You'll probably wake up to the first of several gout symptoms with a jolt. You'll feel the throbbing of an inflamed joint, and when you peel back the bed sheet to take a look, you'll see a shiny red joint with skin tightly pulled over it. More than likely, your big toe will be the offender, but other joints can join the party too. Keep an eye on your fingers, wrists, elbows and ankles.

Next, keep tabs on your pain to see if it increases over the next several hours. After a few hours, you may be in excruciating pain and unable to even bear touching the joint.

Gout symptoms can sometimes be disguised as feeling extremely tired or having a slight fever. If you're tired all the time or have a temperature of 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, along with a swollen joint that's warm and painful to touch, then you're having a gout attack.

So, to go over the gout symptoms checklist again, ask yourself the following questions:

- Do you have a shiny red and swollen joint that feels warm and painful?

- Does the pain increase over a few hours time?

- Do you feel slightly feverish or greatly fatigued, in addition to having the painful joint?

If you experience these indicators, get treatment or try gout pain remedies as soon as possible.

The two most common gout medicines are corticosteroids and NSAIDs. These help reduce inflammation in the affected joints. NSAIDs are taken by mouth in high dosages. They also aid in prohibiting the spread of prostaglandin, a substance that plays its part in causing you severe pain during a gout flare-up.

If NSAIDs aren't effective for you, then turning to corticosteroids are the next doctor recommendation. Like NSAIDs, these also give instant relief to gout victims. They are injected directly into the inflamed joint to mainly target that area.

But the downside to using corticosteroids is that you can't use it daily or during subsequent attacks. If you do, your bone cartilage will weaken and your joints will get damaged.

If both of the above medications fail, then your doctor may recommend that you take colchicines. These can be used once every hour for the first 12 hours of the flare-up. Even though you can experience diarrhea and stomach cramps and an upset stomach as side effects of taking this gout medicine, colchicines have been around for hundreds of years and have proven themselves to be an effective pain reliever.

As with most medications, gout medicine has its positives and negatives, so it's essential that you choose your method of relief carefully. Seek out the help of health professionals and other sufferers for resources that'll give you the best chance to win your battle with gout.

So if you're at home and suffering from the first signs of an incoming attack, you can fire the first shot in defense of yourself using safe home remedies. After you read this article, you'll know a handful of ways to alleviate your gout pain naturally.

The best gout home remedies are still the conventional ways that people have become accustomed with. This includes the application of ice in the affected area. The application of ice or cold packs has the ability to reduce pain. This will work in as little as 10 to 15 minutes. If pain still persists, you can also take medications like ibuprofen in easing joint pain.

It would also be more soothing if you soak your feet in Epsom Salt. This is applicable if the pain is more intense in the toe part. Epsom Salt has the ability to alleviate and appease aching muscles. This also helps in the normal circulation of the blood and helps in cleansing and washing out toxins from the body.

Eating fruits like strawberries and cherries will also play a salient part in treating gout. These fruits deactivate the uric acid with high concentrations. Such fruits should be rich in vitamins and minerals like potassium, magnesium, zinc, calcium, vitamin c and iron.

Getting plenty of water into your system is also advisable. This excretes uric acid toxins out of your bloodstream. Try to drink up to 8 glasses a day, or at least as much as you can manage.

What is Gout?

Gout is a serious and commonly experienced form of arthritis. Gout can be caused by a number of different factors, including too much alcohol consumption, eating too many foods rich in purines, excessive exercise, crash dieting, surgery, stress, chemotherapy, and high blood pressure.

The signs and symptoms that are associated with gout will often not appear for a while and then suddenly come out of nowhere and be incredibly intense and painful. Swelling in the joints, particularly in the big toe, is one of the most common symptoms and there may also be red and shiny skin around the infected area.

Finding Gout Relief

Anyone suffering from this condition will obviously want to find gout relief as quickly as they can. The first step that should be taken is to make a change in diet. It is very important that anyone suffering from this condition limit their intake of fatty and sugary foods and increase their intake of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Water is also very important and at least six to eight glasses should be drank a day. Exercise should be frequent and consistent, and it is especially important for the person to eat lots of foods that are high in purines. This includes red meat and poultry, mushrooms, asparagus, yeast, alcohol, peas, legumes, lentils, spinach, beans, heart, kidney, and tripe, to name just a few.

Medication is also often prescribed for gout relief, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are often the first to be suggested here. These work by blocking prostaglandins which are the substances that dilate the blood vessels in the body and which in turn cause inflammation and pain in the sufferer. These medications are typically taken orally at their highest safe dosage and will be continued for as long as necessary.

Speaking to the Doctor

Regardless of how severe a person’s gout condition is, it is vital that they speak to their doctor and then keep in close contact with them afterwards as well. This is because everyone is different and so everyone’s condition of gout differs as well. Only the doctor will be able to determine how serious the condition actually is and what the best method of treatment is going to be.

Common Gout Home Remedies

Gout is a painful kind of arthritis mostly associated with high levels of uric acid in the blood. Gouty arthritis appears when the uric acid in the blood builds up in joints, causing pain and inflammation. Medical science has developed its treatment methods for gout via medicines, physiotherapy, and surgery.

However, a number of gout home remedies are also known to be effective in preventing gout and relieving its inflammation. Common gout home remedies include the use of certain fruits, natural vegetative products, herbal extracts, and treatment with natural herbs.

Fruits

Many gout home remedies are quite enjoyable as they simply consist of eating fruits. Eating a couple of apples, preferably one after each meal, is an easy way of preventing gout. Serving oneself bananas as diet for up to four days in close succession helps relieve gouty inflammation. Eating cherries daily has been widely found effective in controlling gouty arthritis. Strawberries too are considered by some people as a possible cure for gout.

Juices

Several gout home remedies consist of drinking juices of fruits and other natural plant products. The most popular of these is lemon juice, taken three times daily. Its preparation is simple and quick: mixing the juice of half a lemon in a glass of water. Similarly, drinking cherry juice has been found effective against gout.

Most health food stores stock pure cherry concentrate, which is also very useful for preventing/treating gout. Another health-friendly juice good for gouty symptoms is that of French beans (also known as String beans); half a cup of this juice should be taken daily for its effective action against gout.

Garlic

Garlic is a natural remedy for many illnesses and it is also listed as one of the tried gout home remedies. One should eat two cloves of raw garlic daily to check the symptoms of gout. Still better is to drink the minced garlic cloves (instead of chewing solid garlic) mixed in water or fruit juice.

Other Gout Home Remedies

A number of natural herbs and herbal teas serve as effective gout home remedies. The pain and inflammation caused by gout can be relieved by applying tea made of elm leaf to the gouty area of the body. Applying comfrey tea to the affected area also helps in alleviating inflammation.

One easy remedy for aiding the healing process among gouty patients is taking capsules containing sunflower extract. Also effective against gouty pain and inflammation is the Devil’s Claw that is a natural sedative and anti-inflammatory agent.