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Dr. Tiffany Avery

Got GOUT?


Acupuncture for GOUT

Acupuncture can help in treating Gout symptoms! The medical term used to describe a high amount of uric acid (gout) is Hyperuricemia! These uric acid stones are extremely dangerous and need to be kept under control. This post will help you to understand the difficulties you would face if you had high Uric acid in your body. It will also give you an idea about the symptoms and the way Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine will help you overcome Gout!


What is Hyperuricemia?

Hyperuricemia is nothing but presence of surplus uric acid in the blood. The overflowing Uric acid passes through the liver and enters your blood. Most of the uric acid is excreted from your body in your urine, or it passes through your intestines to normalize the acid levels.

The normal Uric acid levels are;

  • 2.4 to 6.0 mg/dL for women

  • 3.4 to 7.0 mg/dL for men

Understand what purines are!!

Purines are compounds that contain nitrogen. They are either formed inside the cells of your body or get into your body from outside when you eat food containing purine. This nitrogen containing compound breaks down into uric acid. When these compounds increase, they accumulate in your tissues, and form crystals. This causes high uric acid levels in the blood. Uric acid formation will lead to problems like kidney stones and gout (gathering of uric acid crystals in the joints).


Causes of Hyperuricemia!

  • Heredity reasons play an important role in determining a person’s risk in developing Hyperuricemia.

  • Age and Gender factor is another major issue; it is said that it occurs more common in men than in women!

  • Consumption of alcohol

  • Obesity

  • Intake of food that’s rich in purines causes gout for some people.

  • Diseases in the kidney

  • Certain medications can cause increased levels of uric acid in the body

  • Problems related to Endocrine glands and metabolic conditions can raise the uric acid levels of the body

10 Reasons that cause gout attack

  1. Medicines that affect kidney function

  2. Cyclosporine is given to organ transplant recipients that raises uric acid levels

  3. Aspirin given in low dosage can raise uric acid levels in the blood

  4. Hypertension

  5. Hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol)

  6. Diabetes

  7. Consumption of alcohol

  8. Injuries at your joints

  9. Fad diets, fasting, and dehydration

  10. Body temperature; because gout attacks people more in cold regions

Some symptoms of Hyperuricemia

  • Predominantly, you may not have any symptoms! This is something that you need to consider. But there are a few symptoms that help you find that you are at risk!

  • You may get fever, fatigue if you have certain kind of cancer, and thus your uric acid levels will go high

  • An inflammation of a joint which is called as ‘gout’ occurs if the high amount of uric acid crystals gets deposited in your joints.

  • You may have problems related to your kidney

  • Problems while urination

Now, certainly you must know what can be done to keep your uric acid levels under control. It can be achieved through taking care of the kind of food you consume.

Reduce the intake of food that are rich in nitrogen content:

  • All organ meat and meat extracts

  • Yeasts, and yeast extracts (alcoholic beverages)

  • Asparagus, spinach, beans, peas, lentils

  • Oatmeal, cauliflower and mushrooms

Consume more of food that has low purine levels;

  • Eggs

  • Lettuce, tomatoes, green vegetables

  • Fruit juice and carbonated drinks

  • Drink at least 2 to 3 liters of water everyday

  • Follow medications strictly as directed

  • Try avoiding caffeine and alcohol; they increase uric acid levels

To prevent future attacks, maintain a proper diet and keep pace with defined lifestyle changes, along with urate-lowering medicines! This can be extremely helpful along with Acupuncture.


Elaia Integrative Healthcare can help treat symptoms of Gout including joint and chest pain, skin allergies and breathing difficulties!


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