"Why don't you come and see it sooner, it's too late!"
Mr. Wang is 47 years old this year, but the old problem of gout has been following him closely for more than 20 years, and it usually has no big impact.
But in recent days, he has noticed that something is wrong with his body, his limbs are swollen, and the most fatal thing is that the amount of urine he urins has been decreasing until he has no urine. Realizing that something was wrong, he immediately went to the hospital.
When the doctor saw Mr. Wang, his hands were covered with large and small gout nodules, and they were swollen in circles. After testing, the serum creatinine was as high as 710umol/L and the serum potassium was 6.9mmol/L, which had caused uremia.
Although the operation was performed immediately, Mr. Wang died because he was admitted to the hospital too late. The doctor sighed: If you pay more attention and seek medical attention earlier, the outcome may be very different.
01 High uric acid is no longer exclusive to middle-aged and elderly people,
What's the problem?
Hyperuricemia is a condition in which uric acid is produced and excreted abnormally, resulting in an increase in the concentration of uric acid in the blood.
According to the data in the "2021 White Paper on Trends of Hyperuricemia and Gout in China", the overall prevalence of hyperuricemia in mainland China has reached 13.3%, and the number of patients is about 177 million, of which young and middle-aged people aged 18~35 account for nearly 6 percent.
Associate Chief Physician Chung Shu-ping, Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Five Hospitals of CUHK, pointed out that there are many causes of hyperuricemia, such as the intake of large amounts of meat, sweets, beverages, etc., which will lead to an increase in purine levels in the body, which may eventually evolve into gout.
In addition to diet, poor lifestyle habits and poor mood may also cause abnormal uric acid metabolism.
When gout attacks, the first symptom is often severe swelling and pain in the big toe joint, which is manifested as a knife cut and tear, and at the same time, the joint or tissue is red and swollen, the temperature rises, and the tender is obvious, and some more serious patients will even have systemic symptoms such as fever and chills.
In addition to the big toe joint, gout can also occur in the knee joint, ankle, back of the foot and other parts, and the probability of gout in the waist and hip joint is relatively small.
02What are the dangers of high uric acid?
4 locations may be affected
When it comes to high uric acid, most people will equate it with gout. It is true that gout is one of the most common complications of high uric acid, but not all patients with high uric acid will have gout symptoms.
Some patients will find elevated uric acid levels during a physical examination but do not have any symptoms of discomfort. Therefore, regular physical examination is very important, through physical examination can be found in time to find the abnormality of the body, long-term uric acid level is too high, may bring 4 effects on health.
1. Blood vessels: hardening of the arteries
A large amount of uric acid in the body that cannot be metabolized will gradually be deposited on the blood vessel wall, which will damage the vascular endothelium, leading to hardening of the blood vessel inner wall, and may also cause blood clots in the later stage.
2. Heart: coronary heart disease, etc
High uric acid will directly damage blood vessels, leading to coagulation dysfunction, blocking blood vessels, and easily inducing cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease.
Especially in diabetic patients, hyperuricemia will directly threaten the health of large blood vessels and cause coronary artery disease.
3. Kidneys: hyperuricemia nephropathy
Uric acid is mainly metabolized through the kidneys, and a large amount of uric acid entering the kidneys will damage the renal tubules and glomeruli, which in turn will induce chronic kidney disease, increase the levels of creatinine and urea nitrogen, and even induce renal failure.
4. Brain: Stroke
Long-term high uric acid can promote the development of atherosclerosis and increase the risk of stroke.
According to epidemiological survey data, people with hyperuricemia have a 47% increased risk of stroke and a 26% increased risk of death compared with the normal population.
03 Is uric acid all eaten?
Doing a good job of uric acid control is the key to 4 points
In our opinion, high uric acid is caused by eating, but this is not the case. Only 20% of the purines in our body come from food, and the remaining 80% comes from the body's endogenous metabolism.
In 2018, a study in BMJ noted that dietary differences had a very limited effect on uric acid levels, with an overall effect of no more than 5%.
It's not to blame the purines in food, why is the uric acid in a good body high?
It may be that eating too much is too good, but now everyone's living conditions are generally better, and a lot of sugar, salt and fat are at your fingertips. In the long run, it will lead to a great impact on health, causing overweight, obesity, etc., forming a vicious circle.
If you want to prevent hyperuricemia, in addition to improving your diet and eating less high-purine foods, alcohol, sweets, etc., you also need to do these four things.
1. Get enough sleep
A study conducted by researchers from the Department of Nephrology of Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University pointed out that the prevalence of hyperuricemia reached 19.8% in the sleep-deprived group with 5~6 hours of sleep per day.
Compared with the normal sleep group, it is much higher, and the researchers believe that it is related to the lack of sleep that will affect the function of the neuroendocrine and autonomic nervous systems, and once the balance of the body's internal environment is disrupted, it will lead to abnormal metabolism of uric acid, which is easy to induce hyperuricemia.
2. Drink less sugary drinks
Sugar-sweetened beverages contain very high levels of fructose, which directly produces uric acid when broken down in the body, increasing the source of endogenous uric acid. In addition, fructose will inhibit the excretion of uric acid by the kidneys, and the combination of these two factors will naturally cause hyperuricemia.
3. Exercise regularly
Proper exercise can improve the metabolic function in the body, reduce body weight, blood pressure, blood sugar, and also improve the body's metabolism of uric acid.
It is recommended to do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, such as walking, jogging, swimming, etc.
4. Avoid overmedication
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as diuretics and aspirin may cause uric acid levels in the body to rise when used for a long time.
Therefore, when taking medication, you must follow the doctor's instructions, and regularly go to the hospital to follow up and review the indicators in the body, and consult the doctor in time if you need to stop the drug if you find any abnormalities.
High uric acid is no trivial matter, in daily life, we must take more precautions, change from the details, and change bad habits.
Source: 39 Health Network