Gout is very painful and debilitating and can have you hobbling around like an 80 year old. Lately, holistic alternatives to medications have become very popular since many people are lacking health insurance. I have listed good and bad foods below to assist you in your healing.This information is not meant to diagnose and if the problem persists please consider seeing a doctor for a diagnosis.
What is Gout?
Gout is a form of arthritis and similar to fibromyalgia in many aspects. Weather changes have an influence on body pains and when barometric pressure plunges and humidity rises those that are prone to gout and fibromyalgia have flare ups. People with gout cannot break down the amount of uric acid entering into their bodies and so the acid crystallizes in their joints. A kidney issue may exist that does not allow the body to process all the uric acid coming into it, reduce the uric acid and you will reduce the pain. Purines are the chemicals in food that are metabolized by the body and broken down into uric acid. Deleting the foods high in purines from your diet is the logical course of action to take.
What Foods Should be Avoided?
Avoiding the following foods known to be high in uric acid can stop a debilitating gout attack, vegetables like asparagus, legumes (beans), spinach and mushrooms are high in uric acids. Organ meats like liver, kidneys, heart, sweetbreads and tongue. Some sea foods are also to be avoided like scallops, shrimp, anchovies, mussels, mackerel, sardines, herring also red meats, alcohol and soft drinks.
Foods and Drink low in Uric Acids
Drinking 8 to 10 glass's of water a day will help to dilute and flush excess uric acids from the body. Increasing your dairy intake and foods high in potassium or taking a potassium supplement can also assist in pain reduction. Black cherries and blueberries or their juices can be very helpful and can be found in health food stores. Some grocery stores are selling organics and will also carry the juices. Pineapple juice has bromelain in it and it is a natural anti-inflammatory, you can also pick it up as a supplement in capsule form. Balancing your ph levels also helps, you can do this by drinking natural lemon juice.
Herbs and Folk Remedies for Gout Pain
Apple cider vinegar is a natural ph balancer, if the body's ph is balanced everything flows better, combining it with clover honey and water to taste and drinking it once a day can balance the ph easily. Once broken down, uric acids are dissolved and excreted through the kidneys. Lemon juice does the same thing as acv as far as balancing the ph. Natural fruits, like strawberries and grapes and the herbs, hydrangea and parsley, that are diuretics are also good for dissolving and excreting the uric acids.
Topical Liniments
DMSO (dimethylsulfoxide) is effective when applied to the problem area but leaves a rather unpleasant taste in the mouth, because DMSO quickly enters the blood stream and leaves the taste, it is doubtful that a double blind study will ever occur to obtain FDA approval. In Florida it is only available at feed stores and is very effective on horses and dog arthritis. A liniment that soaks into the joints and works well is "Workout Liniment" and is available online. See Resources below. Another less effective one is absorbine jr and it is available at many stores.
MSM and Homeopathics
MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane) is sulfur and is available in liquid, powder and capsules. Sulfur can be bought in homeopathic form and many companies make a gout formula. When dealing with herbs, those in liquid, capsules and powder will enter the body quicker and with less waste making them the preferred choice of many practitioners. The least preferred form is compressed tablets, the problem is the wax coating is very hard for the body to dissolve and most of the product never makes it into your system before being eliminated. Sulfur is very good if the joint is really itchy and burning and flares up in damp weather.
Acupressure Points
EFT (emotional freedom technique) is meridian therapy that reprograms the body and can be effective on gout when you focus tapping on the kidney meridian (orange dot). Tapping both sides of the body at the same time can bring the meridian into alignment. A routine is available below, just replace the snake phobia with gout information and focus extra tapping on the kidney spot. See Resources below.
Tags: uric acid, uric acids, broken down, foods high, Gout Pain