Gout in Males

Gout in males has a vastly different presentation to that in the females. The onset of a  gouty attack  in males is likely to occur very suddenly, often at night,involving one joint on the lower extremitiy, more often than not  the big toe,and the male is much younger, around forty, although it could occur anywhere between the age of 40 to 60.

The manifesting symptoms are inflammation, swelling, redness, and severe pain.After the initial gouty attack subsides there may be a long period of apparent  return to normality, however, it has been found that  during this asymptomatic period crystals are still being deposited in joints and tissues.

The cause of a gouty attack in males is mostly related to dietary indiscretions. Over consumption of alcohol is quiet heavily implicated, as well as too much protein, saturated fat, and purine rich foods.

Often it has been found that the gouty attack has been triggered by an overdose of a single food item, however just avoiding this one single food item which carries the blame is unlikely to avoid further gouty attacks.

Hormones have been found to play a role in the occurrence of male gout as well, it was noted that males given preoperative doses of estrogen before sex change were found to excrete more urice acid.Exactly why the administration of synthetic estrogens to postmenopausal women failed to increase uric acid excretion has not not yet been answered.

Exactly why males in their 80s are not likely to have gout, whereas females are  seem to indicate hormone involvement. If androgens administered to females are likely to cause gout, and estrogens given to males increase urice acid excretion, then maybe older males have low levels of androgens and increased levels of estrogen, hence the decreased incidence of gout in the older male.Females with low levels of estrogen in their 80s tend to be more susceptible to androgen influence as evidenced by the increase in facial hair, and so are more likely to have a tendency to gout.Read more:Pseudo Gout