Picture
Gout is a very debilitating illness in humanity. According to statistics from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, about 8 million Americans are suffering from gout and more people are victims across the globe. How is gout defined? Gout is the overproduction and accumulation of uric acid in the body resulting in an acute inflammatory joint pains commonly involving the big toe. Gout will emerge as a result of excessive accumulation of uric acid in the bloodstream and it happens because the kidney excreted less uric acid than normal and overproduction of uric acid in the bloodstream.

The kidneys are the ones responsible for filtering the urine and if they cannot excrete uric acid, it can accumulate in the blood leading to a condition called hyperuricemia. When there is too much uric acid in the blood, some of them will crystallize and deposit in the soft tissues of the body and even in joints. Gout pain is the result of these uric crystals. There are pain medications that you can take like Aspirin and NSAIDS. Pain relievers are good but preventing attacks is better than cure so there are medications available to prevent the occurrence of gout.

There are a variety of medications that helps prevent the occurrence of gout through lowering levels of uric acid in the bloodstream. Here is the list of medications for gout prevention.

List of medications to prevent gout attacks

Allopurinol

Allopurinol is the most well known medication to avoid gout attacks and most patients are well-versed with this medication. It works by lowering the uric acid levels in the body. It can also be used by individuals suffering from urate stones in the kidneys and even kidney disease.

Probenecid

It works like allopurinol and is used the same way. It can lower the level of uric acid but not as effective as allopurinol.

Febuxostat

This is used because it can inhibit the absorption and uptake of purines that can strip off uric acid from its source. It is becoming known as a substitute for allopurinol.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C has gradually gained its place in gout prevention over the years. In a study in 2009 wherein they studied the effects of Vitamin C on gout, it was revealed that Vitamin C is a very good daily vitamin to prevent gout attacks. As a matter of fact, they discovered that when people have higher intake of Vitamin C in diet and supplements such as Bactrim, they can have 40 - 45% of lowered gout attack risk.

As most physicians say, it is better to avoid and prevent an illness rather than curing it. When gout pain reaches its peak, it is very hard to relieve the pain so it's better to prevent its occurrence.


    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    December 2013

    Categories

    All