As our material life gets better and better, gout is a disease that is attracting more and more attention. Gout is a disease with a clear cause, which is due to various internal and external causes that lead to an increase in uric acid in the human body, beyond the body’s ability to withstand. The normal human body can produce uric acid, and the meat, fish, shrimp, chicken and duck that we normally eat, especially beer and soup, will be converted into uric acid when it reaches the body. Under normal circumstances, this excess uric acid will be excreted through our kidneys. However, if the excess uric acid exceeds the excretion function of the kidneys for a long time, the excess uric acid will be deposited in the joints, blood vessels, subcutaneous tissues, kidneys and other places, forming uric acid crystals, and over time, we will see a lump of different sizes on the surface of the joints and skin, which is called “gout stone”. “Sometimes the surface of these gout stones will break down and flow out some yellowish-white, tofu-like stuff, which is the uric acid crystals deposited in the body. Gout, not only elevated blood uric acid, but also symptoms such as redness, swelling, heat and pain in the joints. Swollen and painful joints first usually occur in the big toe of the foot, the pain is like a knife cut, the skin on the surface of the joint is red and hot, and sometimes there is a fever, the patient is restless and has difficulty sleeping, and daily life is seriously affected. When the pain is unbearable, the patient will usually go to the hospital. The doctor will give some anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving drugs, such as colchicine, Xilabao, hormones and other symptomatic treatments, and instruct the patient to take regular uric acid-lowering drugs, such as benzbromarone, allopurinol, benzosulfan, etc., after the acute pain is relieved. Some obedient patients will start regular uric acid-lowering treatment according to the doctor’s orders, and regularly review blood uric acid, liver and kidney functions, etc. However, not all people with elevated blood uric acid will develop red, swollen and hot joints as well as various sizes of gout stones. Many patients have elevated blood uric acid in multiple tests, or even increasingly so, but clinical symptoms such as joint swelling and pain just do not occur, which is medically called hyperuricemia. Only about 10 out of 100 patients with hyperuricemia show symptoms of gout. Patients with hyperuricemia often do not take the elevated blood uric acid seriously because they do not have joint swelling and pain, and they do not go to the hospital for treatment or control their diet because they think there is no problem if their joints do not hurt. Is high uric acid really not harmful to the body? Before answering these questions, we must first understand the metabolic process of uric acid in the body. As mentioned earlier, uric acid is a product of purine metabolism in our body, which normally exists mainly in the blood and is a metabolic waste product that is transported to the kidneys through the blood vessels and then excreted by the kidneys. The kidneys are like a “filter” with sieve holes in the body, which “sieve” the metabolic waste produced by our body into the kidney tubules, and then through the tubules, ureters and other pipes, and finally in the form of urine to the outside of the body. However, if the uric acid in the blood rises beyond what the kidneys can tolerate, the excess uric acid will be deposited in the “filter” of the kidneys, forming uric acid crystals or even uric acid stones, blocking the “sieve” and causing other metabolites such as water, various The “sieve” is blocked, so that other metabolites such as water, various ions, creatinine, urea, etc. cannot be “filtered” out of the body through the kidneys. As time passes, these metabolic wastes are deposited in our body and become “toxins” in our body, damaging our health, such as water and sodium (the salt we eat every day), which may lead to high blood pressure after more. In addition, high uric acid may also damage the function of pancreatic islet cells, which exist in our body in the pancreas, and one of the main functions of these cells is to produce insulin (the only substance produced in the body that can lower blood sugar) and regulate sugar metabolism in the body, and when this cell function is damaged by high uric acid, the blood sugar in the body will rise and cause diabetes; elevated blood uric acid is also the cause of Elevated blood uric acid is also a risk factor for cardiovascular events such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, and stroke. Therefore, hyperuricemia is a great danger to our body, it is not only deposited in the joints, causing joint swelling and pain, it is deposited in the kidneys, blood vessels and other places, which may cause more damage, but there may not be any uncomfortable symptoms in the early stage. However, the absence of symptoms does not mean that there is no damage, and the damage caused by high uric acid is always ongoing. Moreover, these metabolic wastes themselves are deposited in the kidney, affecting the kidney’s filtration and excretion function, causing kidney insufficiency, and over time, may even cause kidney failure. Once the kidney fails, the toxins deposited in the body can not be excreted, and eventually can only rely on hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis to maintain life. In a hemodialysis room, blood is pumped out of the body and passed through a hemodialysis machine, which simulates the “filtration” function of the kidneys to remove metabolic waste and impurities from the blood, and then the purified blood is delivered back to the body, thus achieving the purpose of “cleaning” our body. The price of this hemodialysis is relatively expensive, generally depending on the patient’s condition, dialysis 1 to 3 times a week, each time a few hundred to a thousand dollars, and patients with kidney failure need lifelong dialysis, which will be a huge financial burden. Some patients do peritoneal dialysis, that is, the dialysis water (medically known as peritoneal dialysis fluid) into the stomach, because the peritoneal dialysis fluid is clean, placed in the stomach after a period of time, some toxins in the body will slowly penetrate into the peritoneal dialysis fluid, after a period of time, the doctor will then release this fluid. Think about these processes, it is so not easy, there is also a lot of damage to the body, as a last resort, doctors will not choose. There are also some people choose kidney transplantation treatment, but nowadays it is very difficult and costly to donate a kidney, and there are many complications. Therefore, I urge you to pay attention to hyperuricemia, and never take it lightly because you don’t have joint pain. It is important to protect your “kidneys”. Therefore, if patients with long-term elevated blood uric acid have joint pain, although it is a bad thing, but in another way, it is also a “good thing”, because it is a warning to us, reminding us that uric acid has begun to damage the joints, we need to go to the hospital in a timely manner for formal examination to see whether the kidneys, metabolism and cardiovascular and other aspects We need to go to the hospital in time for regular checkups to see if the kidney, metabolism and cardiovascular system are damaged by high uric acid, and to carry out regular uric acid treatment under the guidance of a specialist. Patients with hyperuricemia who only have elevated blood uric acid and no clinical symptoms should pay more attention to the screening and treatment of hyperuricemia. Your kidneys, your pancreas, your cardiovascular system, etc. may be suffering from hyperuricemia, but you just don’t feel it yet, and by the time you start to feel it, it may be too late. Hyperuricemia without clinical symptoms is like an “invisible killer” that lurks in the shadows, slowly eating away at your body and your health in places you can’t see. ”It is easy to stop the open robbery, but hard to prevent the hidden arrow. If you have hyperuricemia, you need to pay attention.