Struggling with Gout; Remedies and Prevention

My first experience with gout was in the Philippines where I stay yearly to escape Virginia’s dreary winters. I usually ate fish and fruits and I managed to lose some weight due to having more exercise and eating a lower carbohydrate diet. At first I thought it was my shoes that were causing for my foot pain, but replacing them didn’t solve the problem. The pain in my foot returned and worsened each year. My doctor diagnosed me with having inadequate arch support and gave me inserts for my shoes. After that, whenever I had an attack I assumed I was not being good enough about wearing my arch support. It never occurred to me that I had gout.

After moving to Baguio, my foot pain occurrence became more frequent. I learned that many people in Baguio got similar symptoms and they said it was gout. After researching about the ailment, I got convinced that my painful foot episodes were the result of gout attacks. Just to be really sure, I took a blood examination and confirmed that there's a high levels of uric acid present in my blood.

As you may now know, gout is caused by high levels of uric acid in the blood that forms crystals, usually in or near joints. Hands and feet are the most common place that these crystals form and in my case, they formed next to my big toe which makes walking almost impossible for me. The long thin crystals act like blades and cut into the bone and tissue which make even a slight touch on the spot can cause intense pain. And because uric acid is not very soluble in water, it is difficult to get the crystals to dissolve. Frequent attacks can cause long term damage to the joints and tissue.

The prevalence of gout meant that everyone had a lot of sympathy for me that they recommend their favorite remedy for the problem. Some recommendations were very helpful.