Links Between Gout and Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis affecting 1 in 10 adults in North America and affects women as well as men equally past the age of 60, OA being more common as we age. OA is also much more common than gout. Presently there is no cure for osteoarthritis but if you are diagnosed early and take control of the disease with the correct treatment you can delay the deterioration of your joints.
What happens with people that suffer from osteoarthritis is that their cartilage, that elastic part of the body that covers and protects the bones, acting as a shock absorber, begins to slowly to deteriorate and erode resulting in pain, swelling and stiffness. Osteoarthritis progresses slowly over months and years and to this day there is no cure. Kinda sounds familiar to us gout sufferers. Right?
Do note that osteoarthritis is not an autoimmune disease like gout but a condition of wear and tear associated with aging or injury since many athletes suffer from OA caused from sports injuries. Sometimes gout and osteoarthritis can be mistaken for each other since both can be identified by inflammation and swelling.
With osteoarthritis, swelling and inflammation usually occurs at the joint closest to the fingernail whereas with gout, usually affects joints in the big toe. OA symptoms like stiffness tend to worsen throughout the day compared to gout stiffness which is only present during the time of the attack. With OA one can suffer pain and stiffness in one or more joints like knee and elbow whereas with gout it’s always one joint. OA is a continuous and ongoing disease with no remissions compared to gout which is a metabolic disease. The OA patient will experience fatigue, weakness in their muscles, bone enlargement, deformity, experience restricted movement and have their joints lock from time to time. It is a more painful and symptomatic disease.
New evidence seems to suggest that maybe uric acid lowering drugs like allopurinol be used in patients of OA to slow down the progression of the disease since uric acid increases the severity of OA in those patients.
Recent research shows how many gout sufferers go on to later suffer from osteoarthritis. A recent study which studied 75 men aged between 55 and 85 years old from a Veteran’s Affairs clinic and were divided in 3 groups of 25. 25 of them suffered from gout, 25 of them suffered from asymptomatic hyperuricemia meaning they had no symptoms from the higher uric acid levels in their blood and the last group of 25 suffered from neither.
What the researchers noticed was the group that suffered from gout had the highest number of patients suffering from osteoarthritis as well, a whopping 68% of them. The asymptomatic hyperuricemia group had 52% of its patients suffering from OA and the last group that suffered from neither conditions had only 28% of patients suffering from OA.
So prevalence and severity of osteoarthritis is higher in older men that also suffered from gout. This is something you should be careful with dear gout sufferer. Another Chinese study you can check out and published in Osteoarthritis & Cartilage concluded that gout may increase the risk of knee replacement in patients with osteoarthritis. Help avoid OA by exercising, keeping your weight and BMI down, and follow a strict gout diet that I outline in my ebook.
6 replies to "Gout and Osteoarthritis"
[…] studies revealed the positive effects of pomegranate juice of extract on not only osteoporosis but osteoarthritis and even rheumatoid arthritis, diseases that are very similar in ways to gout. One study even found […]
Like most things with gout, I’m between a rock and a hard place. I can go off cherries and have brutal attacks, or I can stay on them and feel woozy. But thanks for the feedback. It may or may not be the cherries doing it, so I wanted to check with someone else.
I noticed cherries also reduced my lower back pain, something I’ve had since a fall when young. They really do work like painkillers. I’ve also discovered frozen cherries are even better than fresh, and they last indefinitely. Also, they’re pitted, so less of a mess and less waste. Six to ten cherries a day seems sufficient for me.
I had to get off allopurinol because it caused hemorrhages and a stroke in my eye. Right now, cherries and apple cider vinegar are my only “medications,” and they work as well or better than anything in the drug realm.
My worst attack ever Spiro. Out of cherry juice for 3 days, diet slipped a bit. Entire left leg immobilized, kneee swelled up, back muscle behind knee is ON FIRE!!!
Been on tart cherry juice ( will NEVER run out again, plus cider vinegar & baking soda. No sleep, can’t walk going on 3rd day tomorrow. NEVER want this again!
Dear Spiro,
A point of curiosity: I’ve only recently become aware of just how effective cherries are. My first experience with them was that they did nothing. Apple cider vinegar (ACV) was far more effective and faster acting. I could actually feel ACV working during an attack. It was the closest thing I ever discovered to a “cure.” But it only worked for a year or two.
Anyway, I started eating cherries routinely and went eight months without an attack. When I did have an attack, it was milder than the utterly crippling attacks I had before. I could even limp around with a cane. Cherries are very subtle and gradual. You don’t even realize they’re working until you notice you can move your toe.
But the reason I’m writing is to ask you something: Have you noticed cherries make you lightheaded or alter your sense of balance? My ears seem to pop when I’m on them. I don’t think it’s the fructose or a sugar spike, because I only eat two or three at a time. But they do make me feel woozy.
I take them like NSAIDs. Take two cherries and call me in the morning.
Hi Mr.Liccardo!
No I don’t experience any issues when eating cherries, if I were you, I’d bring that up with my doctor, the lightheadedness or losing your sense of balance is not normal.
If it bothers you then stop eating those cherries.
Spiro
I truly appreciate the updates on various illnesses. Again, thanks and keep them coming!