Home Remedies For Gout

Home remedies for gout. Most of middle aged women and men know the symptoms of gout - swollen joint, redness, burning pain and inability to put weight or wear a shoe. It affects men a lot more than women, the reason behind this unknown .One can use home remedies and diet changes to manage gout pain.

Most people don't know what gout is until they get its first symptoms. The image below brilliantly describes gout pain. It usually starts with mild tingling in a joint. In most cases, it is the big toe joint, the knee joint, ankle or any other finger. Then there is a sharp, burning pain. It is intense and enough to prevent sleep. Pain worsens as the skin swells and becomes more inflamed. After a few hours of torment, it subsides. This can keep going for 5 days or so.

There are two objectives of home remedies for gout.

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But, what is gout anyway ?

Gout is caused by deposition of  sharp uric acid crystals in between the joints which leads to a severe inflammation. Your joint feels like it is resting on a cushion strewn with needles. Gout pains in the form of attacks. They usually strike at night and may easily last for 2 hours or more, causing immense pain. The immediate reaction of everybody is to get pain relief. However, temporary pain relief methods may not get over this condition ( in the long run ) and one also has to incorporate diet changes to eliminate gout.

Home remedies for immediate gout pain relief

 As soon as you experience pain in the joint, use one of these remedies to curb the pain.

1. Epsom Salt Bath
If you have Epsom salt at home, it forms a helpful remedy for relieving gouty pain.

" If you do not have Epsom Salt, then do this with any other salt. That would also help, albeit less than Epsom salt. But sometimes, you just don't have the things needed. "

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2. Cold leaf bandage
Take a large leaf of cabbage and cool it in the freezer. Then, apply it over the joint. Tie it in place using a bandage. Since gout pain is often in feet, it is easy to tie the bandage. Keep replacing the leaves after some time, like 2 hours.
Cabbage leaf works brilliantly at lowering swelling and pooled blood in a region. Due to pounding inflammation and burning sensation, lots of blood reaches the spot and may get engorged. There is dilation of blood vessels and increased sensation of pain. Cabbage leaf takes care of all of that.

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3. Juniper essential oil 
Mix this oil in olive oil. Use only a few drops as this is an essential oil. Apply it over the skin before sleeping at night. It should prevent the pain from showing up.
Juniper is  traditional remedy for gout and it can even cure gout in a specific place.

Ground juniper berries can be added to bathwater to create a gout relieving bath. If you have gout in the big toe, then you can prepare this in a small vessel and do the treatment only at the toe.

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4. Castor Oil
Get a thick cotton cloth and some castor oil. Make sure the oil is pure, i.e. organic and cold pressed. Warm the castor oil gently, till it is slightly more than the skin temperature. Pour some over the cotton cloth. Now, place this cloth on your affected joint. Wrap it with some other cloth and keep it there all night.

Castor oil is good at relieving swelling and redness. By the morning, some of the redness should be resolved.

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5. Mustard Paste 
Ground some mustard , add water to create a paste. Splash this paste on the gouty joint. It should be thick and cool in temperature. Keep it overnight if you wish. This helps in reducing the pain in an attack.



6. Activated Charcoal Foot Bath
Take an old tub or any other vessel which can hold enough water to submerge the painful joint. Heat some water till it is comfortably hot. Then pour this water in the vessel. Add 1/2 to 1 cup activated charcoal in this water and stir it fast. Then put the gouty joint in this water and keep for 30 minutes. Afterwards, clean the leg with some plain water.
Why it works ?
Activated Charcoal has the ability to draw out uric acid from the joints through adsorption process. It is not very effective, but sufficient enough to reduce gout pain during an attack.


Point to note : The charcoal that you buy must be activated charcoal. It is specially treated charcoal which has very high surface area and brilliant cleansing properties. This form of charcoal is used in medicine and for industrial purposes.


Home remedies for gout pain in the long run 
These remedies may not be able to help with your pain instantly, but they certainly help in preventing further attacks by curing the root cause of problem. Gout is cause by uric acid crystals which inflame synovial fluids in joints.
Uric acid is an acid which should be eliminated by kidneys. If this work is not accomplished well, gout results. You see, gout doesn't form so quickly. It takes years for this to result. However, on the bright side, it can relieved as quickly as a month.

Use these remedies to flush out uric acid from the joint fluid fast.

1. Eat lots of cherries
This is advised by numerous people worldwide and is perhaps the best working. It is simple and very easy to do. Always keep a reserve of cherries in your refrigerator, so that you never fall short of cherries. Keep eating them daily.
Eat a handful of cherries few times a day. Better to spread them along the course of a day rather than taking them all at once.
Why it works ?
Cherries have the ability to lower uric acid levels in blood. When blood levels fall, body automatically springs back into action and dissolves out uric acid crystals which have formed in joints. Secondly, cherries have a special class of compounds called anthocyanins. These are the ones that give cherries their deep red color. Anthocyanins lower inflammation throughout the body, so that redness with gout reduces.

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2. Drink water ( It is very important )
Make it a habit to drink more water and gout may relieve slowly. Water improves the functioning of urinary system and hence helps to eliminate gout from its root cause.

How much water should you drink to relieve gout ?
8 glasses of pure water should do it. So, that should be your target. It is essential that water be pure otherwise it can worsen gout troubles.



3. Lower Intake of Fructose In Diet
You may be wondering what fructose is and how to limit it ? Fructose is a kind of natural sugar, like glucose. It can also be artificially added to foods. But, why are we so concerned about fructose ?

