Gout
Gout is a kind of arthritis in which too much uric acid builds up in the body and forms sharp crystals in a joint. It brings sudden, severe pain, heat, redness and swelling — very often in the big toe.
- About 55.8 million people worldwide had gout in 2020
- It is about 3 times more common in men than in women
- An untreated flare usually lasts 1 to 2 weeks
- About 70% of uric acid leaves the body through the kidneys; the rest through the gut
Source: GBD 2021 Gout Collaborators, Lancet Rheumatology 2024; Cleveland Clinic; NHS; So & Thorens, J Clin Invest 2010
What is Gout?
Your body makes uric acid when it breaks down purines — substances found in your own cells and in many foods. Normally uric acid dissolves in the blood and leaves in the urine.
When too much builds up over a long time, it forms sharp crystals in and around a joint. The body attacks the crystals, and the joint suddenly becomes very painful, hot and swollen — a flare. Without care, flares come more often, and hard lumps of uric acid (tophi) can form under the skin.
What are the symptoms?
- Sudden, intense pain in a joint — often bad enough to wake you at night
- Most often the big toe; also the ankle, knee, foot, hand, wrist or elbow
- The joint is swollen, red and hot
- Even a light touch or a bedsheet hurts
- Hard lumps under the skin after years of gout
What causes it, and who is more likely to get it?
The body keeps too much uric acid
- Kidney disease
- Being male, older age, and gout in the family
- Excess body weight
Food and drink
- Red meat, organ meat and some seafood
- Alcohol, and sugary drinks sweetened with fructose
Other conditions
Medicines
- Some medicines raise uric acid — ask your doctor, and do not stop any yourself
How is it found?
A doctor asks about the attack, looks at the joint, and uses tests to confirm uric acid crystals — gout can look like a joint infection, which needs quick treatment.
Joint fluid test
A little fluid is taken from the joint with a thin needle and checked under a microscope for uric acid crystals.
Uric acid blood test
Measures uric acid in the blood. Many people with high uric acid never get gout, so the test is read with the symptoms.
Scans
X-ray, ultrasound or a special (dual-energy) CT scan can show crystals and joint damage when the diagnosis is unclear.
A neurotherapist reads the uric acid report as a message about the liver, and presses both kidney points, Liv° and Mu°, and both ring fingers before choosing a formula. Without pain at Mu°, the acid-reducing treatment is not given. And a red, hot, very tender big toe is never stood on.
How Neurotherapy (LMNT) sees Gout
Neurotherapy (LMNT) separates two kinds of acid. The stomach's acid stays in the stomach. The blood carries other acids — amino, uric, lactic, carbonic, folic and keto acids — and the kidneys must send out the body's own antacid, bicarbonate, on time to balance them. Uric acid is chiefly the liver's job: if the liver does not work properly, uric acid rises — a chief cause of gout and of pain in the joints.
The uric acid chain, as Neurotherapy (LMNT) reads it
- Livercarries the chief responsibility for handling uric acid
- Bloodwhen the liver lags, uric acid rises above normal
- Kidneysmust send out bicarbonate at the right time to balance the blood's acids
- Jointswith raised uric acid, swelling and pain come in the joints of the toes and fingers
So a person with joint pain and raised uric acid gets work aimed at the liver, and the sour-food restriction (parhez) is not compromised on. Two named treatments are used for gout: New Star Modified, chosen by the two-key rule, and the Anil Sharma treatment, a strong acid-reducing formula given only when Mu° is painful.
If there is no pain in Mu°, then Acid treatment is not to be given!
Neurotherapy (LMNT) treatment for Gout, step by step
Examine first
The therapist presses Liv° and Mu°, squeezes both ring fingers together, reads the uric acid report, and looks at the painful joint — without putting weight on it.
The two-key rule: New Star Modified
Given where there is joint pain with strong pain at Mu°, plus one of these: both ring fingers equally sore, the left more, Liv° and Mu° equal, or Mu° above Liv°.
The Anil Sharma treatment
Made by Guruji's old student Shri Anil Sharma, now practising in London, for joint pain from acid and for gout with raised uric acid — only when Mu° is clearly painful. After every four treatments, one is given with (4) Th + Ch in place of (6) Adr, so that immunity does not fall.
The sour parhez
Sour things are kept off the plate. LMNT teaching calls this a restriction not to be compromised on when uric acid is raised.
Points and formulas used
New Star Modified
The working Star formula for joint pain on the acid side; LMNT teaching names gout — swelling and pain in the finger joints from raised uric acid — among its uses.
Open →Never do this
- New Star Modified is never given where the pain is only in the RIGHT ring finger, nor where there is pain at Liv° and none at Mu°. New Star Modified
- The Anil Sharma treatment is never given without pain at Mu°, nor with loose motions. Its points carry their own bars: not in high blood pressure, diabetes, fits, schizophrenia, asthma, leukaemia, passing little urine, kidney failure, septicaemia, HIV/AIDS or cancer. Anil Sharma treatment
- On the Th + Ch days, that point's own bars apply in full — it is not given in pregnancy, polio, inflammatory disease or heart disease, among others. Th + Ch
- A red, hot, very tender big toe is never stood on — no heel pressure such as Big Toe Gas on it. Big Toe Gas
- A hot, swollen joint with fever, shivering or feeling sick, or pain that keeps getting worse, needs a doctor the same day — it may be a joint infection.
- Cancer: if the person has cancer, (10) Pan, Thymus, Pit, Lu + Sh, Rt. Ov / Lt. Ov and (30) Medulla are never given — the therapist changes the plan.
- Keep taking the medicines your doctor prescribed. Neurotherapy (LMNT) works alongside your medical care, never instead of it.
From Ayurveda and the kitchen
Test yourself
What research says
- Strong evidence
About 55.8 million people had gout in 2020, and it was about three times more common in men. High body weight and poorly working kidneys were among the main risks behind it, and the number of cases is expected to keep rising.
- Strong evidence
Uric acid is the end product of purine breakdown. About 70% of it is removed by the kidneys and about 30% by the intestine — so how well the kidneys clear it strongly affects how much stays in the blood.
So A, Thorens B. Uric acid transport and disease. J Clin Invest. 2010.
No clinical trial of Neurotherapy (LMNT) in gout has been published yet. Improvements reported by neurotherapists are clinical observations.
For you
Men, and women after menopause
Gout is much more common in men; in women it usually starts after menopause. A sudden, hot, painful big toe is worth a doctor's visit, not just a painkiller.
People with high BP, kidney disease or diabetes
These raise the risk of gout — and they also change which Neurotherapy (LMNT) points may be given. Tell the therapist about all of them.
People who drink alcohol or sugary drinks
Alcohol, sugary drinks and a lot of red or organ meat raise uric acid. Cutting down eases the load on the joints.
This page explains; it does not diagnose. Neurotherapy (LMNT) works alongside your medical care — keep taking the medicines your doctor prescribed, and see a doctor for any new or severe symptom.