Whether it is your first gout attack or a subsequent one after a long gap, the pain is unbearable. The gout attack once occurred can continue to give pain for 2-7 days for most people. The initial excruciating pain lasts for couple of hours and then gradually subsides. The joint still remains itchy and depending upon the severity the feeling of discomfort will also go away within 2-7 days. The most common area that is affected is the big toe joint which obviously is inflamed due to uric acid build up there.
In many cases it may take years before gout attack reoccurs. The memory of the pain comes back in a flash. The sufferer immediately recognizes that this is a gout attack.
This second attack is probably one the last warnings to drastically change the lifestyle. Diet control should have began at the first gout attack so that the second one could have been avoided.
Why we call it the last warning is because if the sufferer doesn’t understand the gravity of these acute attacks to become chronic as they grow older, then the sufferer will have to live with it for ever.
Chronic sufferer doesn’t feel the pain the same way as the acute sufferer does. The problem with chronic sufferers is that the gout may spread to other joints.
Every gout attack is different and people feel the pain differently. Whatever the severity of the gout attacks, if a sufferer realizes during the first or the second attack the importance of diet control then he is the winner.
The best way to deal with the early few gout attacks is to take medical help, understand the implications from the doctors and follow the strict diet required to ensure gout free life.
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