Mysteries of Gout, Hyperuricemia & Kidney Disease Revealed

It’s the 4^th of July and you’re having a bar-b-que.  Lots of brats, beer, and laughs.  You watch the fireworks and finally go to bed.  Early in the morning your foot is on fire with unbearable pain.  Welcome to gout.

Your first gout attack comes out of the blue, but it has been in the making for years. 

I’ll reveal what really happened, and what you can and can’t do about it.

Gout Is Caused By Hyperuricemia, Which Is Caused By Uric Acid

Gout is caused by a build up of uric acid which is called hyperuricemia.  When your blood is saturated with uric acid, monosodium urate crystals (uric acid crystals) form.  Those crystals are what causes gout.

The uric acid gout crystals cause the pain, inflammation, swelling and joint damage.

When I first started researching this topic, I thought that getting rid of the excess uric acid (hyperuricemia) was the answer.

Technically that is correct.  However, we can’t lower the uric acid levels very much, because the body requires it for several reasons.

Which is why the kidneys reabsorb 90% of it after having filtered it. [4]

There are drugs like Allopurinol that block the making of uric acid, but it has a number of side-effects that you don’t want.

Hyperuricemia Causes Liver Disease and Vice Versa

Hyperuricemia damages the kidneys, which causes less uric acid to be filtered by the kidneys.  This lower processing rate means that the uric acid levels increase even more, which causes even more damage. [7]  This all results in higher uric acid levels (hyperuricemia) and Gout.

In other words, as kidney damage continues, it becomes Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD).  Which can include: non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes. [7]

Unfortunately, that is the short list of diseases linked to hyperuricemia and gout.

Can CBD Oil Cure Gout, Hyperuricemia & Kidney Disease?

Keep in mind that the FDA doesn’t allow anyone to claim that any product is able to treat or cure anything. I’m not claiming that CBD oil will actually treat or cure anything. However, I am reporting scientific evidence that it may be possible.

First, there is no “proof”, but there is evidence.  You are now among the very few people who know about this.

This is a very complex subject, but I’m determined to make this easy to understand.

Many people are using CBD oil for many different diseases. They aren’t waiting for the scientists to find enough proof to satisfy the medical professionals.

As you read this article you will realize that gout and the other diseases mentioned are all the result of inflammation. CBD oil is excellent at removing inflammation, but how it does it is very complex, and not fully understood.

Unfortunately, I will probably have to write another article explaining how CBD oil is potentially able to prevent, stop, and maybe even cure gout, hyperuricemia, and kidney disease.

Using CBD For Gout Pain.

The first way of using CBD for gout, is for pain relief.  When you have a gout flare-up you need immediate pain relief.  However, there is another reason to use CBD for gout.  Which is prevention and potentially curing gout naturally with CBD oil and topical CBD pain cream.

Doctors say gout is incurable.  Well, I believe that everything is curable, but I’m in the minority.  So, let’s see where my research takes us.

You Don’t Have To Be Wealthy To Have Gout

Gout is still widely perceived as a condition caused by an unhealthy life style of over indulgence.  Like drinking too much red wine, and eating too much rich food.

Is there any truth to the stereotype of the middle-aged man with a flushed red face, overweight, and having gout?  Yes!

Gout is caused by a buildup of uric acid, a natural waste product built up within in the body from foods containing purines.  Purines are a crystalline compound found in food that is oxidized during digestion into uric acid.

Purines are found in lots of things like beer, bacon, turkey, various kinds of seafood, and liver.

Uric acid also builds up in the body tissues and joints from hard exercise.

The accumulation of high levels of uric acid (Hyperuricemia) is something that typically occurs over many years.

Eventually the body tissues become saturated, and uric acid crystals start to form in joints and under the skin.

Technically, the uric acid combines with the sodium in the bloodstream to form monosodium urate crystals called tophi.

Big Toe Gout Attacks in The Middle of The Night.

The typical acute gout attack will quite often start in the middle of the night.  The big toe is the most common place for gout to start, but any joint could develop gout.

