Introduction

Did you know gout due to high uric acid was known as the “disease of kings” for centuries, as it was linked to a diet high in fat and alcohol? However, gout no longer affects aristocrats alone; even ordinary folks suffer from this excruciating joint pain and swelling.

What does high uric acid mean, and should you worry about it? Well, uric acid is a waste product found in our blood. Your body produces uric acid when substances known as purines undergo metabolism. Usually, your kidneys remove uric acid. However, when you eat food high in purine, your body will produce excess uric acid. This extra uric acid begins to form crystals, and the condition is known as gout. Try homeopathic medicines for high uric acid treatment.

Role of homeopathy in high uric acid treatment

Gout results from the build-up of uric acid in the joints, especially in the hands and feet. This swelling leads to extreme pain and discomfort. Homeopathic medicines can greatly relieve bouts of intense joint pain and inflammation. Your constitutional homeopathic remedy eventually helps prevent future acute gout attacks. Homeopathic medicines reduce edema and inflammation and promote joint recovery. They ease your pain and stiffness and give your joints natural mobility.

Six effective homeopathic medicines for high uric acid

From the variety of homeopathic remedies for uric acid treatment, specific medicines are prescribed based on the patient’s unique symptoms. There isn’t one medication for all. Here are the six best homeopathic medicines for high uric acid.

Colchicum autumnale

Common name: Meadow saffron

Colchicum autumnale is one of the best homeopathic remedies for uric acid. Colchicum is a natural diuretic that helps remove toxins, waste products, and extra uric acid from the body. Thus it naturally lowers excessive uric acid levels in your blood. Colchicum helps in relieving pain, swelling, and soreness in the joints. It helps in managing gout and high uric acid levels especially in the great toe. The great toe is tender, hot, and sore to touch. Any movement aggravates symptoms, and the slightest touch is unbearable. Colchicum is indicated in cases where the joints have stiffness and swelling and multiple joints are affected. Symptoms also include a tearing type of pain that worsens in the evening.

Acidum benzoicum

Common name: Benzoic acid

High uric acid can be treated with Benzoic acid which is an excellent homeopathic remedy. Benzoic acid helps manage gout that affects the great toe and the knee joint. Gout with painful nodes and swollen joints is the key symptom of Benzoic acid. Other symptoms include gouty deposits in the joints, tearing pain in the great toe, urate crystal deposits in the knee joint, cracking of joints on any movement, and pain in the Achilles tendon. Benzoic acid is also used for pain in the joints that worsens after taking wine, and that mainly affects the right side.

Ledum palustre

Common name: Marsh Labrador tea

Ledum Pal. is another homeopathic medicine to treat high uric acid levels. Gout that affects the ankles and small joints can be managed with Ledum Pal. Pain worse on movement and better with cold water is a keynote symptom of Ledum Pal. Other symptoms include tearing pain in small joints, pain that shoots through the feet and limbs, ascending pain from the lower limbs to the upper limbs, and swelling of the joints. Joint pains are better by cold application and worse from warmth.

Rhus toxicodendron

Common name: poison ivy

In homeopathy, Rhus toxicodendron is a popular homeopathic medicine to treat elevated uric acid due to metabolic disorders. Rhus Tox. is known for its anti-inflammatory effects in arthritis pain. It is one of the best homeopathic medicines for gout, as it can relieve joint discomfort, stiffness, and swelling in your hands and feet. In addition, it’s a natural diuretic that helps your body get rid of toxins, waste products, and excess uric acid levels. Rhus Tox. relieves soreness and bruised pain in joints with stiffness. Symptoms include gouty joint pains, hot and painful joints with swelling, complaints that are worse from cold, damp weather and better by warmth and movement.

Arnica montana

Common name: Wolf’s Bane

Arnica is a herb used for centuries as it possesses decisive anti-inflammatory action when applied externally. Symptoms include sore pain in the feet, bruise-like sensation in the joints, throbbing, stinging pain that gets worse by slightest touch, and gouty pain that hinders free movement.

Antimonium crudum

Common name: Crude antimony

Antim. Crud. is the best homeopathic medicine used for treating gout as it helps manage violent joint pains due to inflammation. Symptoms include joint pains with gastric affinity, numbness of legs after sitting, pain in the heels and fingers, burning in the great toe, increased craving for food, redness and swelling of the heel with shooting pains, and pain that is worse in the evening.

