Gout symptoms are often most commonly seen in the feet, but gout can also be found in the hands. Gout in hand is quite popular..
If you have too many uric acids in your bloodstream, it can cause acidity to concentrate in your hands. This can lead to attacks. Although this isn’t as common as gout in the feet, the pain can be similar. These flares are most common in the wrist, hands, and fingers.[1]
Gout is a chronic disease: this means that, in the absence of treatment, there are attacks more or less spaced out – specialists estimate that the average time between 2 attacks is about 2 years. Thus, people who have already had a gout attack can recognise the “warning signs”: the affected joint is tingling, mobility may be limited, discomfort or even pain may be felt… It is a type of arthritis.
About Gout in Hands
Chiragra, or gout in hands, is a form of gout that affects the joints of the hands and results in episodes (attacks) of acute, painful inflammation. The inflammation is caused by excess uric acid forming small crystals in and around the joints. Uric acid increases in the body after consuming alcohol and certain foods (especially seafood, red meat or organ meats such as liver or kidney). The main symptoms of chiragra are swelling, tenderness and redness of the joints of the hands. Early gout in hands tends to affect people around the age of 30, more often men than women.[2]
If several attacks of gout occur each year, chronic symptoms such as joint deformity and limitation of movement in affected joints may occur. Uric acid deposits, called tophi, develop in cartilage tissue, tendons and soft tissues. These tophi usually develop only after a patient has had the disease for many years. Deposits can also occur in the kidneys, leading to chronic kidney disease.[3]
Learn to determine if you have gouty hands
You may not be aware that you have gout if you have never experienced it before. You may mistakenly think that the unusual pain or stiffness in your hands is a minor strain.
These are some ways to determine if you have gouty hands:[4]
- There is swelling in your hands and joints;
- You can feel tenderness and sensitivity by simple movements, such as clenching or flexing your fingers;
- A burning sensation is felt in your hands and joint;
- Sometimes you feel stiffness in your hands and have trouble moving your fingers;
- Your hand will glow brightly red, almost like a balloon;
- Your finger feels lumpy and like it has tophi underneath the skin.
Gout Causes
What to do for your gout in hands
Gout symptoms in the hands can be relieved with a variety of remedies. Gout attacks can be treated with these remedies:
- Warm water and Epsom salt should be placed in a basin. After soaking the area for a few moments, alternate with ice. Salt neutralizes acidity, while ice reduces swelling.
- Take half a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar or baking soda and mix it into a glass water. A slice of lemon can be added to your water. These ingredients can be alkalinizing, which can stop the gout attack.[5]
- Relax. Gout attacks can be very painful. You need a quick fix. Relaxation is the first thing you should think about. Keeping calm and slow breathing can help reduce acidity and oxygenate your blood.
- Take natural anti-inflammatory supplements: Curcumin and Boswellia.
- You can also take an anti-inflammatory medication like naproxen sodium or indomethacin. Colchicine, which is stronger for treating gout in the hands, may be prescribed by your doctor.
You can prevent the symptoms of gout from developing in your hands by changing your lifestyle. You can avoid gout by eating a low-calorie diet, losing weight, quitting smoking, drinking lots of water, and exercising to maintain a healthy weight.[6]
Home Remedies for Gout
What to do about gout in the hands?
Gout attacks are treated with specific drugs: colchicine, anti-inflammatory drugs or cortisone (infiltrations or tablets) are some examples.
You may also take other medications such as low-dose aspirin, diuretics (water pills) or immunosuppressants. Your doctor may also recommend that you add low-fat dairy products to your diet and drink plenty of fluids, especially water, to help flush uric acid from your body. These medicines can be taken at the first signs of a gout attack.
In addition to medication, a gout attack is countered by :
- Resting the affected joint.
- Local application of ice pack or cold compress directly on the joint for about 15 minutes (Applying cold directly to the affected part is a good home remedy to relieve gout pain but, above all, to reduce inflammation and swelling).
- Taking an anti-inflammatory drug or colchicine to relieve the pain
- An acute attack can be treated with a joint puncture or corticosteroid injection.
- A diet containing less animal protein (especially red meat and offal), more dairy products and vegetables.
- Drink water to stay hydrated (2 to 3 litres of water per day); if you are fluid restricted due to kidney failure, talk to your doctor or dietitian about gout and fluid management.
- Gradual and balanced weight loss reduces gout attacks in an overweight person.
- Look for ways to relieve tension caused by pain, such as deep breathing and meditation.
- Do not drink alcohol or eat foods rich in purines.
As well, an excellent home remedy to lower high uric acid levels is to prepare a mixture of baking soda and water. Just add a small spoonful of baking soda in half a glass of water and that’s it. The ideal is to drink eight glasses a day with this preparation.