The toe will swell up, feel hot, and be bright red.  Often times the whole foot swells up too.

Gout pain is so severe that many people would rather cut off the toe than live with the searing pain.

Typically, the toe is so sensitive that just the weight of a bed sheet causes too much pain to bear.

Many people suffering their first gout attack think they must have broken their toe.  That idea is quickly reinforced when they get out of bed and can’t put any weight on that foot.

What Causes A Surprise Acute Gout Attack?

Factors that can trigger an attack includes many things. [1]

Such as:

• Heavy physical exercise produces lactic acid which reduces the excretion of the uric acid. [2]
• Stubbing your toe. More on that later.
• Getting drunk.
• Consuming too much fructose or sugar, such as soft drinks.
• Not drinking enough water.
• Any illness that involves the kidneys.
• Some medicines. Such as cyclosporin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol. [4]

 Why Do People Get gout?  What Originally Causes Gout?

This can get complicated, because there are quite a number of different factors. If you have gout, you probably have more than one of the contributing factors.

Basically, there are three types, or groups, of people that get gout.

The first group is genetic. Around 6% of the people who get gout have a genetic cause.  Yep, blame it on Dad and Mom.

These people lack one of the transporter proteins in the kidneys that gets rid of the uric acid.  So, they are genetically prone to hanging onto large amounts of uric acid in their body.  These people will develop gout at a relatively young age.

In the second group, we have older people, whose kidneys are not as effective as they were when they were younger.  Because their kidneys are not working as well as they did, they struggle to get rid of a sufficient amount of uric acid.

The third group, are people where for a number of different reasons, they’ll have more uric acid in their body.  This is sometimes due to medicines, or being very overweight, or a combination of factors called metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic Syndrome Leads To Gout

Metabolic syndrome is a group of medical conditions that include:

• Type 2 diabetes.
• High blood sugar levels.
• High cholesterol, which leads to fat plugging up blood vessels.
• High triglyceride levels.  This is the fat that builds up in the blood vessels.
• Low levels of HDL cholesterol.  The good stuff that helps to lower the fat deposits.
• High blood pressure.

Having metabolic syndrome means that you are at high risk of strokes and heart disease.

Over 70% of the uric acid that is dumped out of the body passes through the kidneys into the urine. [1]  The other 30% is passed out through the intestines.

As I already mentioned, 90% of the uric acid is reabsorbed by the body.  That means that only 10% of what is processed by the kidneys ends up in the urine.

So, if you have any kidney disease, you are more likely to have gout problems too. 

As you get older, the kidneys tend to not work as well as they did.  That can lead to the kidneys not being able to process as much uric acid as the body is producing.

Here is an analogy: 

Your house represents your body, and your kidneys are represented by your bathroom sink. 

When the body produces uric acid, it flows into the sink (kidneys), where it leaves the body through the sink drain.

However, the (kidneys) sink drain is partially blocked and can’t pass all the uric acid as fast as it enters the sink (kidneys). 

So, the sink overflows and the uric acid is flooding the house (body). 

Eventually the uric acid is so concentrated that it turns into monosodium urate crystals.  It’s those (monosodium) uric acid crystals that cause the pain and inflammation.

Where Does the Uric Acid Come From?

There are five main sources of uric acid.

• Uric acid is produced from foods that contain purines.  Purines are a colorless crystalline compound in many foods.  As the food is processed through the liver and intestines, the purines are turned into uric acid.

• Your body makes most of your purines for various reasons, and that is why this is such a complicated subject.  

• In response to various bodily needs the liver actually makes it from scratch (de novo). [4] 

• Also, the inner surface of the blood vessels (endothelium) is a large source of uric acid.

• Most importantly, every time a body cell dies, huge amounts of uric acid are produced. [8]  More about that later.

Gout Remains After the Hangover Ends

Alcohol of any kind, and particularly beer, will increase the amount of uric acid in the body. 

