Aloe Vera for Gout Pain Relief

Have you ever gotten over a gout attack and the skin on that joint peeled like a sunburn?  I remember those days. Using aloe vera for gout treatment is sort of a secret.  For the most part, killing gout is an inside job.  But when it comes to gout pain relief, using aloe vera gel is very effective. 

Aloe Vera for Gout Killing?

The documentation of the medicinal qualities of aloe vera go back centuries.  It was used in ancient Greece, Eygpt, India, Mexico, Japan and China.  It is one of the most studied plants in natural medicine.  It has always been used for healing burns and wounds, and bringing down fevers.  

The plant grows in the dry, arid deserts of Asia, the Americas, Africa, and Europe.  Aloe vera in all it's various forms is now easily available all over the world and very inexpensive.

When you stop to think about it, using aloe vera for gout pain relief is sort of a no-brainer...gout is HOT!  When the inflammation is raging, those joints are shiny red and hot, throbbing with pain.  Cooling the joint down brings relief.  But what about healing those damaged tissues?

Aloe Vera for Gout Attacks - use the gel as topical treatment

Aloe vera gel is pretty common and pretty inexpensive.  Personally, aloe vera is my go-to for everything skin related...if there is something going on with your skin, aloe vera will fix it - IMO.  

But why does it work?  With the help of PubMed, let's get a little background about aloe vera itself and the active ingredients that give it the medicinal qualities.  

Because we don't typically think actually eating aloe vera - although we can and it has incredible healing properties for the digestive system - there is a whole host of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, sugars, enzymes, salicylic acids, and phyto nutrients.  Here are just a few:

• Minerals:  Calcium, copper, magnesium, chromium, potassium, zinc, sodium.  Many minerals have antioxidant properties and sort of act like "spark plugs" for triggering different enzymatic processes and other biochemical functions in our bodies.  
  
• Vitamins:  vitamin B12, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, choline.  These nutrients provide an array of free radical fighting antioxidant power.
  
• Fatty acids:  Some of the plant steroids like campesterol, lupeol, and cholesterol, provide anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antiviral, and antibacterial protection.
  
• Enzymes:  Aloe vera contains some potent enzymes that are reponsible for many of it's healing properties.  A few of those are alkaline phosphatase, amylase, catalase, lipase, peroxidase, and a special one called bradykinase.  Bradykinase is what gives aloe vera much of it's anti-inflammatory power.
  
• Hormones: Uncommon hormones called auxins and gibberellins promote wound healing but are also effective anti-inflammatories.  These hormones are the fundamental reason to use aloe vera for gout pain relief.
  

There are several other healthy, helpful components to aloe vera that need to be mentioned.  There are several essential amino acids. Salylic acid (the active ingredient in asprin) is anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial.  Saponins are antiseptic and cleansing.  Lignin is what provides the penetrating action that aloe vera is famous for.  

There is a long list of healing and health benefiting actions that put aloe vera for gout pain relief near the top of the list of gout remedies.  Here is the rundown of some of those healing qualities:

• increases collagen synthesis
  
• increases the activity of hyaluronic acid
  
• protects against radiation damage (sunburn)
  
• works as an anti-inflammatory
  
• boosts immunity
  
• works as a laxative and helps with digestion
  
• is antiviral
  
• has properties that help to mitigate cancerous effects
  
• acts as a moisterizer and helps with anti-aging
  
• is an antiseptic
  

As mentioned earlier, killing gout is more of an "inside job" - the toxins that make their way to your inner body terrain is what creates the biochemical imbalance that brings on gout.  Generally, you have to restore that balance from the inside out. However, since our skin is porous and absorbant, (think "the patch" - transdermal delivery) there are active ingredients in aloe vera that can help to restore that inner environment biochemical balance for killing gout.  

Aloe Vera for Gout Prevention

Do you ever notice those nagging little twinges and stabs of pain in your feet or ankles, fingers or wrists?  Is that uric acid starting to crystallize?  I don't know either.  But my guess is that if you are someone that is struggling with chronic gout, it probably is.  This is another reason to keep aloe vera gel on hand and when you start to feel those scary reminders.  Lather up and get out in front of the possibility.