Gout is well known for its effect on the joints. In particular the big toe joint is commonly the first affected area, but of course gout pain can be present in other joints including the wrists, elbows, fingers, knees and ankles. But often overlooked are the other potential health issues associated with gout pain, which can include reduced cardio-vascular health, unhealthy weight, and even depression.
There are two reasons why these health problems may also be occurring in the gout patient.
1) Gout is often the result of underlying poor health
Scientists have shown that there is a correlation between body weight and serum urate concentration, and some studies have indicated that in fact body weight is the most important determinant of the serum urate concentration. In plain English - the fatter you are the higher the concentration of urate in the body and the higher the likelihood of having issues with gout pain.
While uric acid and foods containing purines are often blamed for gout directly, the gout itself is more likely to be the manifestation of a whole lot of other underlying health issues that need to be corrected in the first place.
2) Ongoing joint issues directly impact on your ability to stay healthy
In some cases gout can become much more a part of your daily life than just the occasional attack now and then. Once the uric acid levels build up in the joints, ongoing pain and stiffness will become more and more problematic. This may not even be showing the symptoms of a standard "gout attack" but rather it can just present as ongoing nagging pain with the occasional flare-up.
If the joints affected are the weight-bearing joints (hips, knees, ankles, toes) then the gout sufferer's ability to move freely is compromised. Any time these joints are in pain, it becomes a significant effort to do things that should be simple. Such as walking, or playing with your children, or doing your favorite form of exercise.
So you are in a bind. Your health is not the best (otherwise the chances are that you wouldn't have gout in the first place), and your ability to exercise in order to improve your health is severely diminished or curtailed. You can finish up in an endless spiral where you can't exercise to improve your health, which leads to worsening issues with the gout pain, which lessens your ability to exercise... and so on and so on.
Eventually for some people this can lead to increased lethargy, and perhaps even giving up on every being 100% again. Depression can also become a factor, when there is no end in sight.
The best solution...
Many people with gout will only worry about it when they are actually having a gout attack. However the problem is much bigger than dealing with the occasional sore foot!
The only way to solve the problem is to break the gout cycle. If you are just experiencing the occasional gout problem and just living with it... be very wary. You may not realize it yet, but you are probably entering the cycle and well on your way to some pretty serious problems. If you are already in the grip of the cycle, you have to do something about it now. If exercise is out then change one of the other factors. Improve your diet, cut back on alcohol, something, anything to reverse the trend.
The best solution - the only solution - to your gout problems is to look after your overall health. Get that right, and your issues with gout will naturally diminish. Eat the right foods, avoid the wrong foods, lose the excess weight (the chief determinant of the serum urate concentration), exercise more often, and kiss the gout goodbye!
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