Arthritis Treatment: Gout and High Uric Acid.
If you have an episode of acute gout, it does not mean you have to be on continuous drug therapy to reduce your blood uric acid level. It simply means that your doctor will look for possible factors that may influence the level of uric acid in your blood and continue to check you uric acid level. From my previous posts you will know that gout can be affected by various factors.
Once all the possible influences on your gout are checked and eliminated or reduced, if your uric acid level remains elevated then your doctor will consider treating you with drugs such as allopurinol. High uric acid if left untreated will lead to urate crystal deposition in other joints causing polyarthritis and on the skin as tophi.
There are times, however, when uric acid levels are high in routine blood tests or a patient may present to the doctor with tophi. Here your doctor will do routine monitoring and as mentioned before, look for other factors that can influence uric acid level.
Management of these patients will include diet restriction to low purine foods and weight loss. Drugs like diuretics are replaced. If the uric acid level remains high, then allopurinol will be started. Allopurinol, gradually increased until the level of uric acid is in the normal range, will stop crystal formation and thereby protect the joints, kidneys and other organs from damage by gout. Side effects of allopurinol are rare but can be serious.
Drugs less frequently used are probenacid, sulphinpyrazone,and azapropazone. Sometimes acute gout can develop while on maintenance therapy. if this happens do not stop your medication. In some cases acute gout can develop after starting allopurinol. If this happens, see you doctor for further treatment.
Dr.Phil Hariram
Arthritis Guide
Arthritis Treatment
February 26th, 2007 at 4:04 am
My name’s David, and i’m actually 22. After a full medical test, the doctor told me that the UA in my blood is 557umo1/L(normal range:150-440). I was shocked by this news. I cannot believe that i can have such a high UA at this age. Can you give me more information please. do you think this is a serious case? can i be cured?wat should i do now. i know nothing about UA, that’s why i’m seeking info online. can it be cured? my GGT and TRIG are high too, 54.7U/L and 2.17mmo1/L respectively. the doctor gave me Allopurinol tablets. for how long do i need to take the medicines?wat can u suggest me? i’m 164cmhigh and i weigh 69kg.What are the consequences and causes? please send a reply to my email. I really need help. No one in my family knows about this news. thanks a lot