When your big toe makes direct contact with a bedpost, it hurts. But when it is attacked by gout, you are talking serious pain. The instigator of this agony is a chemical called uric acid. When your body produces too much of the acid or your kidneys can't get rid of it fast enough, the excess crystallizes in and around your joints, most likely in the joint of your big toe. This buildup produces...

There are pain syndromes like fibromyalgia and arthritis-related disorders, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, that involve every part of the body. There are relatively mild forms of tendinitis (as in 'tennis elbow') and bursitis to crippling systemic forms, such as rheumatoid arthritis. There are forms of the disease, such as gout, which almost nobody connects with this condition, and there...

Sometimes, even if a person lives a healthy lifestyle, abstains from alcohol or drinks it modestly, they can experience a condition that mirrors gout, but is in actuality, a different arthritic condition altogether known as pseudogout. To help you understand the differences between these two, the following is a breakdown of the causes, symptoms and treatments for each condition. Gout Gout...

Cherries have had a long history of being described as the "the healing fruit". Just as cranberries prevent urinary tract infections and an apple-a-day can keep the doctor away, tart cherries are known to stop gout and arthritis pain. But if tart cherries are so good, why haven't you heard more about them? Well first, the FDA doesn't want you to know. In fact, just a few years ago the...

Gout is a type of arthritis caused by the excessive accumulation of uric acid inside the organism. In large amounts, uric acid forms crystals which deposit in various regions of the body, causing inflammation, pain and swelling of the joints. Uric acid is a waste product that results from purine metabolism. Although most cases of gout are hereditary, occurring due to genetically acquired renal...