Health Center

Have you ever woke up in the middle of the night, and felt as if your big toe was burning like it was on fire? It’s swollen, hot and has the feeling were its tender that even the weight of your blanket touching it seems uncontrollable and awful.

Alone in the United States over two million Americans are affected and suffer from attacks of Gout, it’s a terrible, painful condition. Gout is a type of arthritis condition. This is most common in men between the ages of 40 and 50, and in women, after menopause the occurrence increases. This condition is unlikely rare in children and young adults. It’s caused by too much uric acid in the blood. Sometimes, having too much uric acid is not always harmful. Some people that have high levels in their blood might never get gout. However, when your body can’t develop them correctly you’ll then have problems, when the levels get too high uric acid in the blood crystallizes of hard lumps and settles in the joint spaces, which is what causes swelling, inflammation, stiffness, and pain.

These crystals are uric acid, which is the breakdown process of purines thats a normal waste product from the food we eat. Uric acid is normally cleaned out of the body by the kidneys and is eliminated as urine. For some people with gout, the level of uric acid increases above average and crystals deposit in the ligaments and cartilage. An abnormality in the production or elimination of uric acid can cause attacks of gout arthritis, kidney stones, and even in extreme cases, the blockage of the kidney tubules with crystals, leading to kidney failure. The joint that’s most affected in gout is the big toe, although other joints could also be affected, which would be the knee, ankle, foot, hand, wrist and elbow. Read more…

So you have arthritis knee pain? You are not alone. Unfortunately it is a reality for many of us over the age of 50. We suffer from arthritis pain in some form.

I know for many of us, we have been so consumed with our careers and family life that we have neglected to take care of ourselves to our own detriment.

All of a sudden we are faced with aches and pain in our knees and other joints that we never intended to have at this point in our lives.

Arthritis knee pain affects our mobility and freedom to do the activities we enjoy like walking, golfing, biking and fishing. So what can we do about it? Well we can sit back and do nothing or we can learn ways to alleviate arthritis pain.

Here are 3 great tips to decrease arthritis knee pain.

1) Exercise – Exercise is one of the most effective thing we can do to decrease arthritis pain. Simple exercises like walking 30 minutes a day has so many benefits. Exercising causes us to release endorphins which are our natural pain killers. The result is decrease pain and improve joint mobility.

2) Epsom Salts – 2 cups of Epsom salts in a tub of warm water do wonders for arthritis knee pain. Not only is it relaxing but Epsom salts when absorbed in the body causes us to release toxins and excess mineral deposits. Excess mineral deposits in the joints has been linked to one of the causes of arthritis. Read more…

If you or a loved one suffers from arthritis, you are likely all too aware of the pain, discomfort and frustration of this crippling disease. The most common treatment, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs, while effective, can also come with unwanted side effects, such as causing ulcers in your stomach or affecting your kidneys or liver.

So what can you do?

Scientists have long known that fish oil acts as an anti-inflammatory in your system. They have been focused on using the Omega 3 DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) to reduce inflammation at a cellular level, thereby limiting the risk of blood clots and lowering cholesterol.

But the source of arthritis pain is also inflammation, so researchers tried using therapeutic doses of Omega 3 on people suffering with rheumatoid arthritis, as well as joint pain and morning stiffness.

The results were excellent. In more than 75% of the cases, the patients were able to reduce their dose of NSAIDs.

What is a therapeutic dose?

You and your doctor can best determine the dose for your needs, but as a general guideline look at taking between 2 and 3 grams of fish oil for arthritis a day. Read more…