PRAIRIE DOC®
  • Home
  • About
  • People
  • TV
  • Perspective
  • Donate
  • Friends/Sponsors of the Prairie Doc
  • Radio and Podcasts
  • Contact
  • Foundation
  • Prairie Doc Publishing

Gout:  An Ancient Malady

9/21/2020

 

Gout: An Ancient Malady

By Kelly Evans-Hullinger, M.D.
 
It is a classic presentation: The middle-aged man who develops a painful, swollen, great toe the morning after indulging in a steak dinner with a few beers. The savvy clinician will immediately identify this diagnosis, and I imagine much of the general public might recognize it as well. It’s “The Gout.”
Gout is a unique type of inflammatory arthritis in which a substance called uric acid, accumulating in too-high amounts in the bloodstream, forms crystals within a joint. The presence of those microscopic crystals causes the immune system to attack the “foreign” substance, and the result is excruciating pain. I have seen many a patient limp or be wheelchaired into the exam room when this process occurs in their toe, ankle, or knee. In the most severe cases, patients might be admitted to the hospital.
Gout has been recognized as a disease for many centuries, being described in ancient Egyptian texts in 2600 B.C. and later by the famed Greek physician Hippocrates around 400 B.C. It was once known as the “arthritis of the rich,” and the “disease of kings,” given its propensity to occur after consuming rich food and alcohol. Uric acid crystals were first visualized under a microscope in 1679, during the microscope’s early years, by another famous historical scientist, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. The chemical composition of what he saw, however, was not known until more than a century later.
If you have had the agony of experiencing a gout attack, know that you are in excellent company. Both Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were known to suffer from gout, and historians have speculated that their shared experience led to their strong connection at the time of the American Revolution. In fact, reports have stated that Franklin, unable to walk due to a gouty attack, was carried on a chair into the Constitutional Convention by convicts. Western history and literature are full of references to “The Gout.”
Today, gouty arthritis is a fairly common disease. It tends to affect men more than women, and generally occurs in middle-aged and older adults. Treatment of the acute episode is fairly simple; often we just use anti-inflammatory medication. In patients who have recurrent problems with gout we consider daily medication that lowers the level of uric acid in the bloodstream altogether, which is typically highly effective.
“The Gout” of ancient times was a life-altering condition and as such found its way into many historical texts and literature. Today, well, it’s just gout. And usually, we can treat it very effectively.
Kelly Evans-Hullinger, M.D. is part of The Prairie Doc® team of physicians and currently practices internal medicine in Brookings, South Dakota. For free and easy access to the entire Prairie Doc® library, visit www.prairiedoc.org and follow Prairie Doc® on Facebook featuring On Call with the Prairie Doc® a medical Q&A show streaming on Facebook and broadcast on SDPB most Thursdays at 7 p.m. central. 

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Subscribe to Newsletter
Picture
PRAIRIE DOC® MEDIA IS A PART OF HEALING WORDS FOUNDATION.

Healing Words Foundation logo
FIND SCIENCE-BASED PEDIATRIC MEDICAL INFORMATION ON OUR SISTER SITE. 
Play Eat Sleep logo
  • Home
  • About
  • People
  • TV
  • Perspective
  • Donate
  • Friends/Sponsors of the Prairie Doc
  • Radio and Podcasts
  • Contact
  • Foundation
  • Prairie Doc Publishing