Health Touches

One of the most venerable diseases a person can get is gout. Gout has a rich history in literature owing to the fact that for centuries, the only people who could afford to get it were wealthy. The lives of the rich and famous were more likely to get recorded in both history and literature than those of the teeming poor. Famous gout sufferers include Martin Luther, Sir Isaac Newton, and Thomas Jefferson.

While many diseases recorded in history and literature such as bilious fevers, catalepsy, chilblains, and catarrh have changed names and are understood very differently over time because of an increase in medical knowledge, nevertheless the basics of gout have been understood for a matter of centuries. Van Leeuwenhoek, who improved the microscope and was one of the first microbiologists, identified crystals of uric acid during the mid 17th century.

Gout is caused by too much uric acid in the blood. While all of us have uric acid as a component of blood, people who consume rich food and drink such as lots of meat, fat, non-diet soft drinks, and alcohol, have a higher level of uric acid. At some point, the uric acid forms crystals which lodge in the joints, such as in the big toe. These crystals have a nasty needle-like shape. Then the person suffers a great deal of pain.

A wealthy person in pain in a time where medical knowledge was none too extensive makes for an interesting if irascible character and gouty people showed up in works by the likes of Charles Dickens and even Charlie Chaplin. The stereotype of a character with gout is an overweight, older man with a very bad temper.

Nevertheless, gout has become a more equal opportunity attacker of people these days. Not only are doctors more likely to diagnose gout accurately in people no matter what their economic status is, which was not the case a hundred years ago, fast food has made rich diets available for the masses.

While gout can have a genetic component and may also be caused by diuretics, it also has a significant lifestyle component. To avoid attacks, people can cut back on their diet, including the consumption of high fructose corn syrup found in sugary soft drinks. There are medications which reduce the production of uric acid which can help also. Anti-inflammatory medications may also help, but the chief way to prevent future attacks is to change one’s eating and drinking habits.