When your big toe makes direct contact with a bedpost, it hurts. But when it is attacked by gout, you are talking serious pain. The instigator of this agony is a chemical called uric acid. When your body produces too much of the acid or your kidneys can't get rid of it fast enough, the excess crystallizes in and around your joints, most likely in the joint of your big toe. This buildup produces...

There are pain syndromes like fibromyalgia and arthritis-related disorders, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, that involve every part of the body. There are relatively mild forms of tendinitis (as in 'tennis elbow') and bursitis to crippling systemic forms, such as rheumatoid arthritis. There are forms of the disease, such as gout, which almost nobody connects with this condition, and there...

When suffering from the disorder, the pain relief gout remedies can offer can become one of the most important goals in your life. Though exercise is considered to be a great preventative for gout, it is neither a comfortable nor a practical method for relieving the discomfort that is felt at the time of an attack. Many people are lead to believe, therefore, that medications are their only...

People who suffer from gout know that they must drink a lot of water every day. There are two reasons why this is so important in gout treatment. Water dilutes uric acid, an excess of which in the body is often, but not always, the immediate cause of gout. Diluted uric acid is more likely to be expelled from the body. If it is, the body's level of uric acid falls. And if uric acid...

Most fruits and vegetables are high in potassium. Potassium regulates electrolytes in the body and has the ability to get rid of uric acid crystals from the blood. Potassium-rich fruits are bananas, avocados, apricots and cantaloupe. High-potassium vegetables include spinach, potatoes, asparagus, beets and pumpkin. Purines are mostly found in foods which are high in protein and fat...