How do you know if you have gout in your hand?
The person with gout is awakened in the middle of the night by a sudden pain in the affected articulation. The joint is hot, red, swollen and extremely painful. The attack normally stops after a few days. The skin itches and peels. After an attack, it is likely that a new attack will occur months or years later.
If the blood level of uric acid remains high, it may continue to be deposited in the joints (without causing symptoms) and gradually deform them: this is chronic gout. You can see online many photos of gout in hands and find the causes.
Read more: How do you know if you have gout in your hand?How long does gout in the hand last?
Gout crises (or attacks) can come on suddenly and can be extremely painful. During a gout attack, pain, swelling and/or redness appear in the affected joint. Gout attacks vary in duration: some last only a few hours, others last several days.
Without treatment, a minor gout attack will disappear spontaneously within 1 to 2 weeks. With treatment, the pain disappears within a few hours and the gout attack is resolved.
The start of a background treatment allows a decrease in uricemia and gout attacks become rare. In the absence of background treatment, gout attacks recur. The first gouty attacks usually affect the feet (especially the big toe), then the ankles and knees
After several years of evolution, gout can affect the joints of the arms (hands, elbows).
The affected joint swells and becomes red, hot and painful. The joint may become stiff and hurt more when touched. An acute attack of gout in hand lasts 3 to 10 days on average.
Sometimes people with acute gout only have attacks once or twice a year. When you have chronic gout, the attacks happen more often and the periods of normality between attacks are shortened.there are things you can do to control your symptoms during gout attacks.
During an attack, the main goal of treatment is to reduce pain and swelling in the joint. If you are already taking a uric acid-lowering medication at the time of the attack, you should continue to take it as usual. If you are not already taking a uric acid-lowering medication at the time of the crisis, you should not start uric acid-lowering medication during the crisis, but after the crisis, as directed by your doctor.
What are the symptoms of gout in the hand?
Gout is a rheumatic disease that develops in attacks. It causes sudden and intense pain in one or more joints, which often occurs at night. The simple contact of the sheets can become unbearable, for example. The joint appears red and swollen; the pain may be accompanied by fever and chills. The big toe is most frequently affected, but the ankle, wrist, hand, knee or elbow can also be affected.
Chiragra is a form of gout that affects the joints of the hands and results in episodes (attacks) of acute, painful inflammation. The inflammation is caused by excess uric acid forming small crystals in and around the joints. Uric acid increases in the body after consuming alcohol and certain foods (especially seafood, red meat or organ meats such as liver or kidney). The main gout in hands symptoms are swelling, tenderness and redness of the joints of the hands. Gout tends to affect people over the age of 30, more often men than women.
The symptoms of a gout attack can hardly go unnoticed. Typically, the affected person goes to bed feeling perfectly well, then wakes up during the night with intense pain in the affected joint. At first the person feels as if a bucket of cold water has been poured over the joint, but soon a very painful shearing sensation appears, as well as a feeling of pressure and tightness. The area becomes red, hot and very sensitive to touch, and even the presence of a sheet can increase the pain. A mild fever often occurs.
The attack usually goes away on its own after 3 to 10 days, but prompt treatment can speed up relief. After an attack of this kind, called acute gout or acute gouty arthritis, most patients experience another episode within 2 years. The attacks seem to become more frequent, persist for longer periods and affect more joints over time.
In very rare cases, the attacks do not go away and persist, developing into chronic gout. If the inflammation continues, the crystals can permanently damage and deform the affected joint. In addition, uric acid crystals can accumulate in tissues other than the joints, forming deposits called tophi, which appear as whitish or yellowish friable masses under the skin, particularly in the fingers, toes, back of the elbows, behind the heels and around the outer part of the ear. The tophi sometimes break through the skin, causing ulcerations to form.
Gout can cause kidney stones, which can lead to symptoms such as severe pain in the flank or groin and sometimes blood in the urine. It is not clear to what extent gout can damage the kidneys, apart from the effects of kidney stones.
These risks can be greatly reduced by following a healthy lifestyle and taking your medication as recommended.
What should I do if I have gout in my hand?
Pain and swelling during an attack of chiragra is controlled with anti-inflammatory drugs and painkillers (such as ibuprofen, paracetamol or colchicine) for an immediate gout pain relief. Lifestyle changes such as losing weight, eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly can also help control gout and prevent future gout attacks.
The diet can be changed to avoid foods that trigger gout attacks and, if necessary, a medicine called allopurinol can be given. Allopurinol reduces the amount of uric acid in the blood. Losing weight can also help prevent future gout attacks and is probably one of the best treatment for gout in hands!
