Gout - Treatment overview

Gout - Treatment Overview

The goals of treatment for gout are fast pain relief and prevention of future gout attacks and long-term complications, such as joint destruction and kidney damage. Treatment includes medicines and steps you can take at home to prevent future attacks.

Specific treatment depends on whether you are having an acute attack or are trying to manage long-term gout and prevent future attacks.

To treat an acute attack

• Rest the affected joint(s).
• Use ice to reduce swelling.
• Take short-term medicines at the first sign of agout attack, as prescribed by your doctor.
  • Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
  • Colchicine
  • Oral corticosteroids

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To manage long-term gout and prevent future attacks

If gout symptoms have occurred off and on without treatment for several years, they may become ongoing (chronic) and may affect more than one joint.

• Take medicines as your doctor prescribes for pain.
• Take steps to reduce the risk of future attacks.
  • Talk to your doctor about all the medicines you take. Some medicines may raise the uric acid level.
  • Manage your weight; get exercise; and limit alcohol, meat, and seafood.
• Take a long-term medicine:
  • Uricosuric agents
  • Drugs called xanthine oxidase inhibitors
  • Colchicine
  • Pegloticase (Krystexxa). This medicine is for gout that has lasted a long time and has not responded to other treatment.
• Treat tophi. These are chalky nodules that form from uric acid crystals. Treatment includes:
  • Drugs called xanthine oxidase inhibitors, which may shrink the tophi until they disappear.
  • In rare cases, surgery to remove large tophi that are causing deformity.

What to think about

If the blood uric acid is high but a person has never had an attack of gout, treatment is rarely needed. But people with extremely elevated levels may need regular testing for signs ofkidney damage. And they may need long-term treatment to lower their uric acid levels. Yourblood uric acid level may be watched by your doctor until it is lowered to normal levels.