Gout is an affection of the joints and can be found in millions of people. Gout may be the most encountered kind of arthritis, and it manifests as an attack that generally appears at night . The joint that is affected by the gout attack is the one that is found in one of the big toes in most cases, (the big toe's ball) but gout can affect one of the joints from the ankles too. Untreated gout can start to appear very often and they will spread to several other joints. In this situation treatment is required, because gout can become chronic gout and cripple the joints.

Gout appears at people who have an abundance of uric acid in their body. Uric acid is created from the food that is digested and broken down into its basic elements which are absorbed by the body. Sometimes there is an overload of uric acid in the blood. This uric acid starts to crystallize in the joints and causes irritation and inflammation and soon, gout occurs.

Consequently, the cause of gout is an enormous amount of uric acid in the blood. But what causes the level of uric acid found in the blood to raise above the normal limit? Well this could be caused by obesity , certain types of medication, or an over indulgence of alcohol.

What's the best way to know how to treat gout?

If you want to treat gout then you need to reduce the levels of uric acid in the blood. You can achieve this by changing your diet so that it doesn't contain the types of food that have purines, substances that raises the uric acid level. Red meat, peas, liver and shellfish are foods that have a lot of purines in them. So you should eat very little, or avoid eating any of the mentioned above.

Medication is available that can lower the amount of uric acid from the body but unless the doctor tells you to, don't take any of this type of medication.

If you have been afflicted with a gout attack visit your doctor soon and take his advice. You will be given some pills that you need to take every day and you will need to change the types of food you eat to lower the uric acid from the blood. If you do so you won't have any problems with gout again .