Gout Symptoms by Severity: 3 Stages From Mild to Chronic

Any illness that is not dealt with right away will get worse. That is why symptoms should be treated as early as possible, not left until they become severe. Unfortunately, many people do not know their own bodies well, so symptoms are often ignored. Yet every disease causes symptoms; sufferers just often do not feel them. One illness that is frequently treated too late is gout. In the early stage, its symptoms often resemble those of other conditions, so patients tend to brush them off. To avoid late treatment, here are the gout symptoms by severity to watch for:

Mild Gout

Gout symptoms start at the mildest level. At this point you feel nothing and the body seems fine, even though a blood test already shows an abnormal uric acid level. Mild gout means the uric acid level in the body has passed the limit, but not by much. For example, a normal uric acid level is below 6 mg/dL, while someone with mild gout has a level of 6 mg/dL or higher, but still below 10 mg/dL. The symptom people with mild gout feel is slight pain in the joints. This joint pain is often put down to fatigue, so it often goes untreated.

Acute Gout

Mild gout that is not treated promptly leads to acute gout. Gout is a recurring disease, so the slightest lapse brings the symptoms back, and without treatment they get worse. The symptoms of acute gout are more severe than those of mild gout: the pain gets worse and comes and goes. It grows especially intense in the morning and in the evening before bed. Besides the worsening pain, the joints swell, feel hot and turn red. At this stage gout does not yet affect the sufferer's quality of life much, because they can still walk, even if they have to bear the joint pain.

Chronic Gout

The last stage of gout is chronic. As the name suggests, the symptoms at this stage have become more severe and affect the sufferer's quality of life. Gout at this stage is hard to cure. It may be treated, but the condition will not return to what it was. What lowers the quality of life is the crystals that form from settled purine deposits, which make the joints very hard to move. If every joint has these crystals, the sufferer's movement is very limited and they may not be able to move at all. Crystals that stay in a joint too long also cause a new problem, permanent joint damage, so the sufferer may never move freely again.

Changing Your Lifestyle Matters for People With Gout

Even after treatment, gout can come back, so people with gout must adopt a healthy lifestyle. Without those changes, frequent relapses are certain, which disrupts daily activities and leaves life less productive. Here are the lifestyle changes people with gout can make:

1. Check your uric acid level

The first lifestyle habit is to monitor your uric acid level regularly. People with gout see their levels rise easily, especially if they do not control what they eat. Check once a month on a regular basis.

2. Manage your weight and diet

Avoid foods high in purines, because they raise uric acid levels. Also try to keep your weight steady, because people with gout who are overweight relapse very easily.

Read also: Good and Bad Foods for People With Gout

3. Exercise regularly

To keep the metabolism fast, people with gout should exercise regularly. Exercise can bring down a high uric acid level, and a fast metabolism helps prevent gout symptoms from coming back.

These are the gout symptoms by severity that are important to know. We hope this information is useful.