The Gout is Painful . It can easily take over your life .
There are some good treatments to help with gout symptoms available.
The following may help with your gout books on Gout . If you suffer badly from gout you really should consult a doctor.
Long term chemical treatments may be bad for you
Kidney Stones - The truth.
If you have passed a kidney stone (or if you think you have) then you are also liable to get gout.
Kidney stones are actually an early sign of gout and are a serious problem in themselves.
What is a kidney stone ?
A kidney stone is an accumulation of calcium or crystals actually inside your kidney.
Its caused by your body creating uric acid to try to clear out purines frm your bloodstream
(your body is actually pretty smart at solving most problem by itself).
Uric acid attacks the purines and your body then flushes them out.
That's why it is IMPORTANT to drink at least eight glasses of water every day
Your kidneys need water to help them pass unwanted rubbish from your system.
If you do not drink enough water then you stand a strong risk of developing kidney stones.
Kidney stones are rejected from your kidneys by being flushed through to your bladder and then out
when you pee.
The main problem with kidney stones is that your tubes going from the kidney to the bladder are not very big -
and kidney stones may grow up to the size of golf balls (mine did !)
The early signs of kidney stone sre internal pain when peeing or the suddden appearance of a small
kidney stone in your urine flow
These are sometimes big enough to make a tinkling noise when they hit your toilet bowl..
If you notice small stones at this time then it is a serious symptom that something is drastically wrong.
Go and see your doctor immediately.This can be a life threatening condition.
He or she will arrange an ultrasonic scan that will show up any kidney stone inside you.
This is a painless and non-invasive procedure that just involves smearing lubricating gel on your tummy
and slowly passing a device across and viewing the results as a picture on a vdu screen.
Its just the same as viewing a baby in the womb - and as harmless to you.
Your doctor will view the results and discuss the scan with you.
Either you have kidney stones or you do not.
To get rid of kidney stones you will be referred to a specialist who may recommend a Lithotripsytreatment.
These are normally painless and consists of a machine above your body that bombards your kidney
stones and breaks them up inside your kidney.
There are sometimes after effects which can include a small amount of blood in your urine.
If you have large kidney stones it may be necessary to get fitted with a STENT
( a tube from the kidney to the bladder)
to help with the flow of urine and the bits of the stones.
This is normally fitted or removed under a general anaesthetic as it is inserted via your Urethra.
It may be necessary to have a number of lithotripsy treatments to get rid of all of the stones.
(I had 15 lithotripsy treatements)
The alternative is a more serious operation under a general anaesthetic to remove all the stones at the same time.
If you do NOT have kidney stones removed you are in for a very rough time.
The pain of passing a large kidney stone has been compared to that of childbirth- it really is very painful
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