Gout is a disorder whose precise cause is often unknown, though it has been linked to excessive alcohol use or a diet heavy in purine-rich foods, such as organ meats. Purines are substances that occur naturally in every cell of the body. When they break down, they form uric acid crystals. Uric acid crystals can accumulate in the joints, causing pain and inflammation. Gout is usually treatable through the use of medications or lifestyle changes. Left unmanaged, gout can cause debilitating effects that seriously impact the quality of life.
Excruciating Pain
Gout has been named as the cause of the worst pain ever experienced by two-thirds of gout patients interviewed in 2006, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. The pain of gout can impair the ability to perform simple tasks such as walking or putting on shoes. Even the slight weight of a bed sheet upon a gout-inflamed joint can create extreme pain that wakes some gout patients in the middle of the night.
Joint Damage
The crystals that accumulate in joints due to gout can cause damage to bone and cartilage, initiating erosion that can lead to permanent joint damage. Tophi are clumps of uric acid that can grow to the size of golf balls and lodge with in a joint, limiting range of motion and destroying skeletal structures. Tophi themselves are not typically painful, according to the Merck Manuals Online Medical Library, but they can swell and become sensitive during attacks of gout.
Spinal compression can occur, albeit rarely, when tophi grow within the joints of the spine. Complete disability is possible in instances where joint destruction due to tophi is severe.
Kidney Stones
MayoClinic.com notes that uric acid crystals can accumulate and grow into kidney stones within the urinary tract. This occurs due to the kidney's inability to cope with the excessive levels of uric acid in the blood. When these stones move from the kidney through the ureters they can cause extreme pain. Twenty-five percent of people with chronically elevated levels of uric acid in the blood develop kidney disease, and kidney failure can result.
Heart Disease
People with hypertension and heart disease experience gout more frequently than others, and high uric acid levels have been associated with higher mortality rates among cardiac patients.
The metabolic syndrome is a collection of conditions such as excess abdominal fat, hypertension and unhealthy levels of fats in the blood. This syndrome has been connected with gout, increased risk of heart disease and diabetes.
