Causes and Symptoms:
Gout is a disease of the joints
and is a form of rheumatism. It is a constitutional disorder connected
with excess of uric acid in the blood manifesting itself by inflammation
of joints with deposition of urate of soda and also by morbid changes
in various important organs.
Hippo crates in his Aphorisms speaks
of gout as occurring most commonly in spring and autumn, and mentions
the facts that women are less liable to it than men. Why the uric acid
is found in excess is not understood by the allopathic physicians. Uric
acid is formed in the system in the process of nutrition and is excreted
by the kidneys. In a patient suffering from gout, the quantity of uric
acid is found to be much more than normal. In a paroxysm of gout, the
body appears to get rid of a lot of uric acid and there appears to be
some relied but that is purely temporary.
Modern medicine believes
gout to be hereditary since it has been found in 50 to 80 percent of
the cases that the patient's parents or grand parents suffered from the
disease. The disease affects the sedentary persons more than those who
lead active lives, but it is not always true. On the other hand,
inadequate exercise, a luxurious manner of living, habitual
over-indulgence in rich foods and especially in alcohol is the
precipitating factors in the onset of the disease. Some teetotalers and
vegetarians are also found to be victims of gout.
The disease is
more common in mature age and in the males than females. Persons exposed
to the influence of lead poisoning such as plumbers, are apt to suffer
from gout. Attacks of the disease are readily excited by exposure to
cold, disorders of indigestion, fatigue and injuries to particular
joints.
An attack of gout may appear without warning, or there may
be premonitory symptoms. Among the most common of these are disorders
of the digestive organs, with a feeble and capricious appetite,
flatulence, uneasiness in the right side in the region of the liver, and
irritation in the urinary organs. There is also irritability, numbness
and coldness in the limbs. The attack comes usually at night, usually
between two and three in the morning. The affected part is found to be
swollen and a deep red hue. The skin is tense and glistening and the
surrounding veins are more or less distended. The attack lasts for a
week or ten days during which the patient suffers from constipation,
dyspepsia and extreme thirst. The urine is scanty and high coloured with
a copious deposit, consisting chiefly of urates. The joint affected may
become swollen but if the disease is not attended to, the swelling
spreads to other joints and it becomes chronic. Joints also become
enlarged and refuse to function without giving excruciating pain to the
sufferer.
Naturopathy believes that like all other diseases, gout
is the result of inadequate excretion of the morbid and poisonous matter
from the orifices of the body. The bowels, the urinary tract, the skin
and the nostrils---all must expel the waste matter from the body. If
they become slack and do not function properly, those substances
accumulate in the body and produce gout. Life depends on healthy blood
and nature has devised catarrh, diahrroea and fevers to force the human
system to expel the accumulated waste matter. If these diseases are
suppressed, as happens in most case when the patient takes to allopathic
treatment, the poisonous and morbid matter attacks the part of the
body, which is weaker than others. That is how chronic diseases are
born.
The real culprit is the type of food, which we are addicted
to. Our blood is chiefly alkaline and anything that tends to produce
acidity should be avoided. Treating gout in any other system is chaotic.
The real cause of the disease is not attack and recourse is taken to
painkillers or antidoting of the poison is under taken. The Ayurvedic
practitioners prohibit the intake of fruits and vegetables on the plea
that they may produce cold, which is supposed to be bad for the gout and
thus deprive the patient of the real cure. Doctors have some times
advised patients to have their teeth or tonsils extracted under the
misconception that the seat of the disease lays there. But even the
excision of these has never led to any relief to the gout patients.
Treatment:
To
real treatment of gout starts with ensuring that all the orifices of
the body, which expel waste and morbid matter, are activated to do their
work properly. The patient should breathe fresh air, so that oxygen is
available to him in larger quantities cleansing his blood of poisonous
humours. The gout patient must increase his intake of water to produce
more urine. He should take lukewarm water in the morning and evening
mixed with the juice of mine. The pores of the skin should be activated
by a cold bath every day and drying of the body with vigorous rubbing
with the palms of the hand. If the pain in the joints is too severe and
the patient is unable to massage his body himself, he should seek
somebody else's help. Sun bathing should be undertaken to produce sweat.
The head may be covered with a wet towel to save it from excessive heat
of the sun. Spending half an hour in the sun will activate the sweat
glands. A cold bath is recommended after a sunbath; if the patient does
not feel equal to it, he would be better advised to wipe his body with a
wet towel. Sun bathing should be done no more than thrice in a week. If
there is no sun, sweat should be induced by a steam bath or by merely
soaking one's feet in hot water.
The food should consist of fresh
fruits and vegetables-substances, which do not stick to the intestines.
Fruits, which can be taken without peeling, should be taken. In the
beginning of the treatment, the best course would be to live on fruit
juices. That would give some rest to the intestines. Fruits recommended
are: oranges, grape fruit, pineapple, raspberry and pear. Vegetables
like the various gourds, cabbage, tomatoes and greens are the best. The
more chronic the disease, the greater should be the period for which the
patient should live on fruits and vegetables.
After a five-day
period during which only fruits and vegetables are taken, milk should be
added to the diet. It should preferably be boiled and taken in
quantities of 250 to 500 millilitres at one time. Bread should be taken
only after a fortnight of living on fruits and vegetables. Potatoes can
replace bread with advantages as they contain more alkaline matter.
Hot
fomentation should be undertaken to reduce the pain in the joints.
About 75 grammes of salt should be added to one litre of hot water for
fomentation. The site of fomentation should be washed with cold water
later on. Those who suffer from a constant pain should apply a paste of
raw potatoes ground fine on the affected joints. The paste should be
allowed to remain for some hours.
By
Dr John Anne
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