Beer has a high content of purines that turns into uric acid, and alcohol reduces the amount of uric acid that is excreted in the urine. [1,2]

So, that is why an acute gout attack often happens after a night of heavy beer drinking.  You produced more uric acid than the kidneys could eliminate.

Wine, that has a lower alcohol content, was not found to increase uric acid levels. [1] Whereas, hard liquor with a high alcohol content will increase the amount of uric acid in the body.

For men, just two beers per day, will significantly increase your chances of gout occurring. [1]

Hide the Beer from The Women

Women have a higher increase in uric acid blood levels than men when drinking beer. [1]

However, they also tend to hold off getting gout until ten years after the men.  Apparently, this is due to their higher estrogen levels. [1]

Men are four times more likely to get gout than women are, up to the age of 65.  Then, because of menopause, men are only three times more likely to get gout as compared to women. [1]

Menopause starts long before the age of 65, but it takes a number of years for the uric acid levels to increase (hyperuricemia) before gout forms.

Skip the Beef, Pork, Lamb, Sardines, & Herring?

A large study of gout involved men who were employed in the medical professions. [3]

These well paid professionals are prime examples of potential gout victims.  That’s because they have the income to fit the stereotype of an overweight man that can indulge in rich food and drink.

Eating beef, pork or lamb once per week (or less) significantly increases the chance of getting a gout diagnosis.  Two or more times per week is even worse.

Various seafoods are high in purines.  Such as scallops, trout, codfish, herring, anchovies, sardines, and mussels.  These seafoods are excellent nutrition and the doctors recommend eating them in limited amounts if you suffer with gout.

So, it seems that the average American is at risk.  However, there are mitigating factors that can reduce the risk.

Low Fat Milk and Yogurt to The Rescue

Full fat dairy products did not influence the number of gout cases – good or bad. [3]

However, low-fat milk and low-fat yogurt actually decreases the chances of a gout diagnosis.

Other Foods With Moderate Purine Levels

If you already have gout, these foods are going to lessen the number of attacks you suffer with:  shrimp, duck, chicken, lobster, oysters, and crab.

These foods will lessen your symptoms, and will slow the rate of tissue damage caused by the uric crystals.

Are Vegans Safe From Gout?

Maybe.  Even eating vegetables that have a high purine content (asparagus, spinach) did not increase the rate of gout occurrences. [3]

However, you would have to assume that the vast majority of the 47,150 men were not vegans.  So, their vegetable consumption would be lower than a Vegan’s diet.

Eating large quantities of high purine vegetables would logically lead to the same fate as eating high purine meats, but the evidence doesn’t show that.

How Uric Acid Turns Into Hyperuricemia and Gout

First of all, humans and apes have evolved to have higher levels of uric acid than other mammals.  That’s because purines are needed by the body for various reasons.  So, the body makes purines as needed.

However, that can be a problem.  Certain body conditions and diseases increases the amounts of purines produced.  This is a complicated subject.

As I have already said, purines are metabolized and turned into uric acid.  So, the more purines the body produces, the more uric acid is in the bloodstream and body tissues.

I’m a little uncertain if the uric acid actually passes out of the blood and into the body tissues, but that seems to be what happens.  Even if it stays in the blood, we get the same effect.

As the uric acid builds up in the blood, that is called Hyperuricemia.  Which is very common in us humans.

Eventually, the blood is saturated with uric acid, and crystals form.  A single uric acid crystal is called tophus, and multiple crystals are called tophi.

One way of turning hyperuricemia into gout, is a lot like evaporating sea water until the salt crystals form. 

Gout Flare-ups Are Caused By Tophi Crystals Forming From Dehydration

When the blood is saturated with uric acid, all it takes to form (monosodium urate) tophi crystals is to reduce the amount of water in the body.  This is identical to evaporating seawater to get salt crystals.

In other words, you have the same amount of uric acid in a smaller volume of water, which forces crystals to form.

The uric acid tophi crystals are pointed just like needles.  Which is why gout hurts so much – your body has become a pin cushion.

Many medicines and foods are diuretics, which make you lose water as urine.  Diuretic foods include alcohol, coffee, parsley, green tea and regular black tea.

