Home Remedies for Gout

Gout Home Remedies to help Eliminate Gout Pain

There are countless gout remedies that any person should be able to use at home. Some of these therapies are preventative and some of them are helpful in reducing the pain if an acute gout attack occurs.

A controversial one is using ice. My husband used to get gout and he used ice and found it was very helpful. He would lightly put the ice on for up to 20 minutes. If you decide to give ice a try, it is important that you limit the ice to 20 minutes at most to avoid frostbite. You should also place a thin towel in between the ice and your skin to avoid freezing your skin. This can cause permanent damage if you do not do this. When using ice, for gout or an injury, try to remember, 20 minutes on, 40 minutes off.

While some people suggest ice, others do not. The reason for this is that cool temperatures can help crystallize the uric acid. This is something we are trying to avoid. Again, the ice will provide some relief, but there is the possibility of future attacks.

Weight loss

Most people with gout tend to be overweight. This double whammy can be due to overweight people eating foods that cause gout and increase weight. Examples would be hamburgers, hot dogs, and bacon. By reducing these types of foods you should lose or at least maintain your weight. This should also help your kidneys not to be overworked which your kidneys are a major factor in whether you can get rid of uric acid properly or not. So anything that is good for kidney health is something you should consider.

Drink Plenty of Water

Speaking of kidney health, it is very important to drink plenty of water in order to maintain healthy kidneys. Kidneys help get rid of excess urates which will help reduce your chances of getting gout. This is the ultimate in home remedies for gout because anyone can drink plenty of water. Many gout patients though are addicted to sodas and need to wean themselves off of sodas as they dehydrate you, thus raising your uric acid concentration and also raising your risk for a gouty episode.

NSAIDs

If you do get a gout attack, you can attack your gout symptoms while at home without taking prescriped medicine. One way is to take an anti-inflammatory such as Aleve (my husband's favorite choice), ibuprofen, or Motrin. Either one works well. Avoid aspirin as this can actually make your gout attack worse. If you must take aspirin due to physicians orders due to heart disease, you may need to take prescriptions. Ask your doctor what should work best for your situation.

Regular exercise

Exercising regularly helps keep your joints in shape and helps reduce weight which are two important factors in keeping gout at bay. Joint health is achieved by helping the collagen eliminate harmful byproducts and this can be accomplished by regular exercise. After seeing your doctor to determine your ability of what type of exercise is safe for your health condition, you should aim to start slow and avoid exercise that creates hard pounding on your joints, such as jogging and aerobics. Swimming is very good for your joints and is one my husband does to help improve his health.

Other natural gout remedies people have used are apple cider vinegar. I have heard people say this has helped them, while others claim there is no scientific evidence this works. The jury is out. Give it a try and see for yourself. It is not harmful for you to do so. It may give you pain relief. You can usually get a good apple cider vinegar at a natural health food store.

As you can see most of these ideas are fairly simple to implement and is based on living a basic healthy lifestyle. If you go slowly you should see the best results. If you do try and do too much, you probably will get a gout attack as you will throw off the percentage of uric acid levels in your body until your body gets used to it's new weight.

Using these therapies a long with herbal gout remedies can not only help ease your pain, they can also help you reduce your uric acid levels and reduce the chances of future gout attacks.

Trish

Natural Remedies for Gout

Grapes are one of many excellent natural remedies for gout. They are very effective at helping to lessen the severity of your gout symptoms. When mixed together with other great remedies, they have a cumulative effect and can help you either reduce the frequency of or actually help you get rid of gout in the long run.

Grapes have several ways they contribute in treating gout. These include quercitin, water, potassium, vitamin C, and anthocyanins. One of the ways grapes treat this disease is with quercitin. Quercitin is a very strong flavonoid. They help fix the main painful gout symptom, inflammation. Flavonoids are considered to be very effective at reducing swelling.
When too many uric acid crystals settle in your joints they cause irritation and inflammation. Quericitin helps fight this problem. This helpful flavonoid can be purchased as a supplement.

Grapes are useful for helping gout due to their high water content. Getting adequate amounts of water in your body helps your body to work more properly. This treats gout by enabling you to get rid of extra uric acid crystals which would otherwise settle in your joints causing you great pain.

Potassium is another way grapes are a great natural gout remedies. Potassium helps your kidneys to excrete uric acidmore easily. Grapes contain approximately 190mg of potassium a serving (100g). One serving will give you around 5% of your daily allowance so grapes alone will not give you enough potassium. Many other fruits such as cantaloupes and peaches contain potassium, so eating plenty of fruits will help you treat gout.

Grapes are able to assist in reducing or eliminating gout pain because they are filled with vitamin C. Grapes consist of approximately 20% of your daily needs for this potent vitamin. Vitamin C is very effective at fighting this arthritic condition. One study discovered taking Vitamin C during a 2 month period reduced uric acid levels by around 10 percent. They found vitamin C helps prevent purines from turning into uric acid. Being able to control your uric acid is very important because most gout patients are unable to keep their levels under control.

Anthocyanins are another reason grapes are great gout remedies. Anthocyanins are flavonoids and help control swelling. Does the color of the grape make a difference? Some would say yes. The higher the anthocyanins found in the grape, the more beneficial the grapes are in reducing swelling. Darker grapes would be better as they contain greater amounts of anthocyanins.

Grapes are not the only way to treating gout. However, they are a big part of treating it. Other fruits should be added to your dietary plan so you get a well balanced variety in your natural remedies for gout plan.