What to do if your fingers are swollen and painful due to gout

Gout can be said to be one of the common diseases among middle-aged and elderly people. After suffering from gout, the patient's finger joints, shoulder joints, and knee joints will experience swelling and pain. In severe cases, it will seriously affect the patient's standing and walking. So, what should you do if gout causes swollen and painful fingers? If the pain is not very severe, the patient can regulate it through diet. If it is severe, drug treatment is required.

Swollen and painful fingers are not insect bites but gout

First, try to avoid eating foods rich in purine, such as seafood, animal offal, etc. The main sources of protein are milk and eggs. If it is lean meat, chicken, duck, etc., it should be boiled and then eaten with the soup removed. Avoid eating stewed meat, braised meat, or drinking broth. Eat more vegetables and fruits.

Second, drink more water and less beer. It is best to choose boiled water to promote the excretion of uric acid.

Third, avoid prolonged use of air conditioning and overwork, and stay in a good spirit.

Fourth, exercise appropriately and control your weight, because obesity can also cause increased blood lipids and uric acid. If gout attacks, seek medical attention promptly. Patients in remission should also have regular follow-up, insist on controlling blood uric acid levels, and monitor urine routine and kidney function.

remind

Do not blindly use uric acid-lowering drugs

Many patients with a history of gout have this question: Since hyperuricemia is the direct cause of gout, does elevated uric acid require uric acid-lowering treatment?

Actually, it is not. If powerful uric acid-lowering drugs are used during a gout attack, the uric acid level will drop suddenly, causing the uric acid crystals that were originally stable in the tissues or joint cavities to dissolve and release, which may induce another attack of gout or even prolong the duration of acute gouty arthritis.

Generally speaking, uric acid-lowering treatment is not recommended during the acute attack of gout. The best time for uric acid-lowering treatment is generally 2 weeks after the acute symptoms are relieved. If you have been using a stable dose of uric acid-lowering drugs for a long time, when an acute attack occurs again, there is no need to stop the original uric acid-lowering drugs. Just strengthen anti-inflammatory and analgesic treatment. Asymptomatic hyperuricemia generally does not require treatment, but uric acid-lowering drugs are only needed if there is a family history of gout, or if there are other metabolic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, or when blood uric acid levels are significantly elevated.