Gout is a frequently encountered bone and joint disease found in older people. It is caused by excessive consumption of certain types of protein. This protein is broken down into uric acid that accumulates in the joints, leading to acute inflammation in the joints or surrounding tissues. When gout occurs, the patient often already has had elevated blood uric acid levels over a long period of time, usually over a period of 20 years or more. In particular, the higher the uric acid levels, the greater the incidence of the disease and the faster the symptoms will develop. This disease is about 10 times more prevalent in men than women. However, after menopause, the rate of this disease increases in women when compared to men.
Symptoms
Joint inflammation usually occurs in the first time in men older than 30 years with the average being about 40-60 years. In women, symptoms often develop after menopause. At first, inflammation usually affects just 1-2 joints. The inflammation will occur severely and acutely with joint pain reaching the highest level of joint inflammation within 24 hours. Most of the time, the disease affects 1 joint at a time, and frequently affected joints include the bases of the big toes, ankles, joints at the middle of the feet, knees, fingers, joints at the middle of the hands, wrists and elbows. Without treatment or with improper treatment, the number of inflamed joints will continue to increase, affecting the wrists, fingers and elbows, and the inflammation will increase in severity, frequency and duration until eventually become chronic inflammation that never fully heals.
Foods to Eat
• Elderly people afflicted by gout can eat an unlimited amount of low-purine foods such as milk, eggs, grains, fresh vegetables and fruits.
• A small amount of foods containing a moderate amount of purine can also be eaten (if the total amount consumed does not exceed 100 grams per day) such as meats like pork, lean beef, red bass, cuttlefish, crabs, soy, oats and legumes such as peas, bitter bean, cabbage and spinach.
Foods to Avoid
• Poultry such as ducks and chicken, organs, hearts, pancreas, kidney, brain fat from fish, for example, catfishes, Spanish mackerel, anchovies, sardines, fish eggs, shrimps, mussels and shrimp paste.
• Vegetables, e.g., mushrooms, acacia, climbing wattle, senna and bamboo shoots.
• Legumes such as red beans, edamame, green beans and soybeans.
• Beers, yeast bread and bone broth.
Diseases Commonly Encountered with Gout
• Obesity.
• Diabetes.
• High blood lipid levels or high cholesterol, especially high triglyceride levels, which is present in 80% of all gout patients.
• Hypertension.
• Atherosclerosis.
• Lead poisoning.
• Chronic kidney disease. Significantly diminished kidney function is a risk factor for elevated uric acid levels, since it decreases the body’s ability to remove uric acid by the urine. As a result, gout patients who experience worsening kidney function have even higher levels of uric acid. Up to 10% of gout patients die due to kidney failure.
• Blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia and myeloproliferative disease.
• Some blood disorders such as cancer, especially lymphomas. Chemotherapy also rapidly destroys cells, leading to very high blood uric acid levels. This causes gout, arthritis and kidney stones, and uric acid itself can block the many small channels in the kidney tissues, thus causing kidney failure.
Contributing Factors to Joint Inflammation or Delayed Healing from Joint Inflammation
These factors include exposure to certain drugs such as uric-acid-reducing drugs, diuretics, aspirin, etc. Therefore, you should not start these medications or change them while experiencing joint inflammation, since doing so can worsen symptoms or delay healing. Meanwhile, other factors include joint injuries, joint massages, alcohol consumption, surgery, blood loss, dehydration and infection.
Treatment
1. Use of anti-inflammatory drugs during the acute stage.
2. Uric-acid-reducing drugs are prescribed in cases with high uric acid levels after acute inflammation has already been treated.
3. Avoid consumption of foods that contain high levels of uric acid and instead consume foods with low uric acid levels.
