Gout Remedies - Alternative Healing Therapies
Remedies for Gout Include Juicing, Aromatherapy Treatment
Oct 5, 2009
Gout remedies often involve treatment with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or corticosteroids. Many people who suffer from gout wonder if alternative healing therapies can help with the pain, redness, and stiffness.
What is Gout?
Gout is a form of arthritis that causes pain, swelling, redness, and stiffness in the joints. It's caused by high levels of uric acid in the body. The first attack often occurs in the big toe, but it can affect the fingers, elbows, wrists, knees, heels, and ankles, as well.
This disease seems to run in families. It often affects middle-aged men who are overweight, and who eat foods that are high in purines, which is a substance that breaks down to form uric acid. When the level of uric acid gets too high, it forms crystals that can lodge in the joints, causing the characteristic pain and swelling of gout.
Can Changing the Diet Help?
Naturopathic doctors recommend dietary changes to lower the levels of purines in the body. Gout sufferers should avoid organ meats, breads and other foods that contain yeast, and certain fish, including anchovies, sardines, herring, and mackerel. Stop drinking alcohol. Instead, it's recommended to drink half of the body weight in ounces of water every day to keep the uric acid flushed out of the system. For example, a man who weighs 200 pounds should be drinking 100 ounces of water daily.
Cherry juice for gout is a natural gout cure that's becoming more well-known. Try juicing about four handfuls of pitted cherries with a half cup of strawberries. Drinking this juice every day can help to neutralize uric acid and prevent gout attacks.
Blueberries and blackberries are also helpful in preventing gout. Adding a daily helping of fresh cherries, blueberries, and blackberries to the diet may help prevent gout attacks.
Aromatherapy Treatment
Home remedies for gout pain include aromatherapy treatment. Try a massage oil made by adding five drops of essential oil of juniper to an ounce of olive oil. Rubbing this oil into the sore joint three or four times a day helps to ease the pain.
Combining aromatherapy with hydrotherapy often helps to relieve a painful gout attack. For a soothing cool foot bath, try adding ten drops each of rosemary and juniper oils to two quarts of cold water. Soak the feet for 20 minutes.
An ice pack wrapped in a towel, or a cold wet compress can also be applied directly to the affected joint for pain relief. Don't leave it on longer than 20 minutes.
Homeopathy
Gout remedies include homeopathic treatment. Several remedies are recommended:
- Belladona 12C may help to relieve pain from red, hot, swollen joints.
- Aconite 12C is recommended for extremely painful, red joints.
- Colchicum 12C can help with swelling in the big toe.
- Urtica urens 12 C can relieve burning, itching, and swelling.
When to See the Doctor
Home remedies for gout can be very effective, but if the gout symptoms don't subside within three or four days, or they keep coming back, it's probably time to visit the doctor. Sudden weight loss, diarrhea for longer than 24 hours, and dyhydration are also causes for concern. Anyone who is taking diuretics, antibiotics, aspirin-containing products, or who is on chemotherapy should also seek medical attention.
Safe and effective remedies for gout include alternative healing therapies. Dietary changes, juicing, aromatherapy treatment, and homeopathic remedies have no side effects, and are often very helpful for preventing future attacks, while relieving pain.
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