That’s why many gout flare-ups happen after a night of drinking.  The alcohol made you pee, and the uric acid crystals formed.

Many weight loss diets are another cause of dehydration.  The first couple of pounds you lost really fast, was just water.  You didn’t actually lose any fat yet.

Richard’s Potential Gout Cure Theory

So, CBD oil doesn’t just try to heal your gout or kidney disease, but everything that isn’t perfectly healthy.  That’s what I call complex.

Dead Body Cells and The Immune System Causes Hyperuricemia and Gout

Stubbing your big toe is one way to cause a gout attack (flare-up).  That’s because you have damaged the body and the immune system immediately starts to heal it.

In the healing process, damaged body cells are surrounded by inflammation, and the damaged cells are “eaten” by macrophages. [9]

This results in the release of the uric acid stored inside the dead cell.  It also creates huge amounts of uric acid from the decomposition of the cell’s nucleic acids (RNA, DNA). [6]

Unfortunately, this uric acid release provokes a greater immune system response that creates even more inflammation and uric acid. [6]

Acetaminophen Causes Liver Cell Death in Mice [6]

So, if you are taking Acetaminophen for any reason, you are increasing the number of dead body cells that are producing more uric acid.

Generally, liver cell damage can be reduced by reducing inflammation. [6] Which is one of the things that CBD Oil is very good at doing.

Reducing Uric Acid Levels Reduces the Inflammation Resulting from Dead Body Cells [6]

Lowering uric acid levels only reduces inflammation caused by dying cells.

It does not reduce inflammation caused by other immune system activities.

It is presumed that this behavior is because, the uric acid (monosodium urate) acts as a DAMP (Damage-associated molecular pattern). [6]

Cell Death Complicates Liver, Heart and Lung Diseases [6]

For example: During heart surgery, blood vessels are clamped shut which causes a loss of blood to the cells pinched by the clamp. When the clamp is removed and the blood flows again, even more cells die.  That is called reperfusion or ischemia-reperfusion. 

The same thing happens when you have a heart attack or stroke: blood stops flowing and cells die. All of which leads to uric acid release.

Other Diseases That Cause Accelerated Cell Death and Uric Acid. [6]

• Tumor lysis syndrome is where the tumor releases its contents.  The blood stream is saturated with dead and dying cells which will cause hyperuricemia.
• Rhabdomyolysis syndrome is caused by a muscle injury.  The muscle fibers die and enter into the blood stream.  This can result in kidney damage.
• Hemolysis refers to damaged red blood cells.  Which will prompt the immune system into action, causing uric acid production.

How Stubbing Your Toe Creates A Gout Flare-Up

So, you stubbed your big toe during the day.  It hurt some, but you forgot about it.  That night you woke up with a pain throbbing, bright red, swollen toe.

How did that happen?

Some of the cells in the toe joint, and in the toe itself, were damaged when you first stubbed it.  The immune system immediately started the healing process.

In that process, the white cells, which includes the macrophages, “eat” the damaged and dead cells.  As you now know, that results in a large amount of uric acid being produced.

However, that big increase in uric acid will over saturate the blood and body fluids where those cells died, causing the uric acid gout crystals to form. [6]

Visceral Fat Raises Uric Acid Levels and Vice Versa

One study revealed that visceral fat actually causes uric acid creation.  Which is the opposite of what has been generally believed.  However, there is evidence that uric acid is also responsible for creating visceral fat. [11]

That same study pieced together evidence that visceral (adipose) fat was responsible for the release of adipocytokines.  Which can result in hyperinsulinemia (too much insulin).

Adipocytokines are cytokines derived from adipose (visceral) fat.  Cytokines are part of the immune system, which leads to inflammation.

It is generally believed that hyperinsulinemia causes the kidneys to reabsorb more uric acid and sodium.  Which puts more uric acid into the bloodstream and reduces the amount of sodium removed with the urine.  The end result is hyperuricemia. [11]

Visceral Fat Leads to Hypertriglyceridemia, Fatty Liver Disease, Hyperuricemia and Diabetes [11]

Hypertriglyceridemia simply means you have a lot of triglycerides in your blood.  Triglycerides are the fat lipids that are produced when you eat more food than the body needs. Those triglycerides get stored in your fat cells.

