What causes a gout attack?

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Whether it’s your first or tenth attack, the symptoms of gout can be painful and stop you from doing the things you enjoy. Sometimes, the attack will be mild and settle within a day or two. When the attack is more severe, you might want to consider medical treatment for gout.

What triggers gout attacks?

Gout causes intense pain, and a trigger usually causes the attack.

By understanding the fluids, medications, and foods that cause gout, you can control the frequency of your flare-ups. In some cases, avoiding one product can be enough to put years between gout attacks.

Unfortunately, the list of things that can cause gout is quite long. You may need to conduct some trial and error until you discover which is responsible for your flare-ups. 1

If you can, avoiding all gout-triggering foods and other products might be best. It’s much easier and less painful to prevent gout than to seek gout treatment.

With that, let’s look at what causes gout in foot.

Alcohol

Gout attacks are caused by a build-up of uric acid. Normally, the kidneys work to eliminate uric acid from the body. When a person drinks alcohol, the kidneys have to work to remove alcohol from the body, which allows uric acid levels to increase.

Though all types of alcohol can prompt a gout attack, beer drinkers are especially vulnerable. Beer contains purines, which turn into uric acid once inside your body.

Avoiding alcohol altogether is the best approach. If that’s not a realistic goal, then drinking plenty of water in between consuming alcoholic drinks will help to support your kidneys.

Food Products

Purines are found in many foods, though not all products that contain purines will trigger a gout attack. Vegetable purines, such as spinach, cauliflower, asparagus, and lentils, should still be eaten and enjoyed. 2

Foods to avoid that contain purines typically fall into the meat and fish categories.

Meats:

Bacon
Duck
Turkey
Pork
Veal

Fish:

Cod
Anchovies
Mussels
Sardines
Shellfish

A low purine diet is your first defence against a gout attack. Plus, going purine-free allows you to improve your all-around health, which should have a knock-on effect on the frequency and severity of your gout attacks.

Medications

Though less common, some medications can also prompt a gout flare-up. If you’re routinely taking standard pain medication and notice an increase in your gout flare-ups, look at speaking to a doctor.

Some medications that can cause a gout attack include:

Beta-blockers
ACE inhibitors
Diuretic drugs
Aspirin

How long do gout attacks last?

There’s no set time that a gout attack can last. Most attacks last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. The most intense period is usually the first twenty-four hours, at which point the pain will begin to respond to treatment.

Most people find that gout pain subsides after a few days. More severe attacks may take longer. Even if the gout attack was relatively mild, the joint can retain some stiffness for weeks after.

Not all gout attacks are the same. Some can be intensely painful, while others just bring mild stiffness. Regardless of the pain level, it’s important to seek treatment for gout disease. By actively managing your approach to gout, you can ensure that the frequency and severity of flare-ups decrease.

Gout risk factors

Gout can affect anyone, both men and women. However, it’s more common in men, who tend to have their first attack as they approach middle age. For women, gout usually develops during menopause.

According to the gout NHS page, you’ll be more likely to get gout if it runs in your family. It’s also more likely if you:

Drink alcohol
Are overweight
Take certain medications
Have diabetes, high blood pressure, or kidney-related conditions.
Experience an injury around the affected joint 3

These are the common risk factors, but it’s sometimes possible to develop gout even if you don’t meet any of these criteria. If you suspect that you may have gout, speak to a healthcare professional who will be able to diagnose the condition and create a treatment plan, which may include taking gout medication.

How to prevent gout attacks

If you know the answer to the question, ‘What does gout feel like,’ then you’ll know that it’s a painful experience you don’t want to repeat. The good news is that there are steps you can take to prevent gout attacks. As with most medical-related issues, preventing gout is much easier than treating gout.

The most effective change is to review and adapt your diet to be more gout-friendly. In the section below, we’ll discuss the foods to avoid and the foods you should eat.

In addition to diet, you can adopt other lifestyle changes that should make a difference. For instance, it’s recommended to regularly engage in physical activity. Not only will this help to keep your weight under control, but studies have also shown that gentle exercise can help to lower uric acid in the body.

Exercise through low-impact activities like cycling and swimming. An injury to a joint can increase the likelihood of a gout attack and make symptoms worse. When you notice a gout flare-up, stop exercising until the flare-up has passed.

Foods to avoid with gout

As we’ve said, certain foods can increase the likelihood of an attack. The main products you should avoid consuming contain purines since they’re turned into uric acid once in your body.

Alcohol, red meat, organ meat, and shellfish all contain purines. We also recommend avoiding sugary drinks and juices that contain naturally occurring sugar.

There are foods that can help in the management of gout. Most experts recommend following a healthy diet of plant-based ingredients, such as lentils and beans. Vegetables and whole grains should also form part of your diet. Other products that can be good for gout include:

Chicken
Citrus fruits
Coffee
Cherries

Try to drink as much water as you can. Dehydration is a significant cause of gout. Furthermore, water can help your body flush out uric acid before reaching gout-attack levels.

How is gout treated?

If you’ve developed gout, we recommend you speak to our team. We can offer a range of treatment methods, including prescription-strength gout medicines during an attack. In the section below, we’ll outline the most common gout medications.

You can support the effectiveness of any gout medication by managing the attack yourself at home(4). Some handy steps to take include:

Drinking a lot of water
Avoiding putting weight on the affected joint
Elevating the joint to above heart level. For instance, if you have an attack in your foot, you may lie down and rest your foot at elevation on a pillow
Placing your foot in an ice bath or using an ice pack for up to 15 minutes can help to decrease swelling
Exposing the joint to heat can help to break up the uric acid crystals. For instance, taking a hot bath, visiting a sauna/steam room, or soaking your foot in warm water

Prescription-strength gout medicines

Our expert clinical team offer short courses of prescription-strength gout medicines. Our two primary medications are Colchicine and Indometacin.

Colchicine

Colchicine helps to break up uric acid that has built up around the affected joint during a gout attack. It’s an anti-inflammatory, which helps reduce pain.

It’s best to take colchicine as soon as you notice a gout flare-up. At Oxford Online Pharmacy, we can prescribe 12 x 500 mg Colchicine tablets following the completion of a medical consultation.

Indometacin

Indometacin, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, helps to reduce stiffness and pain during gout attacks. Following a brief online consultation, you can request 25mg or 50mg Indometacin tablets at Oxford Online Pharmacy.

References

WebMD [Internet]. [cited 2024 Jul]. Know Your Gout Triggers.
Restivo J. Harvard Health. 2023 [cited 2024 Jul]. 6 Strategies for Living with Gout.
nhs.uk [Internet]. [cited 2024 Jul]. Gout.
Cleveland Clinic [Internet]. [cited 2024 Jul 20]. Gout.