Your Treatment Options for Gout

Do you have gout? This inflammatory condition affects your feet and other joints causing swelling, discomfort, redness, and pain. Gout can limit your movement and used to be something of a mystery to medicine. Thankfully, we’ve long since discovered how to effectively treat and resolve your gout problems.

At Pleasanton Arthritis and Osteoporosis Medical Center, our experienced rheumatologists specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of gout. Let Iraj Sabahi, MD, and the Pleasanton Arthritis and Osteoporosis Medical Center care team help you get free of gout attacks this winter and spring.

We treat new and existing patients with gout problems from our conveniently-located offices in Pleasanton and Turlock, California. Here’s what you should know about your options for ending your joint pain and gout-related discomfort.

What causes gout?

Gout is a type of arthritis. You can experience gout in any of your joints, but you’re most likely to have pain, redness, and swelling in your big toes, impacting your overall mobility and reducing your quality of life.

We know that the cause of gout has to do with the accumulation of urate crystals in your joints. If the levels of uric acid in your bloodstream get too high, you end up seeing the formation of excess urate crystals. This becomes a painful problem.

Uric acid is a byproduct of purines, produced naturally by your body. Your diet and exercise habits can impact the number of purines in your system. Typically, your kidneys prevent the buildup of uric acid in your bloodstream, filtering it out through your urine.

However, if your body produces too much uric acid, or your kidneys stop processing it correctly, you can end up with high levels, leading to the settling of urate crystals in your joints. The crystals irritate your tissues, causing swelling and discomfort.

Dealing with gout attacks

Your gout symptoms of severe joint pain, redness, and inflammation can appear literally overnight. Gout is often sudden-onset, developing rapidly, often in the wee hours after you’ve gone to bed. A gout attack is often worse for the first four to 12 hours, after which you may see some improvement in your severe pain. You can continue to suffer from lasting joint discomfort for days or even weeks after the peak of a gout attack.

You don’t have to live with gout attacks or symptoms. Let the team at Pleasanton Arthritis and Osteoporosis Medical Center diagnose your gout, and then start working on your customized treatment plan. After your comprehensive evaluation, including questions about your medical and family history, symptoms, and overall physical condition, we may also use blood tests or other tests like aspiration of joint fluid or dual-energy CT scans to confirm the cause of your joint pain problems.

Treatment options to relieve your gout

Several types of treatment may work to resolve your problems with gout. The team at Pleasanton Arthritis and Osteoporosis Medical Center can help you identify aspects of your lifestyle that may leave you prone to gout attacks. You might need to change your diet or target weight loss this winter and spring.

You may also need to take medications that can control your symptoms and prevent future attacks. Depending on the severity of your condition, Dr. Sabahi may recommend that you try nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including over-the-counter and stronger prescription options. Patients with gout can also take corticosteroids or colchicine to control attacks.

You could also benefit from using uricosurics to help your kidneys better process and remove uric acid from your system, or from taking xanthine oxidase inhibitors to reduce your overall uric acid production levels.

To get started on freeing yourself from gout, get in touch with the experts at Pleasanton Arthritis and Osteoporosis Medical Center today. You can book your initial consultation appointment online or call now to schedule.