Uses. This medication is used to prevent or treat gout attacks (flares). Usually gout symptoms develop suddenly and involve only one or a few joints. The big toe, knee, or ankle joints are most often affected. Gout is caused by too much uric acid in the blood. When uric acid levels in the blood are too high, the uric acid may form hard crystals in your joints. Colchicine works by decreasing swelling and lessening the build up of uric acid crystals that cause pain in the affected joint(s). This medication is also used to prevent attacks of pain in the abdomen, chest, or joints caused by a certain inherited disease (familial Mediterranean fever).
Warning: Lookout for Dutching. The method used to process the raw cacao bean can affect the amount of flavanols in the end product. If your chocolate says âprocessed with alkaliâ on the nutrition label, then itâs going to have less flavanols (more). Processing with alkali is called âdutchingâ.
Potassium alum is the common alum of commerce, although both soda alum and ammonium alum are manufactured. 1  Shaving alum is a powdered form of alum used as an astringent to prevent bleeding from small shaving cuts.2  The styptic pencils sold for this purpose contain aluminium sulfate or potassium aluminium sulfate. Typically potassium alum is used. 2  Water treatment-Alum (aluminium sulfate) is used in water treatment. 3  The addition of alum to raw water causes small particles and colloids to stick together and form heavier particles (floc) which will settle in water.