There are a lot of conditions which could be effecting your joints. As we get older these areas of our bodies become susceptible to attack more than anything else and conditions like the many kinds of arthritis become more and more common. Arthritis has become so common in fact, that it’s now affecting children and young people much more too and factors like obesity are only making the problem worse.
However, there is another condition which can have a similar affect on your joints which is not a type of arthritis. It causes pain like arthritis, lessens mobility in the joints and is made much worse by overindulging. What could it be?
I’ll give you a clue, it was once known as the disease of kings because it required a great deal of money to eat and drink as much as this one requires.
Gout. This is a condition which primarily affects men until women go through menopause, after which it damages both sexes about equally. It causes intense pain in the joints, followed by swelling and a reddening of the affected area of skin. As rich foods and alcohol have gotten much cheaper and more readily available gout has stopped being a health concern which only becomes an issue for the rich, it now damages rich and poor without discrimination.
Gout is caused when uric acid builds up on the body, either because you’re producing too much or you’re failing to remove it from your body as well as you should be. This build up causes uric crystals to form in the joints which in turn cause chronic pain and inflammation.
All of the causes of gout are not known but eating a fatty and rich diet or consuming excess amounts of alcohol can certainly exacerbate the issue a great deal!
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