Knee Pain

Knee pain associated with gout that has already been diagnosed can be a very difficult problem.Many people seem to forget that gout is a form of arthritis and we are assuming that the gout sufferer has been examined by someone with the medical training to be able to discern a gout attack that is localised and another injury not related to a gout attack is causing the problem.

Some of the possible indicators that the pain is gout related are a predisposition to gout of course and no previous knee injury.Some of the signs to be aware of are swelling/deformity around the joint, the knee "throbbing" at night or when you are at rest, a sudden inability to bend the knee and even swelling and tenderness of the calf muscle area near the knee. The treatment for a gout related knee pain is the standard response to gout symptom. The sequence would normally be a medical diagnosis followed by resting the leg to try and allow the swelling to decrease as well as the use of ice packs which have been found to be highly effective. Alternatively you could try hot and cold packs to try and reduce the swelling.Some knee swelling has also been reduced with specific stretching exercise as well as icepacks. The basic problem with a localised gout attack like this which can be highly debilitating is that is up to the patient alone to decide if they will do one of several options. Lifestyle change with some form of medication, lifestyle change with no medication, or just a medical intervention without any form of lifestyle changes involved. From our own personal experience and perspective, it would be highly foolish to rely on medicine and not try and change your eating habits.Some of the chemicals used now days can end up bringing initial relief, but there just masking the underlying problem. The main forms of medicine for gout are Colchicine(avoided if you have kidney,liver or bowel diseases)followed by nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs and uricosuric medications which lower uric acid levels or even oxidase inhibitors.