Saturday, May 16, 2009

Natural Home Remedies For Gout

By PJ Easton

There are home remedies for gout available if you do not want to take the recommended medication or if you can't take the medication due to complications or reactions. Some of the best home remedies are old fashioned and has been used for many years. One of the best ways to treat the inflammation involved with gout, as gout is a form of arthritis, is to use ice. Applying ice directly to the affected joint will reduce inflammation and pain in the joint.

Over the counter medication such as Tylenol, Motrin and Advil are recommended for the pain. But aspirin should not be used for those suffering from gout. The inflammation from gout is due to increased levels of uric acid in the blood. Aspirin actually causes these levels to increase even more and will only make your gout worse.

Exercising the affected joints is a good remedy and you need to work on the full range of motion for that joint. There are many exercises that can be used depending on your joint and you should do them one or two times a day depending on the severity of your gout. Soaking your gouty joint in Epsom salt is popular and will provide instantaneous relief from inflammation and pain. Epsom salts promotes healthy circulatory system and can relieve stress. Much of this is due to the minerals found in Epsom salts.

There are certain foods that can be eaten that will neutralize the uric acid found in your blood. When you notice a gout attack you can increase the amount of strawberries, nuts, seeds and grains in your diet. Cherries and cherry juice has also been used traditionally to treat gout. You can also increase the amount of water you consume to dilute the uric acid found in your blood stream.

Regular exercise is suggested to strengthen your muscles and keeping the cartilage in your joints healthy. Stretching will help your range of motion. Additionally you can change your diet to exclude foods high in purines. Purines are broken down in the body into uric acid and eat more food that will reduce inflammation.

Apple cider has been known to relieve gout symptoms and can be taken in a mixture with honey. You can also take note of the foods you eat and try to cut out foods that are high in purines. Purine rich foods produce a lot of uric acid, as purines are broken down to uric acid in the body. - 14130

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