blood pressure), drinking too much alcohol or sugar, or eating purine foods can trigger gout flares. Read more about what causes gout here.
If you are new to gout, your doctor should confirm the diagnosis, as it can sometimes masquerade as other diseases that affect the joints (such as rheumatoid arthritis). (Read more about gout symptoms and rheumatoid arthritis symptoms.) Your doctor will likely use a needle to remove fluid from the swollen joint and then examine it under a microscope to confirm if it contains uric acid crystals.
A variety of medications can be used to treat gout, but when you’re in the midst of a gout flare, the number one goal is pain management. “Because the pain is so severe, it’s really important to try to get it under control quickly,” says Dr. Saag.
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Although gout is caused by a build-up of uric acid, now is not the time to start a medication specifically designed to lower uric acid levels. (If you are already taking one of these medications, which includes allopurinol and febuxostat, you should continue taking them during a gout flare.)
Instead, your doctor will likely prescribe a higher dose of a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), such as naproxen, or a steroid drug, such as prednisone. Your doctor may also inject the steroid directly into the affected joint, or if the pain is bad enough, start you on the intravenous version, says Dr. Saag.
Colchicine is another medication that is sometimes used to treat gout flare-ups. This drug is not a traditional pain reliever because it does not seem to relieve pain caused by other conditions. According to a Cochrane Review, about 40 out of 100 people who used colchina during a gout attack rated their pain as 50% less than those who took a placebo, but there was also a risk of side effects such as vomiting, nausea and diarrhoea. . when taken in high doses.
If you’ve had gout flares in the past and are now seeing a new provider or getting treatment in the emergency room, be sure to tell your doctor about the treatments you tried before during an acute episode and how well (or not) they worked. . worked for you.
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With treatment, gout flares usually clear up within a few days, Dr. Saag says. If you don’t treat it, you can deal with it for a week to two weeks.
While taking medication to deal with pain and inflammation during a gout flare-up, there are several other simple gout remedies you can use to ease the discomfort. Rest is important; try to keep the affected joint higher than your heart. (For example, if your toe is a problem, elevate your foot.) Ice can also be helpful because it reduces swelling. Research shows that ice is especially soothing for gout; if you are dealing with a different type of arthritis, a heating pad may be a better choice.
Some people also say that eating cherries or drinking tart cherry juice helps with gout flare-ups. Although studies have shown that cherry lovers are more likely to develop gout, it is not clear that loading up on this fruit during an attack will make an immediate difference. Cherries may be beneficial because they are rich in antioxidants, and tart cherries may help lower uric acid levels (although more research is needed).
Although it’s possible to have an isolated gout attack, “usually once gout occurs, you need long-term treatment to manage it,” says Dr. Saag. If you don’t take regular uric acid-lowering medications or find another way to lower your uric acid levels—cutting down on alcohol, losing weight, and cutting down on purine foods can make a difference—over time, you’re more likely to develop uric acid. experience shorter intervals between gout flares, he explains. “Gout eventually turns into chronic arthritis, and it can be very disabling.”
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Join a patient-centered research registry and track symptoms like flare-ups and pain. Learn more and register here.
Is a digital community for millions of arthritis patients and caregivers worldwide seeking patient-centered education, support, advocacy, and research. We represent patients through popular social media channels, our website and a 50-state Network of approximately 1,500 trained volunteer patients, caregivers and health care activists. While there are several legitimate gout home remedies out there, prescription medications remain the mainstay of gout treatment.
Anyone who has experienced a gout attack knows that it can be excruciating and cause red, hot, painful, and swollen joints. Gout, a form of arthritis, commonly affects the joints in the feet, ankles, or legs
