Gout is a chronic disease caused by an excess of uric acid and its salts (urates) in the body. It primarily affects the joints and kidneys, causing significant suffering for the patient and increasing the likelihood of developing kidney failure.
Principles of Home Treatment
It is impossible to completely cure gout since it is a chronic disease. However, timely treatment can alleviate symptoms and prevent kidney failure and other dangerous complications. Many patients wonder how to treat gout at home, which is understandable given the difficulty of making regular visits to a medical facility.
Some people associate home treatment of gout and other diseases with folk remedies. Traditional medicine offers many methods to manage this disease, but these methods are not limited to folk remedies alone. Pharmaceutical medications in tablet and ointment forms can be effectively used at home. Anti-inflammatory drugs like Diclofenac, Indomethacin, and Ibuprofen can be taken both internally and externally. Specific gout medications like Allopurinol, Colchicine, Etamide, and Ketazone can also be successfully used at home.
To do this, you need to call a doctor at home, preferably a rheumatologist familiar with the specifics of your gout case. The doctor will prescribe the necessary medications on a special prescription form. It is not necessary to go to the pharmacy on sore legs since modern pharmacies often have delivery services.
A suitable diet is also part of gout treatment at home. The diet should be recommended by the treating doctor and should sharply limit or exclude foods rich in purine bases like meat, liver, alcohol, legumes, fish, eggs, white bread, spicy, and savory dishes. Additionally, moderate physical exercise can positively impact gouty joints.
Recipes for External Use
Of course, no home treatment is complete without folk remedies. Traditional medicine recommends various recipes using natural or simple chemical compounds to help manage gout. These methods aim to suppress joint inflammation and reduce uric acid levels in the body and can involve local treatments and the intake of various decoctions, infusions, and healing compounds.
Local treatment involves rubbing, compresses, and applications to the affected joint. Here are some effective remedies:
- Fill a half-liter glass container to the top with fresh May lilac flowers. Pour vodka over them and infuse for 3 weeks. Strain the resulting tincture and use it for compresses and rubbing.
- Treat gout with iodine by dissolving 5 tablets of acetylsalicylic acid in 10 ml of iodine tincture and applying the mixture to the joints. Internal intake of salicylates for gout is undesirable as it leads to urate accumulation, but external use is justified.
- Another iodine recipe involves dissolving 3 teaspoons of baking soda in 3 liters of warm water and adding 9 drops of iodine tincture. This solution is suitable for foot baths.
- Melt butter in a pan and add the same amount of alcohol. Carefully light the alcohol and wait until it burns off. Cool the remaining mixture and use it as an ointment for the joints.
- Crush a handful of activated charcoal tablets into powder. Add 1 tablespoon of flaxseed to half a glass of the powder and enough water to make a paste. Apply this paste to the affected joint.
- Propolis can be used to treat joints and tophi, as it reduces inflammation and prevents uric acid crystal deposition.
Recipes for Internal Use
Home treatment of gout can also include taking various infusions and decoctions internally:
- The lilac flower tincture described above can be taken internally at 20-30 drops three times a day before meals.
- Boil 3 unpeeled but washed onions in 1 liter of water until the onions are soft. Drink the resulting onion soup at one glass three times a day before meals.
- Infuse chopped rosehip roots in vodka for 3 weeks, then take 25 ml twice a day.
- Boil 5 grams of birch buds in a glass of water, strain, and take a quarter glass four times a day.
- Mix equal parts of aspen bark and white willow bark. Boil 1 teaspoon of this mixture in a glass of water for 15 minutes, then infuse for 1 hour. Drink the resulting decoction throughout the day for 2 months.
In conclusion, many herbs and minerals, like medications, have side effects and usage limitations. Therefore, consult a phytotherapist before using these remedies. Folk medicine should complement conventional treatment, not replace it.