Can I Prevent Attacks?
When you have gout, you should keep in contact with your healthcare provider and consistently follow the treatment plan you discussed—including between attacks. It may be easy to forget about gout until the next flare comes. Hyperuricemia (high uric acid levels) is the primary risk factor for gout. Staying with a treatment plan may help keep your gout under control. The higher the level of uric acid in your blood, the more likely you are to have a painful flare.
No one action you can take will prevent all gout attacks, but the following steps may help:
- Maintain a healthy and well-balanced diet. Avoid alcohol, especially beer. Try to avoid foods that are high in purines, like certain types of meat, seafood, and even vegetables. Find out which specific foods are high in purines.
- Exercise regularly and maintain a healthy body weight. Lose weight if you are overweight, but do not go on quick-loss diets because they can actually increase uric acid levels in the blood.
- Take the medicines your healthcare provider has prescribed. Carefully follow instructions about how much medicine to take and when to take it.
- Tell your healthcare provider about any other medicines and vitamins you take, including natural or herbal supplements. He or she will know if any of them could be increasing your risk of gout attacks.
- Keep all your follow-up appointments with your healthcare provider and ask about monitoring your progress through measuring your levels of uric acid.
- Talk with your healthcare provider about other ways to help manage gout.