HIGH URIC ACID LEVEL

A high uric acid level, or Hyperuricemia, is an excess of uric acid in your blood. Uric acid is produced during the breakdown of purines, which are found in certain foods and are also formed by your body.
Once produced, uric acid is carried in your blood and passes through your kidneys, where most of it is filtered out into the urine.
About one in five people has a high uric acid level. It may be related to attacks of gout or the development of kidney stones. But most people with high uric acid levels don't have any symptoms or related problems.

If you or someone you love has had Gout you probably know all about the awful swelling and joint pain that can keep you up all night and take you off your feet for days at a time.
No matter how mild or severe your gout is, you want to be rid of it right away, but in order to get back to normal you must address the root cause of gout: High Uric Acid Levels.

What Causes a Gout Attack?
Gout happens when Uric acid levels become elevated collect in one or more joints in the form of sharp Uric Acid Crystals. This occurs most commonly in the big toe, feet, ankles, wrists, knees or elbows.
These jagged, microscopic, crystals literally stab the soft tissues around the joint causing the pain, swelling, and inflammation. The immune system then sends in white blood cells, which are ripped open by the sharp Uric Acid crystals. This causes even greater pain and inflammation. This is why, when left untreated gout attacks tend to get worse and worse over time.

Most of the time, a high uric acid level occurs when your kidneys don't eliminate uric acid efficiently.

 Things that may cause this slow-down in the removal of uric acid include rich foods, being overweight, having diabetes, taking certain diuretics (sometimes called water pills) and drinking too much alcohol. Other less common causes are a diet high in purine-containing items or your body producing too much uric acid.

Factors that may cause a high uric acid level in your blood include:
1. Diuretics (water retention relievers)
2. Drinking too much alcohol
3. Genetics (inherited tendencies)
4. Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid)
Immune-suppressing drugs
Niacin, or vitamin B-3
5. Obesity
6. Psoriasis
7. Purine-rich diet — liver, game meat, anchovies, sardines, gravy, dried beans and peas, mushrooms, and other foods.
8. Renal insufficiency (inability of the kidneys to filter waste).
9. Tumor lysis syndrome (a rapid release of cells into the blood caused by certain cancers or by chemotherapy for those cancers).