In brief, you can do:
- Take medication to relieve pain and swelling from inflammation
- Rest, immobilisation of the painful joint with splints and ice
- Dietary changes and weight loss to lower uric acid levels and help prevent future attacks
- Take medication to prevent attacks by avoiding inflammation caused by crystals
- Take drugs to reduce uric acid levels and dissolve crystals (most effective way to cure gout and stop attacks, but it takes time to dissolve all deposits)
So, the treatment of gout has three objectives:
- Relief of the acute inflammatory attack
- Prevention of future attacks
- Prevention of uric acid deposition in tissues by reducing uric acid levels in the blood
Can you get gout in your hand?
Yes, gout can affect you in the hands. Typical symptoms include severe pain in the joints of the hand and fingers, along with redness, swelling, difficulty moving the joints, and sometimes tophi (deposits of uric acid crystals that appear as firm, yellowish nodules).
In 99% of cases, gout is a disease that will be inaugurated in the big toe. When attacks are repeated, the joints affected may be underlying. But gout that affects the hands first is quite exceptional: When someone presents with painful and inflammatory hand pathology, we don’t think of gout first. We think about it but not first….
These are usually single-jointed attacks involving:
The lower limbs (mainly):
- Tarsus and big toe mainly,
- Ankles
- Knees
Upper limbs (sometimes):
- Hands
- Wrists
- Elbows
- Sometimes the shoulder
What causes gout in hand?
It is called the disease of kings. Yet gout, far from having disappeared, is actually on the increase worldwide.
The main cause of a gout attack is a high level of uric acid in the blood (above 6.8 mg/dL, the solubilisation point of uric acid). This molecule circulates in the blood and accumulates in the joints in the form of crystals, which cause an inflammatory reaction and intense pain.
The body produces uric acid when it breaks down purines, which are substances that are naturally present in the body. Purines are also found in certain foods, including red meat and organ meats such as liver. Purine-rich fish and shellfish include anchovies, sardines, mussels, scallops, trout and tuna. Alcoholic beverages, especially beer, and drinks sweetened with fruit sugar (fructose) promote higher levels of uric acid. So high consumption of those food is an important marker.
In addition, certain diuretic treatments for high blood pressure can favour the appearance of gout. The same goes for treatments prescribed to kidney and heart transplant patients. This is why it is important to check any other medical prescriptions, because sometimes it is enough to stop or change the offending treatment.
Normally, uric acid dissolves in the blood and passes through the kidneys into the urine. Sometimes the body produces too much uric acid or the kidneys excrete too little. When this happens, uric acid builds up and forms sharp needle-shaped urate crystals in a joint or the surrounding tissue, causing pain, inflammation and swelling.
==> So, the cause of gout is an excess of uric acid in the blood (hyperuricemia). But this alone is not enough to speak of gout, there must be joint damage. This disease affects about 2% of the population and does not affect just anyone: 80% of those affected are men over 40 years old, often overweight and with a rich diet. It is also not uncommon to find a favourable genetic background, with parents of the previous generation prone to gout.
The appearance of a gout attack is often sufficiently typical to make the diagnosis, so hyperuricemia must be sought by taking a blood test.
Sources
- Lordon I. & Ritchin R. (1995) – Management of difficult to treat pain. Frontiers in Pharmacology, [online] 24(3), pp.404–463. doi:12.1258/010592380.
- Santley A. (2003) – Exploratory study to evaluate health risk from gout in hands, Cell Death & Disease, [online] 10(2). doi:12.1284/s13969-014-0204-8.
- Kim K.Y.,Schumacher H.R., Hunsche E., Wertheimer A., Kong S.X. (2003) – A literature review of the epidemiology and treatment of acute gout, Clin Ther. 2003 Jun;25(6):1593-617. doi: 10.1016/s0149-2918(03)80158-3. | Publisher Site
- Valda M. (2011) – Effect of supplementation on goutty hands: a randomized controlled trial, BioMed Research International, [online] 2011, pp.3–8. doi:09.1254/2012/4470503.
- Balmed Y. (2009) – Suppressing the Secretion of Cytokine-Induced Neutrophil Chemoatractant-1, Pain Management Medications,[online] 17. doi:12.1015pmm.2015.2.
- Smed S. (2014) – A Review of Clinical Data and Relevant Studies about gout in hands, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, [online] 6(2), p.a06752. doi:7.1012/j.rsm.2014.e08653.
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2 Comments
Mark
I love to find this kind of useful information against gout. It was just what I needed! Thank you so much!
Christin
I was diagnosed with Gout a few months ago and my right hand is very affected, there are days when I can’t even move it. Researching on the internet I found this page so informative, now I understand better the causes of gout and what I can do to alleviate some of the pain.
I am open to learn everything about Gout and this site is very complete, full of practical information!