Hyperuricemia

Content

• Who Is Affected By Gout?
• High Levels Of Uric Acid
• When To Get Tested For Gout
• What Foods Should People With Gout Eliminate From Their Diet?

Treatment for flares consists of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen, steroids, and the anti-inflammatory drug colchicine. There is no cure for gout, but you can effectively treat and manage the condition with medication and self-management strategies. Choi HK, Atkinson K, Karlson EW, Willett W, Curhan G. Purine-rich foods, dairy and protein intake, and the risk of gout in men. Berger L, Gerson CD, Yu TF. The effect of ascorbic acid on uric acid excretion with a commentary on the renal handling of ascorbic acid.

In addition to being low in purines, fruits and vegetables make the urine more alkaline, which helps the kidneys remove uric acid . Uric acid may harm blood vessels, increase oxidative stress, and cause the platelets and red blood cells to stick together. People with mutations in other genes such as UCP2, SLC2A9, ABCG2, SLC17A1 or SLC17A3, can also have higher uric acid levels .

Who Is Affected By Gout?

While only 1 in 3,000 people develop this problem, the risk is too great to prescribe the drug on a routine basis to people with high blood pressure, a problem that affects 30 to 35 percent of adults. Gout is a painful type of arthritis that most commonly affects the joints of the big toe, but might also affect the ankle, heel, knees, wrists, fingers, or elbow. Like other joint diseases, gout can be painful and disabling—yet people with this condition sometimes fail to seek treatment due to misinformation. If you are overweight, talk to your healthcare provider about a weight reduction plan.

Lose weight.For people who are overweight or obese, losing weight reduces pressure on joints, particularly weight bearing joints like the hips and knees. Reaching or maintaining a healthy weight can relieve pain, improve function, and slow the progression of arthritis. These flares are followed by long periods of remission—weeks, months, or years—without symptoms before another flare begins. Along with the big toe, joints that are commonly affected are the lesser toe joints, the ankle, and the knee. Bedir A, Topbas M, Tanyeri F, Alvur M, Arik N. Leptin might be a regulator of serum uric acid concentrations in humans. Clausen JO, Borch-Johnsen K, Ibsen H, Pedersen O. Analysis of the relationship between fasting serum uric acid and the insulin sensitivity index in a population-based sample of 380 young healthy Caucasians.

High Levels Of Uric Acid

You may need this test if your healthcare provider thinks that you have gout. Your provider may also use this test to monitor you while you have cancer treatment or to check your urine after you have a kidney stone. You may have tests of your blood and urine to find out what's causing the high levels uric acid.

What will happen if you have high uric acid?

If too much uric acid stays in the body, a condition called hyperuricemia will occur. Hyperuricemia can cause crystals of uric acid (or urate) to form. These crystals can settle in the joints and cause gout, a form of arthritis that can be very painful. They can also settle in the kidneys and form kidney stones.

Finding an elevated blood uric acid level is NOT the same as diagnosing gouty arthritis. To diagnose definite gout, the uric acid crystals must be seen in the fluid taken from a swollen joint or seen by special imaging of the bones and joints (ultrasound, X-ray or CAT scan). A form of arthritis that often surfaces suddenly with severe joint pain, gout is the result of too much uric acid in the body.

While some people with gout benefit from cutting back on foods that are high in purine, a chemical that contributes to uric acid formation, it is not clear how much purine intake makes a difference. Moderate changes to your eating style may help you feel better and reduce gout risks, and research suggests that purine-rich vegetables don’t trigger gout. High-purine foods such as lentils and beans can be a smart source of lean protein. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs These medications block the prostaglandins, which promote pain and inflammation. Common over-the-counter ones include ibuprofen, aspirin, and naproxen; common prescription ones are celecoxib, ketoprofen and naproxen sodium. If you’ve been experiencing gout pain and other symptoms, see your primary care doctor.

Other symptoms include extreme fatigue, joint pain, and running high fevers. Sometimes corticosteroid drugs can be prescribed to treat gout, but the best way to combat this disease is to get more exercise and eat a better diet. When you have chronic kidney disease , your kidneys do not work as well as they should to filter wastes out of your body.

If hyperuricemia triggers gout attacks, medical treatment is recommended.Immediate treatment to lower uric acid levels can ease the symptoms of an ongoing gout attack. Allopurinol may also be given to you, if you have a certain form of leukemia or lymphoma, to prevent complications from chemotherapy and tumor lysis syndrome - and not necessarily to prevent gout. With high levels of uric acid in your blood, as a result of your disease, the uric acid will collect and form crystals in your kidneys.

Treatment And Prevention

This test may also be done to check whether a high uric acid level in the urine is causing kidney stones. Medications can be effective for treating gout pain and lowering your uric acid levels, but lifestyle changes are also important. Diet modifications and maintaining a healthy weight can lower uric acid levels in your blood. Hypothyroidism is associated with the excess uric acid levels that lead to gout.

A total of 110 volunteers with hyperuricemia were divided into five groups and evaluated periodically over 24 weeks. But drugs that reduce uric acid levels are primarily reserved for patients with full-blown gout—so hyperuricemic individuals are tragically left without options. Starvation causes the body to metabolize its own (purine-rich) tissues for energy.

The first gout attacks usually affect only one joint and subside after a few days. Subsequent flare-ups may affect more joints — either at the same time or one after the other. If untreated, these later attacks can last up to three weeks.

Gout Vs Rheumatoid Arthritis

If your body makes too much uric acid, or if your kidneys aren't working well, uric acid can build up in the blood. Uric acid levels can also increase when you eat too many high-purine foods or take medicines like diuretics, aspirin, vitamin C, and niacin. Then crystals of uric acid can form and collect in the joints.

Home Remedies To Control High Levels Of Uric Acid

To determine which type of arthritis you might have, your doctor may have to remove fluid from an affected joint and examine it for crystals. Hyperuricemia often is caused by using diuretic medications ("water pills"). Diuretics are used to get rid of excess body fluid and to lower high blood pressure. However, diuretics can hamper the kidneys' ability to remove uric acid, thus raising uric acid levels in the blood. Any treatment that decreases levels of uric acid in the blood can trigger an acute flare-up (mobilization flare-up). Mobilization flare-ups are particularly likely soon after a drug that lowers the blood level of uric acid is started.