Chronic gout

Chronic Gout

Probably one of the lesser known forms of gout is chronic gout. It is also one of the most unpleasant

forms.

The chronic gout stage normally will only appear after an extended

period of recurrent gout.

Chronic gout is a nearly permanent state of inflammation, redness and

pain in the affected joints.

Over time the inflammatory response becomes so frequent that

there is not enough time for one response to finish before the

next one starts.

It is well established that gout is one of the most painful conditions that

you can get.

However chronic gout leaves the gout sufferer in an almost permanent state of pain

and suffering.

This can have a serious impact on a gout sufferer's life, as even the simplest daily activities involve

severe pain

If the gout is in the lower limbs then just getting up and walking across

the room is a mission in itself.

If the elbows, wrists or hands are suffering from chronic gout then

even more simple activities become very difficult.

Chronic gout comes about when a gout sufferer has ignored the

warning signs, or has not realised that gout is a progressive disease.

As more attacks occur it becomes harder for the body to fix itself.

In the worst cases chronic gout may proceed to poly-articular gout which is a very painful gout attack affecting

several joints at once!

Let's rewind the clock a little bit.

When someone first gets gout, they will usually experience unexpected and infrequent gout attacks. These might be weeks, months or even

years apart.

Because the pain comes and goes so quickly it is easy to just suffer the

short term pain, and then just carry on with life.

However if someone who has had gout in the past makes no changes to their lifestyle then they will be even more susceptible to future

gout problems.

Many of the factors which lead to gout are related to diet and exercise.

Without changing these, the conditions that cause gout remain

and the gout will get worse.

Recurrent gout attacks are the next stage of gout. With recurrent gout, the attacks come more frequently

and begin to stay for longer.

By now the affected joints are very irritated and regularly inflamed, and

it might take only the slightest trigger to set off a gout attack.

Someone with recurrent gout really needs to take a very good look at what is causing their gout, and do

something about it.

Once recurrent gout attacks are occuring so frequently that the body cannot recover, it becomes chronic gout.

The sufferer is in almost permanent pain from their gout, and life is

miserable.

By now the gout may be present in more than one joint at a time, and both upper and lower limbs can be

affected at the same time.

Life becomes very difficult when every movement involves pain.

Especially pain of the sort that a sufferer of chronic gout experiences.

There is an even more advanced stage of gout, called

tophaceous gout.

Urate crystals start to clump together and form lumps under the

skin called tophi. These can be as large as eggs!

Essentially there is nowhere left for the urate crystals to go so they begin

to lump together.

The hands and fingers are common areas for the formation of tophi, but

they are also found in the ears.

If you are a gout sufferer in oneof the early stages of gout

then take heed.

Unless you start to look after yourself things are sure

to get worse.

Gout is not something to be messed with, and if you have already started to suffer from chronic gout then you

need to do something about it.

Now!