Treating Gout with Baking Soda
This page about Baking Soda For Gout was first published before 2008. I am re-publishing it here, despite the limited appeal for gout sufferers.
Why limited appeal? As I noted in the original article, baking soda tends to raise blood pressure. There is a high occurrence of high blood pressure amongst gout sufferers, so many simply cannot contemplate it.
Baking soda for gout sufferers is most useful as a method for dissolving or preventing kidney stones, but you must consult your doctor about this.
Baking Soda For Gout: Introduction
Many people find that treating gout by taking baking soda regularly reduces the intensity and frequency of gout attacks – sometimes to zero.
To understand why this works you need to consider the causes of gout.
In the first place, uric acid levels build up to a level that cannot be held in the blood.
Crystallization occurs and uric acid salts are deposited in the joints.
There is no specific level when this happens and some people can have high levels of uric acid (hyperuricemia) without developing gout.
Therefore, you should not simply focus on uric acid levels, but also on other factors.
Body fluids are a combination of many different compounds. Some are acidic and some alkaline.
Acidity or alkalinity is generally measured using a pH scale with values between 0 and 14.
On this scale 7 is neutral, anything below 7 is acidic and anything above 7 is alkaline.
As the overall pH of body fluids fall, uric acid becomes less soluble, increasing the risk of gout attacks.
Conversely, increasing alkalinity lowers the risk of uric acid crystallizing and helps dissolve existing crystals.
Due to the effects of acidity, many people find that treating gout with baking soda dramatically improves their condition. The maximum dose, unless advised otherwise by your doctor, is 4 teaspoons per day. This can be either one teaspoon dissolved in water taken 4 times a day, or 1/2 teaspoon more frequently.
Do not exceed this maximum, and always dissolve it in water – undissolved baking soda can rupture the stomach.
Disadvantages
Although I do not class baking soda as a drug, it can have side effects and interactions with drugs you may be taking. You must not start taking baking soda without consulting your doctor. Significantly, as a salt of sodium (baking soda is also called bicarbonate of soda or sodium bicarbonate) it can raise blood pressure. Possible side effects include:
- Appetite loss
- Breathing slow
- Continuing headache
- Feet or lower legs swollen
- Mood changes
- Restlessness or nervousness
- Twitching or painful muscles
- Unpleasant taste
- Urge to urinate frequently
- Vomiting or nausea
- Weakness or tiredness
If you have tried this, or have any questions or opinions on it, please discuss baking soda in the gout cures forum.
Alternatives To Baking Soda For Gout
There are alternative ways of increasing alkalinity of body fluids as a gout treatment. The main alternative is food. The standard text for checking pH values is the US FDA’s “Approximate pH of Foods and Food products” list.
I have reformatted this list elsewhere, but since doing this I have realized that the pH value of food is not especially important. The significant effect of food is how it affects the alkalinity of the body after it has been digested. To learn more about how food affects body pH, see treating gout with an alkalizing diet.
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