Helpful Tips for Gout Sufferers

If you or someone you know suffers from gout, you may be looking for sources to help relieve your pain and get back on your feet. You may receive many gout helpful tips from well-meaning friends and family and sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.

Some of the best tips are gout prevention tips that can stop attacks from even coming on.  If you’re in the middle of a painful flare, it may be too late for prevention, an gout can even hit you overnight. Since gout is a very painful disease and sets in with the worst pain you have ever felt, it helps to have tips available to lower pain quickly.

What to Do when Gout Pain Hits

People at risk for gout need to take good care of themselves before they even experience a gout attack. If you already have gout, using these gout helpful tips can reduce your pain and inflammation faster:

• Drink plenty of water – Increasing your water consumption from 8 to 12 glasses daily can help flush out excess uric acid from your system. It will also help with you overall general health and keep your immune system and organs working properly.
• Eat properly – Eating the right foods and avoiding foods that raise uric acid levels is important to bring gout under control. Try not to eat too many foods that are high in purines like red meat and organ meat. Try to increase your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, especially those with vitamin C.
• Try not to drink alcohol – Beer is especially high in purines and can cause gout flares. All alcohol can make gout pain worse, but large amounts of beer consumption will prevent your gout from healing. One 5 ounce glass of wine daily may be acceptable.
• Get exercise – If you already exercise, keep your normal routine going if you can tolerate it. If you don’t exercise, start with some gentle stretches or walking at an easy pace as soon as you can tolerate activity. This will help loosen your joints and keep them mobile.
• Eat more fruit – Cherries have a natural anti-inflammatory property and are actually low in sugar. Try eating a few handfuls of cherries every day. Increase your intake of vitamin C fruits to help breakdown uric acid crystals in the body. Berries are also good for gout.
• Lose weight or maintain your current weight – Being overweight increases your risk of gout attacks. It can also put extra strain on your tender painful joints. Keep your weight within a healthy BMI range to help recover faster.
• Keep in touch with your doctor – If you think you have gout, get diagnosed by your doctor first. Then you can discuss different gout treatments and alternative therapies to help you feel better. You should also go over all of your medications with your doctor to see if any can cause gout attacks.

When it comes to gout attacks, preventing them is always best, and the above gout helpful tips can reduce your chances of getting gout or help you heal from an acute attack.