Time is indeed gold.
That is why we tend to rush things. Unfortunately, with too much haste comes
recklessness. Our impatience leads to unforeseen consequences. Results may
range from further delays to major devastation. This is especially true in the
world of medicine and health.
To be more specific,
some of those who suffer gouty tophi in the feet are too impatient that they
practice Do-It-Yourself procedures to remove the lump. Unfortunately, it is
more common that the result is damaging rather than healing.
Gout Infection in the Foot
As a lump that
obstructs not only the joints but also the quality of life, it is very tempting
to remove the lump yourself. It is like being tempted to pop the pimples in the
face, or maybe popping a roll of bubble wrap. However, YOU SHOULD RESIST THE URGE.
Cutting the lump open may seem as easy as cutting a watermelon in two, but it
is not as easy as it seems plus it will do more harm than good.
When you cut the lump
open, white liquid will flow out. This is the crystal fluid. No matter how hard
you squeeze your foot, you cannot extract them all. Small and even microscopic
grains will remain and become seed for further crystal growth. In fact, even
medical surgeries are not guaranteed to totally remove the crystals.
The only surefire
result is the introduction of foreign entities in your body which will cause
gout infection in the foot plus you might damage the tissues, joints and cartilages.
The wound will be larger than what is visible. This is because most likely,
damages have already been done within even before you cut the lump open. Things
may get even more severe if you are diabetic. As you probably know, diabetic
people have slower wound rejuvenation rate.
Important Note: There
are times when infection may occur even if you do not perform a self-surgery.
This happens when the tophus protrude the skin. You are in serious risk of infection and must take quick actions.
Your doctor will likely recommend a surgery. This is your best choice in such
cases.
Bacteria will feast on the wounds
Given the large area
of the wound, the probability of infection will be higher. The wound can become a thriving
city of bacteria. The result? More pain and obstruction, more expenses
and you will have to wait for a long time for it to heal. Worse, it may not
heal at all. All you will get is gout
infection in the foot.
· More
pain and obstruction - you
finally managed to remove the obstruction to your joint. But then you realize you still cannot move it because of pain. Beside
the fact that cutting the wound open is painful, bacteria is now attacking the
vulnerable opening. They won’t be able to settle in with ease as your immune
system combat the invaders, but the battle will be painful and is literally
bloody. More and more and more and more invaders will come because of the large
wound area. Some will be expelled and some will be able to settle for a while.
As bacteria attacks more and moore and mooore tissues may be damaged. If you
have a weak immune system, you may even end up amputated. You will no longer
have to be annoyed with the obstruction of the gouty tophi, because unfortunately, the joint is gone
for good.
· More
expenses – instead of having
to buy only maintenance meds for your gout, you will have to buy maintenance
meds and antibiotic or even pain
reliever. If you come to a point that you will have to undergo surgery to
partially undo the damage you did, that will be both expensive and painful! You
will surely regret doing the DIY operation.
· It
may not heal at all- if you
are diabetic or you have a particularly weak immune system, your defenses may
be overwhelmed by bacteria. Antibiotics may prove insufficient. Instead of having
to deal with the discomfort of gouty tophus, you will have to deal with the
pain of the infection.
The wound closed anyway.
After all the pain you
are relieved when the wound finally closed. Unfortunately, this is not the end
of the risks you are taking. It is true that bacteria will no longer be able to
attack from the outside. Unfortunately, the bacteria that are breeding and
thriving inside, may cause conditions such as septic arthritis. This will cause
gout like condition and pain as your normally sterile joint cavity gets
tainted. Furthermore, this can cause bone spur. Your nerves may grow back to
undesired and wrong positions thus causing more torture.
More Efficient Solutions
As you should realize,
DIY operations are too risky to conduct. There are other choices available. You
don’t have to be so rash. One of your choices is to do the usual routine.
Low-purine and alkalizing diet and taking meds such as allopurinol. However,
you should be aware that in the future, the meds you are taking today can have
HUGE side effects and can even be fatal. You may also undergo surgery. However,
as mentioned above, it is not guaranteed that all the crystals will be removed
in the process. Microscopic remains are enough to seed future crystal growth.
It may take a long time but this can be delayed further or even totally avoided
if you are disciplined enough in regulating your low-purine diet.
A fine addition to
your alkaline diet is intake of alkaline water. This will help in reducing the
uric acid in your body. With low uric acid, there will be nothing to power your
gout. The tophus will stop growing. In fact, alkaline water can help in
reducing the size of your tophus. In case you are interested in how alkaline
water does this, you can go to this website: www.understandyourgout.com
Free yourself from gout. You do not have to be
restrained by tophus. BUT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE RECKLESS AS WELL
With the pain and
hindrance that gout inflicts, it is understandable that gout patients will do
their best to speed up their healing. However, this desire will not suffice as
a reason to risk getting more damage. RUN
FREELY WHILE AVOIDING FURTHER INJURY.
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