Take Homeopathy Treatment for Your Health Conditions

Causative factors for high uric acid

Normally your kidneys get rid of uric acid from your blood via urine. However, large levels of uric acid can build up in the body when

  • Your body produces excess uric acid
  • Kidneys excrete too little uric acid

This condition is known as hyperuricemia. The primary factors causing hyperuricemia include

  • Genetics

40 to 50 percent of people with gout have a familial history. 1

  • Weight

Being obese puts you at risk of gout. 2

  • Alcohol

Alcohol abuse can prevent your body from excreting uric acid. 3

  • Food high in purine

Eating meals with loaded purines can cause acute gout flare-ups five times more than existing ones. The high-purine foods include herring, liver, mackerel, mushrooms, asparagus, dried beans, peas, beef kidneys, brains, game meats, sardines, scallops, and sweetbread. 4

  • Other diseases

Health disorders like high blood pressure, psoriasis, cancer, or anemia can trigger gout attacks.

  • Diuretics

The diuretic medications taken to lower blood pressure, edema, and heart disease interfere with eliminating uric acid. 5

  • Drug use

Certain drugs containing salicylate, niacin, cyclosporine, and levodopa can decrease the amount of uric acid passed in the urine.

Symptoms of high uric acid

Symptoms of high uric acid do not present with symptoms unless they form crystals and proceed to gout or kidney stones. Usually, the symptoms manifest as follows:

  • Sudden onset

Gout symptoms typically manifest quickly and without any warning signs. Most people report having these at night.

  • Podagra

Podagra is the most characteristic symptom of gout. Podagra is the presence of joint heat, redness, swelling, and inflammation.

  • Great toe pain

In most cases, your big toe shows involvement in gout. However, occasionally other joints, such as the ankles, knees, hands, and wrists, may also suffer from pain.

  • Severe pain

The gout pain is quite severe, excruciating, and shooting in nature. Often your joint becomes so tender that you can’t bear to touch it.

  • Itching

You may feel itching in the affected part. However, this happens only when the initial inflammation is winding down.

  • Nodules

Sometimes you may have small nodules known as tophi on your joints.

  • Fever

Occasionally you may have a fever along with pain and other symptoms.

  • Bursitis

Olecranon bursitis and prepatellar bursitis are two terms used to describe inflammation of the fluid sacs (bursae) that cushion tissue in the elbow and knee, respectively.

If untreated, pain can linger for more than a week before gradually fading over the course of the next week or two.

Treatment

Most people believe there is no treatment for gout, and they must live with it. Frequently people learn to tolerate their pain. This false assumption results from the limited scope of conventional medicinal systems in treating high uric acid levels.

Painkillers reduce discomfort to some extent but in no way offer a long-lasting solution. These painkillers only treat the symptoms; they don’t address the underlying cause.

However, with dietary changes and lifestyle modifications, you can control your gout and prevent acute triggers.

Diet and lifestyle modification for gout

  • Reduce your body weight

Changing your diet and getting more activity can help you lose weight, which could lower your blood uric acid levels.

  • Drink water

A high uric acid level and a gout episode could be triggered by dehydration. As a result, your doctor could advise you to drink lots of water. Six to eight glasses of water per day are advised, but this amount may vary depending on the weather and daily activity.

  • Avoid purine-rich food

Purine-rich foods may cause uric acid levels to rise. As per the study, meat and seafood can raise the uric acid level in your blood. Hence avoid purine-rich foods. 6

  • Avoid sweetened beverages

Fructose is present in sweetened beverages, including soft drinks. One of the most widely utilized sugars is fructose. Increased consumption of sugars, high-fructose corn syrup, and other sweeteners can increase uric acid levels. 7

  • Dairy products

Increase your intake of dairy products. Dairy products can lower uric acid levels. It helps lessen the chance of getting gout. 8

  • Manage your stress

Regular emotional stress may raise the body’s uric acid levels. Thus, learn to manage your stress using different stress management techniques. 9

Conclusion

Uric acid is a waste usually eliminated by the kidneys. However, when uric acid metabolism is disturbed, it builds up in your body and forms crystals. The crystallization of this excess uric acid in joints leads to gout.

Patients frequently believe there is no treatment for gout. There are very good homeopathic medicines for gout.

High uric acid can be treated with homeopathic medicines by eliminating excess uric acid and reducing inflammation. There are several remedies in homeopathy that relieve your symptoms and treat the underlying root cause of hyperuricemia. For safe and effective treatment, discussing with a qualified homeopathic doctor before taking any medicine is always advisable.

References

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