GOUT: My Personal Discoveries - Part I

GOUT is the most painful form of arthritis when too much uric acid builds up in the body. The first symptoms of gout pain are at your joints, normally your toe becomes very sore, red, warm to the touch, and becomes swollen. This is due to sharp needle-like uric acid crystallizing or depositing in your joints commonly at the toe (my hypothesis to dissolve or dilute uric acid concentration, see the hypothesis in Part II, coming soon). If you are unlucky, you can get kidney stones from uric acid crystals in your kidneys.

Chemistry view point of uric acid (7,9-dihydro-1H-purine-2,6,8(3H)-trione OR 2,6,8 Trioxypurine)

Uric acid (or urate) is a heterocyclic compound of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen with the formula C₅H₄N₄O₃, 168 g/mol, white crystals, 1.87 g/mL, slightly soluble in water, and acidity of 5.8.

Gout Attack

Early gout attacks usually get better within 3 to 10 days, and even without treatment BUT can become more severe and the next attack may not occur for months or even years. You are likely to have gout if you:-

• Have family members with the disease
• Are a man (woman less than 5%)
• Are overweight
• stress
• Eat too many foods rich in purines
• Have an enzyme defect that makes it hard for the body to break down purines
• Use some medicines such as diuretics, aspirin, cyclosporine, or levodopa
• Take the vitamin niacin.

How Doctors treat Gout

Doctors use medicines to treat an acute attack of gout

• Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
• Corticosteroids, such as prednisone
• Colchicine, which works best when taken within the first 12 hours of an acute attack.

The doctor will prescribe

• allopurinol
• (brand names Aloprim and Zyloprim) is a drug that belongs to a class of medications called xanthine oxidase inhibitors. Prescribed for the treatment of chronic gout and is used to prevent rather than treat gout attacks.
• The medication works by blocking uric acid production.
• papain
• a sulfhydryl protease enzyme derived from the fruit of papaya trees (Carica papaya). Papain is one of the most stable plant enzymes and is active in a wide pH range (3-11). Papain is used in a wide variety of enzymatic formulations, and as a digestive aid is sometimes called "vegetable pepsin".
• VERON plus gel
• topical treatment of inflammatory or pain conditions caused by chronic rheumatoid aethritis, degenerative arthritis and soft tissue rheumatism.