Gout is a complex disease that disturbs the metabolism, affects the genitourinary system, the kidneys and joints. Disease in the joints appears as depositing salts of uric acid. Salt can accumulate in the skin, forming nodules. Without treatment, gout leads to great damage to the body.
Mechanism of development of gout
The nature of the gout is a complex lesion of several organs at once. In the beginning, metabolism is disturbed, and the disease affects the kidneys, joints and genitourinary system. Due to the fact that they almost do not function properly, the body stops secreting salts from the joints, accumulating them in tissues. If you do not have timely treatment, gout spreads throughout the body, striking organs one by one.
The disease affects 4 times more often men than the female population. As for women, so the main percentage of patients falls to age after age 55, in the period of menopause. Prior to this, due to the production of a significant amount of estrogens, salts are more easily removed from the body.
How does gout symptoms develop?
The development of the disease is due to the accumulation of uric acid in the main bloodstream. For this reason, acid particles fall into cartilage tissues. As a result, joints changing their structure, begin to weaken and collapse, injuries obtained under these conditions are very difficult to heal, provoking the emergence of additional bone growths. Gout can develop on any joint, but the legs toes suffer most often because they have to withstand the entire body every day.
If you do not receive treatment in time, gout begins to progress, and capture more and more joints, also striking the kidneys and bladder, turning into a chronic disease.
Gout has 4 stages of development:
- The first stage does not show any symptoms and is almost imperceptible.
- Next, gouty arthritis begins to develop.
- Next, it moves to the critical stage.
- Ultimately, gout turns into a chronic stage.
Causes of gout
The causes of gout are two variants.
In the first case, the body undergoes a pathological process of excess production of uric acid, from which the body does not have time to get rid of.
In the second case, uric acid is not excreted through the kidney.
Complications with gout
Without aid to the body, gout goes into the stage at which the formation of nodes on the skin begins. These nodes are the accumulation of salt deposits, which appear on areas of the body such as elbows, fingers, ears, hips, legs, in the area of the nasal sinuses. At the time of opening the nodes, you can see the salt crystals that came out, while at the breakpoint, a person feels great burning from the salt that hit the wound.
The immune system of the organism defines salt formations as an alien body and includes a protective mechanism of struggle. The level of leukocytes rises as with an infection, which causes an increase in body temperature in areas of accumulation of salts, accompanied by an inflammatory process.
Gout often develops against the background of acquired diabetes and in people who are overweight.
If you do not cure the disease, then it develops into urolithiasis.