Gout management

I know gout can be a pain (pun meant), but let’s try a simple approach to treatment before we look for complications.

Gout treatment is the heart of finding gout freedom. It must be preceded by an adequate medical diagnosis of your symptoms.

Gout treatment might be followed by adjustment to your gout diet.

So for all of you making life difficult for yourselves by worrying about your diet – stop now. We can revisit your diet once you have a good gout management plan in place.

1. Starting A Gout Management Plan

The best plan starts with good diagnosis from your doctor(s). If you have a confirmed gout diagnosis then move to the next step (2).

Gout diagnosis can be difficult for a small number of gout patients. For most people, it is very simple.

If your gout symptoms are not confirmed, see your doctor or rheumatologist as soon as possible. If the symptoms are confirmed, a more complete analysis of possible causes is useful, but not critical. If you have it, it may give you more options for gout treatment.

2. Your Gout Management Plan

Once your gout symptoms are confirmed, you need to work with your doctor to develop a good gout treatment plan.

There are several stages to gout recovery, and each stage requires clear objectives, appropriate therapy, and careful monitoring. A good Plan covers the stages of therapy for lowering uric acid, as well as pain relief likely needed during early weeks or months of starting recovery.

3. Gout Management plan Enhancement Through Diet

Many gout sufferers, as well as healthcare professionals, agree that diet has significant effect on gout in most people. Clearly, if your diet is bad by recognised nutritional standards, then it will have a bad effect on gout. Obesity, and excess animal protein, consumption can make gout worse. However, you should also be concerned about the potential risks of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

A good gout management plan, requires a thorough assessment of your diet. You might be able to improve your diet to assist both the uric acid and pain relief aspects of your gout management plan. However, diet changes on their own is not enough. You need to have good monitoring in place that is vital to a good management plan.

In the context of a good management plan, some gout patients can manage their gout solely with diet changes. But it is very easy to get it hopelessly wrong, so if you are considering gout diet improvements as a treatment option, please ensure to consult a nutritionist or dietician as well as arrange regular uric acid tests with your doctor (home uric acid test kits are also available to purchase). You may read more about diet for gout here. As always, if you have any questions I will be more than happy to reply and if you found this blog helpful please share it with others.