Can I Get Gout In The Fingers? YES, You Will!

Of all the mysteries of gout, it is the gout locations that are the most shrouded. It is common for gout to occur in the ankle, the earlobes, the wrist and some other parts. However, there are cases of gouts that occur in the most unexpected parts of your body. That is why everyday, thousands upon thousands questions are raised about gout.

One such question is “ Can I get gout in the fingers?”

Unusual Locations of Gout

As aforementioned, gout grows in the most unexpected places. There are cases reporting gout in the middle ear thus causing deafness. There are also cases of gout in the spine which causes paralysis. Some does not cause major damage but are very obstructive, such as gout in the nose and pelvis (hips). There are also these weird cases such as gouty tophi in the eyes and even in the vocal cords. There are even cases of gout in the penis.

“Yeah gout grows anywhere. What now?”

That fact itself answers the question “ Can I get gout in the fingers?”. You can grow gout virtually anywhere. So the answer is “Yes you can get gout in the fingers”.

We can explain the answer further. However we should have a recap of how you get gout for us to understand why gout attacks those places.

The Beginning of Gout

Our body is such an amazing system that it has its own mechanisms to keep us well and alive. One such mechanism is its homeostatic behavior to maintain the acidity level of our blood. Keeping the acidity level at bay is important for our body to regulate our bodily functions. It helps us run like a well-oiled machine!

To achieve such maintenance, our body applies some containment method to temporarily lower the “visible” acids in our body. One such method is by storing the acids, including the uric acid, to the interstitial fluids, the fluids surrounding our cells until they can be processed by the liver and kidney. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as infinite storage. Eventually, there will be lack of space. Just like a cluttered desktop, files have to be deleted or at least moved to the “recycle bin”. In the case of our body, the recycle bin is the synovial fluids.

*When the interstitial fluids are full, some acid are eventually pushed to the synovial fluids.

Synovial fluids are found between the synovial joints or the “ball-and-socket” joints such as the knee, ankle, fingers and wrist. (You’re probably getting a clear picture now). Unfortunately, if your generation rate of uric acid is higher than the rate that it is flushed out, uric acid will definitely accumulate. Over time the uric acid between the joints may crystallize when exposed to cold temperatures. This is the first chapter of a tragic story entitled “gout”.

*Uric Acid in the Synovial fluids eventually crystallize due to low temperatures

Elaborating the answer:

Your fingers are ball-and-socket joints (for those who are interested, the joints are called Metacarpophalangeal joints and Interphalangeal joints) Therefore, it is a rich deposit of synovial fluids. It is juicy enough to attract gout attack. Added to this is the fact that we do not usually wear something on our hands, making it coooold. Therefore, the answer to the question “Can I get gout in the fingers” is yes. It is one of the worst places for gout attacks and tophi build up. If the joints swell large enough, the restraint it can issue is no joke.

In fact, it is logical that gout can grow anywhere as long as there is uric acid to crystallize and sufficient coldness to support the process. For instance, your earlobes does not have joints. Yet, tophus forms in it. As aforementioned, there are also these weird cases of gout such as those in the eyes, vocal cords nose and penis. They all have no ball-and-socket joints but they still formed gout. This means that as long as there is uric acid, there is a possibility for gout to attack.

Gout in the Fingers: What does it indicate?

Most doctors treat gout in the fingers as a bad omen. This is because most people who suffer from gout in the fingers have already suffered from gout in other parts of their body. Therefore, it is usually recognized as a sign that your current treatment, medication or diet is not sufficient to control your uric acid. You should regularly go to the doctor to check your uric acid and find additional ways in dealing with your uric acid problems.

Symptoms of Gout in the Fingers

The symptoms are just like those of gout in other parts of your body. The only difference is the fact that it is very rare for the fingers to be attacked first. These symptoms include searing pain and swelling. At premature stage, you may experience only slight pain. As time passes and uric acid accumulates, you will reach a point where the pain and swelling is enough to restrain the movements.

Avoiding Gout in the Fingers

Just like any other gout manifestation, gouty fingers can be avoided. This can be easily achieved by cutting off the supply of uric acid. Without uric acid, there will be no uric acid crystals. Without uric acid crystals, there will be no gout. Without gout, there will be no pain and obstructions!

To cut off uric acid, you have to cut off its source which is purine (uric acid is a byproduct when purine is broken down). In short, you have to reduce your purine intake by not eating purine rich foods such as spinach and organ meats. However, take note that if you are suffering from hyperuricemia, this will be insufficient. Alternatively, you can drink alkaline water to flush out the uric acid in your body and reverse the effects of gout.

Gout can grow virtually anywhere, not just your fingers. It will not hurt to prevent this from happening. You do not have to suffer the pain and obstructions of gout.

Hemen Ee has helped thousands of gout patients getting rid of their gout pain by neutralizing those excessive uric acid through 100% natural methods. Check out some of his e-books and get a new perspective of gout at www.understandyourgout.com.