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Step 1
Learn the cause of gout and how to avoid it. This will help to naturally stop gout from becoming a serious problem. Do some research on your own to learn the basics of gout and what can cause it. Once you know more about the condition, talk to your doctor. Having a basic understanding of gout will make the doctor session more productive.
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Step 2
Complete a family tree. This does not mean start with the founding of your family and doing an extensive genealogy search. This simply means write down a list of relatives and highlight those who have gout. Start with the males in your family, since males account for 95 percent of gout sufferers and then look at age and distance of relation. You should be more concerned if a father or brother has the condition than if your great grandmother's brother may have had an attack or two after a night out with the boys and some beer.
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Step 3
Monitor your health if you have gout in your family history. While not everyone with a family history of gout will have the condition, it may be a predisposition and should be monitored. Sometimes family members will all have gout with the exception of one or two males. Share this information with your doctor who will be able to better assess your risk of gout and occurrences based on your family history.
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Step 1
Learn which foods are the highest in purine and assess how often you eat these. Certain purine rich foods should be avoided by gout suffers. Look for substitutions for your favorite foods. Mushrooms are high in purine, but leafy green vegetables are low in purine.
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Step 2
Replace any alcoholic beverages, especially beer, wine and high-sugar mixed drinks with water. Other clear low calorie, low caffeine beverages are a good exchange for alcohol. Low fat dairy milk and water remove the uric acid, lowering the levels found in the blood stream. When a gout attack is first felt, reaching for a bottle of water is the best way to naturally remove uric acid from the body. Because alcohol stops the natural removal of uric acid from the body, gout suffers should avoid all alcohol, especially during a flare up of gout.
