Blood Tests Can Help Determine if You Have Gout

Did you know that blood tests can uncover high uric acid in your blood and will help determine if you have gout? Gout is a type of arthritis that can cause serious joint and kidney damage if it is left untreated. A build up of needle shaped urate crystals in the joints of your body is what causes gout and the symptoms can be very painful. There are several different things that blood and urine tests can reveal about your body that will help your doctor to discover what causes high uric acid in your blood.

You can get Gout a couple of different ways. One way that you can get it is by not eating properly. If you eat a lot of the wrong foods such as pig intestines, liver, mushrooms, asparagus, or herring you will have a high build up of uric acid. You can also have a high build up if your kidneys do not excrete uric acid fast enough. There are a couple of tests that can be done to help your doctor determine where your problem is coming from.

Blood tests for Gout will help your doctor to determine the levels of uric acid that are present in your blood stream. If the levels are higher than they are supposed to be then there is a good chance that you have Gout. These high levels could have been caused by eating a large amount of the previously mentioned foods.

If you doctor cannot effectively determine if you have Gout by studying your blood work, then a combined test will need to be conducted. Uric acid blood tests combined with a urine analysis will tell the doctor whether it is your diet or your kidneys not properly functioning that is the problem. If your kidneys are not getting rid of the excess uric acid fast enough you’ll get Gout and notice some pretty nasty side effects.

If blood tests or urine analysis determine that you have gout there are a few things that you will have to deal with until it is treated. You will notice redness, inflammation, swelling, and tremendous pain in your joints. If you have Gout there are a few different ways in which you can treat it and cure it.

The doctor can prescribe medicines that will you to deal with the symptoms of a Gout attack. Usually these drugs are in the anti-inflammatory family and will help to deal with any swelling in your joints that are causing you pain. You may also be prescribed other types of drugs that will help lower the high amount of uric acid in your body to treat the Gout.

If you’re having sudden attacks of pain in your joints and suspect that you may have Gout you may want to do blood tests at home to see what the results say. If it turns out that your uric acid is in fact high, then you’ll want to see your doctor. You need to start getting treatment for this problem as soon as possible so that you can return to your normal life.