Fructose metabolism yields uric acid. It is a natural process. The more fructose you eat, more and more uric acid gets formed. If you eat less fructose, uric acid levels climb down.

Foods that are high in fructose -
Carbonated beverages
Packed fruit juices
Honey
Agave
Applesauce

So, eating less of these specific foods can help a lot in curing gout.

On the other hand, drinking fresh fruit juices is actually helpful for gout, even for those fruits which are naturally rich in fructose.

Fresh grapes help in gout, even though they contain fructose in high quantities.
Freshly extracted pomegranate juice is also good for gout. Apple juice contains malic acid which provides relief from gout.


4. The Special Gout Diet
In the past times, gout was believed to be caused by a diet rich in meat and an inactive lifestyle. This may only be partly true. Some people who have been regularly active too have experienced gout. This indicates that we need to dig deeper into the mechanism of gout formation. However, some research indicates that certain nutrients increase the risk of gout. One of them was fructose. The other one is "Purines" . These are found in high concentration in organ meats, fish and dairy.

The gout diet is a special restricted diet which reduces gout symptoms and may even treat it permanently.

What not to eat ?
You should not eat organ meats, like kidneys, brains etc and reduce consumption of fish. Chicken is fine and so is dairy, but reduce their frequency as well. Thoroughly check processed foods for added sugar and reduce consumption of foods which have artificial sugar in them.

Foods to eat ?
Vegetables, grains, fruits like cherries and other berries, citrus fruits, pineapples ( they are great for joint troubles as I will explain below ), lots of water, tea and lemonade.




5. Lemon Juice 3 Times A Day
Prepare a large glass ( about 300 ml ) of lemon water. It includes warm water and juice of 1 lemon. ( If you have a juicer, juice the lemons with their rind on, it is healthier ). Drink it warm and preferably on slightly empty stomach. It is the simplest and very effective way to detox. Drink this 3 times a day.

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6. Baking Soda
Drinking soda water helps in gout. It doesn't perform immediately, but after a week, one would be able to notice some improvement.




7. The Alkaline Diet
This is the concept regarding a diet consisting mostly or only of foods that leave an alkalizing effect on the body. Such a diet prevents buildup of harmful acids inside, one of them being uric acid. So, in this diet, we eat foods which are alkaline, such as -

Highly alkaline foods
Spinach
ACV ( apple cider vinegar )
Coconut water
Limes
Lemons
Pineapples
Baking Soda
Sea Vegetables

Alkaline foods
Almost all other vegetables.

Consuming a vegetable dominant diet, specially the dark leafy greens like spinach, kale, swiss chard, broccoli is great for gout.

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8. Pineapples ( for the inflamed joint )
Uric acid crystals themselves cannot cause any trouble unless the body knows there is a problem and creates inflammation. It is a natural body process to inflame a body part which is in trouble. It also serves as a sign for the person to wake up and do something about it.

Gout patients know how awful it feels to look at a red, throbbing and extremely painful joint. Pineapples are the best food for reducing inflammation  in joints. In that way, it greatly relieves arthritis as well.

Drinking 2 glasses of fresh pineapple juice for 1 week straight can start to show its effects on the inflammation. You may suffer from gout attacks, but they would be less painful and the joint less inflamed.
Within 4 weeks, there will be tremendous improvement in swelling and inflammation.



9. Eat More Bananas 
If you have been eating bananas regularly, then it is good for your gout. Eating about 6 bananas a day provides a whopping amount of potassium which helps to eliminate uric acid. Do not worry about the carbs or the weight gain, as bananas help us feel fuller so we don't each much empty calories.



Herbal remedies for gout :

Rosemary is an ancient remedy for gout. It can be taken in the form of herbal tea. 

Nicholas Culpeper, one of the most famous herbalists of all time, noted that Ground Elder is a supreme remedy for gout. Ground Elder is also commonly known the Gout herb. You can use it in this way. 

Ayurvedic remedies for gout 

Tinospora Cordifolia : This herb is a vine found in India is a herbal remedy for gout.

Peepal tree : This tree is used in making a herbal medicine for gout according to Ayurveda. 

                                  At a Glance
Cherry A easy remedy
Cabbage Leaf Helps in cooling
Water Improves body functions
Juniper Oil Use with base oil
Juniper Berry Used for herbal bath

Horseradish is an ingredient in food which also relieves gout pain. 

Gout needs to be treated as early as possible. Practically speaking, one should starts treatment as soon as first signs of gout symptoms appear. It takes a long time for the gout to resist body's healing powers and trigger an attack. If gout is left untreated for a long period of time ( years ), then it becomes chronic. The symptoms of a chronic gout are frequently recurring gout pain attacks, increasing pain in the joint even without an attack and in some people, emergence of nodule like features called tophi. This is called tophaceous gout. These tophi seem painful, but are not that painful. These are the symptoms of last stage of gout, indicating the fact that the joint is being disintegrated to a point where it cannot function. If tophaceous gout is left untreated, joint can deteriorate to such an extent that person may become unable to use that joint.

If you have been taking gout medication and gout is still not resolving, then maybe it is not gout, but pseudo gout. This is similar to gout. A test can be done to differentiate between gout and pseudo gout.

Although the symptoms are similar, pseudo gout is caused by deposition of a calcium compound.

Gout usually responds very well to home remedies. The best acting home remedies are cherry and pineapple, specially when used in combination. Adopting a gout preventive diet really goes a long way in making sure gout stays away for life.