Fighting Gout With Natural And Alternative Medical Approaches: What Works

If you have "a big, gouty toe," chances are it is very difficult for you to walk without pain. Since the big toes are the last to leave the ground during your natural stride, trying to walk without putting pressure on the big toes is not an easy thing to do. It is much more difficult when your big toes are affected by gout. If you have tried all of the usual arthritis treatments without much success and have suffered enough side effects just trying to treat the pain of the gout in your toes, then maybe you need natural or alternative medical approaches. Here are some of the proven ones that work.

Acupuncture

If you are worried that the acupuncturist is going to place the needles in your already painful toe joints, you can stop worrying. Although positioning and inserting needles in your affected toe joints is a possibility, it is not where and how the acupuncturist begins the treatment for gout. (Additionally, nerves that connect the big toes to the sensory center of the brain are "silenced" temporarily before inserting needles into the toes themselves.) When treating gout with acupuncture, the administering acupuncturist places the needles in the lower areas of your back, where your kidneys and the nerves that connect to your kidneys are located. Since gout is caused by a build-up of uric acid, which is created by the kidneys, the kidneys become the target of the treatment. Contact a company like Relief Acupuncture for more information.

Eating Tons of Cherries, Blueberries and Hawthorn Berries

Another natural approach to treating gout that reduces the amount of uric acid crystals in the blood is to consume lots of cherries, blueberries and hawthorn berries. If you cannot stomach the thought of eating any of these fruits, drink their juice straight and in its most natural form. If you absolutely cannot eat or drink these fruits, look for anthocyanadin extracts, which can be found in a health food store, some vitamin stores and natural or holistic food stores. The anthocyanadin extract is what you really need, and it is taken from cherries, blueberries and hawthorn berries.

Cut out Alcohol and Increase Folic Acid

Alcoholic beverages, especially yeast-y ones like beer, increase the production of uric acid in the blood. This is why many alcoholics whose beverage of choice is beer develop gout and arthritic conditions because of the overexposure to the yeast in beer. On the flip side, folic acid, a necessary mineral that prevents neural tube birth defects in babies, is highly effective at preventing the production of uric acid too. Pure orange juice is naturally high in folic acid, so if you like orange juice, drink a lot of it. If you do not like orange juice, invest in folic acid tablets from a pharmacy or vitamin store.

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