The hypertriglyceridemia results from fatty acids (that make up lipids) coming from the visceral fat and going to the liver, and creating triglycerides.  Which creates fatty liver disease.

This same study [11] concluded that visceral fat increases the chances of developing hyperuricemia by 400%.

There is evidence that visceral obesity decreases insulin sensitivity.  Which leads to diabetes. [11]

Hyperuricemia Causes Kidney Disease

In a study using mice, [7] raising uric acid levels created oxidative stress by increasing the number of free radicals.  Free radicals are often called Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), because they are an oxygen molecule with an extra electron that can easily react with other molecules.

Free radicals cause inflammation throughout the body, including the organs and blood vessels.  As I have already stated, inflammation leads to increased uric acid levels and hyperuricemia.

Also, in that study, they found that high uric acid levels caused endothelial dysfunction.  Which means that the inner (endothelial) lining in small arteries weren’t working properly.  In short, the small arteries become constricted, which makes the heart work harder to push blood through them.  That results in higher blood pressure.

So, what we have now is higher blood pressure and less blood flow through the small blood capillaries of the kidney glomerulus. 

Both of these conditions reduce the ability of the kidneys to filter the blood (including uric acid), and remove toxins.  With the toxins being removed as urine.

The end result is chronic kidney disease.  But wait, there’s more.

Hyperuricemia causes glomerulosclerosis which is the scaring of the blood capillaries in the kidney.  The scaring makes them harder and decreases the ability of the kidneys to function. [7]

Hyperuricemia also causes tubulointerstitial disease (Tubulointerstitial nephritis) which are damaged renal (kidney) tubules.  The tubules are where the final mixture of urine is created. [7]

All of these related diseases lead to chronic kidney disease.

Diabetics, Hyperuricemia, and Chronic Kidney Disease

There is good evidence that hyperuricemia causes chronic kidney disease, but that it doesn’t always make it worse. [7]

Diabetics can oftentimes have a low uric acid level, because of renal (kidney) glycosuria, which removes sugar glucose through the urine.  Typically, this means that these people would not have any kidney disease.

However, people with Type 1 diabetes and glycosuria are still prone to having diabetic nephropathy, which turns into chronic kidney disease. [7]

Chronic kidney disease is strongly related to obesity and the metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome leads to insulin resistance, which results in less urine production.  That means even less uric acid is excreted with the urine, and the uric acid levels increase in the bloodstream.

What To Do Now

See your doctor and tell them you want to start taking CBD oil. Will it work for you and your personal situation? From all of the research studies I have read, I think it will.

Except for possible interactions with other medications, CBD oil is very safe to use.

If you have hyperuricemia now, your chances of having gout, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, high blood pressure, and heart disease are pretty high.

You can read more about CBD oil here at Full Stride Health: Buy CBD For What Ails You.

References and Source Material

[1] Gout: a review of non-modifiable and modifiable risk factors

[2] The Effect of Exercise on the Excretion of Uric Acid.

[3] Purine-Rich Foods, Dairy and Protein Intake, and the Risk of Gout in Men.

[4] Hyperuricemia

[5] The impact of marijuana use on glucose, insulin, and insulin resistance among US adults.

[6] Uric acid promotes an acute inflammatory response to sterile cell death in mice.

[7] Uric acid and chronic kidney disease: which is chasing which?

[8] Physiological functions and pathogenic potential of uric acid: A review.

[9] The immune response to trauma.

[10] Reduction of Serum Uric Acid Associated with Attenuation of Renal Injury, Inflammation and Macrophages M1/M2 Ratio in Hyperuricemic Mice Model.

[11] Visceral adiposity index is strongly associated with independently of metabolic health and obesity phenotypes hyperuricemia.

Diseased kidney photo: Manu5 [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

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