Gout Symptoms - Get Ankle Pain Relief Using Plain Water
By: John Cielo
Submitted: 2011-01-20 05:45:50 | Word Count: 472
Gout symptoms can appear in the ankle or any other joint, including the big toe. Gout in the ankle can be particularly painful. And because your ankle takes much of your weight when standing and walking, gout ankle symptoms can severely limit your ability to get around.
Gout symptoms in the ankle, toe, knee, etc., are things like swelling, redness, stiffness, inflammation and intense pain.
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So what causes painful gout symptoms in the ankle and elsewhere? The symptoms of gout are actually the result of having needle-like crystals in your joints and surrounding tissue. These microscopic crystals form in your joints as a result of high uric acid levels in your blood. This condition occurs when your kidneys are unable to excrete excess uric acid from your body.
Uric acid is produced in your body as a result of it's normal metabolizing process. And normally your kidneys process and flush excess uric acid from your body via urine. But if your body is making too much for your kidneys to handle, or, your kidneys aren't working to their usual efficiency, then you can be left with high uric acid (hyperuricemia).
To treat the symptoms of gout your doctor will usually prescribe drugs to take care of the inflammation and pain. With particularly severe symptoms in the ankle you may get these by injection into the ankle. But although these drugs can help many people, they do have some horrible side effects such as nausea, diarrhea, stomach ulcers and bleeding, etc.
Luckily, there are many natural gout remedies, that can reduce inflammation and pain without the side effects and costs of drugs. For gout symptoms in the ankle, you can try the following home remedy...
You can relieve gout symptoms in your ankle by applying a series of hot / cold compresses. This can help to dissolve the uric acid crystals in your ankle. Apply a hot compress around your ankle for 3 minutes. Then immediately change to a cold compress for 30 seconds duration.
Repeat this for no more than 20 minutes and always end the session on a cold compress. Wait at least an hour before repeating the process.
Although this process can help to relieve the gout symptoms in your ankle, this is only good during an attack. But you need to actually prevent gout attacks from occurring in the first place, because recurring gout can leave you with permanently damaged joints and even kidney problems...
