Uric Acid In Blood Test

Content

• Steps To Ease A Gout Attack
• Additional Information
• Subscribe To Medicinenet's Arthritis Newsletter
• Conditions Associated With High Uric Acid
• Who's At Risk?

This joint is where there tends to be increased impact from walking and supporting the weight of the body. Uric acid crystals are also less soluble under acidic conditions and in cooler body parts further away from the torso, such as are found in the big toe and other joints of the hands and feet. Podagra causes severe pain in the metatarsophalangeal joint, which is the joint at the base of the big toe. The onset of gout symptoms in the big toe is characterized by intense attacks of pain, usually sudden and often at night. Your health care professional will talk with you about your symptoms. But, it can be hard to tell if a person has gout based on symptoms alone.

Over time, kidney stones and other forms of kidney damage can lead to chronic kidney disease, which makes it more difficult to get rid of uric acid. Untreated kidney disease can ultimately lead to kidney failure or loss of kidney function. It needs to be taken only once a day and reduces uric acid levels regardless of whether the root problem is overproduction of uric acid or inadequate clearance by the kidneys. Sometimes people develop a mild rash when they start allopurinol, although rarely there's a dangerous allergic reaction.

Steps To Ease A Gout Attack

Like the calm in the eye of a storm, gout can lie dormant between attacks. You’ll usually experience a pain-free period after an attack that can last months or even years. Your doctor can prescribe a 5- to 14-day course of corticosteroids to reduce inflammation.

What is a high level of uric acid?

Generally, your uric acid level is high when: For females, it's over 6 mg/dL. For males, it's over 7 mg/dL.

Gout is usually not preventable through lifestyle changes alone. Many people with gout need medicines to get their gout under control. If you think you might have gout, it is important to get tested and diagnosed by a doctor, so that you can get the treatment you need. Gout attacks happen more at night and in the early morning rather than during the day. The reasons this happens are not entirely known, but some of the leading ideas are dehydration, lower body temperature, and changes in hormone levels during sleep. Chronic gout can lead to permanent joint stiffness, damage, and deformity.

Additional Information

These medications also are effective treatments to decrease the size of tophi, with the ultimate goal of eradicating them. Uric-acid-lowering medications include allopurinol , febuxostat , probenecid, and pegloticase . As is true for many painful conditions, the first-line treatment for a gout attack is taking one of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs , such as diclofenac, ibuprofen, or indomethacin. For people who can't take NSAIDs, a drug called colchicine is an alternative. It's been used for centuries — maybe even longer — specifically for gout. The trouble with colchicine is its side effects, especially the copious diarrhea.

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Serious allergic reactions can occur with pegloticase, including life-threatening anaphylaxis. Febuxostat can be used in patients with mild to moderate kidney impairment. Febuxostat Febuxostat is the first new medication developed specifically for the control of gout in over 40 years. Advise your doctor if you are taking azathioprine , 6-mercaptopurine, or cyclophosphamide ; dose adjustments of allopurinol may be needed. Allopurinol can be still used, but the dose may need to be adjusted. Drink at least 2 liters of fluid a day while taking this medication .

Uricosuric drugs also can be used to lower the levels of uric acid in the blood in people who have normal kidney function. is a specialized drug that is used to lower blood levels of uric acid dramatically in people with severe gout. It is given by intravenous infusion every 2 weeks and is used primarily in people who have long-standing gout that has not been successfully treated with other therapies. But gout is still very much with us, and the number of Americans affected seems to be increasing, at least partly because of the obesity epidemic. Gout remains a disease that mainly affects middle-aged and older men, although postmenopausal women are vulnerable too, perhaps because they lack the protective effect of estrogen. The diuretics ("water pills") that many people take to control high blood pressure are another contributing factor.

Dietary management or modification is a primary focus of treatment, as well as correcting any environmental deficiencies. The animal may be hospitalized for proper hydration and supportive care. Surgery is occasionally used to "clean out" the joints; in severe cases, the damage to the joints is enormous and irreversible. As soon as you know you’re having an attack, get off your feet and elevate the affected joint.

Aspirin, niacin also called nicotinic acid, cyclosporine, levodopa, are among some of the medicines that can cause gout. Certain medicines that treat tuberculosis—pyrazinamide and ethambutol—are also harmful. Diuretics used to treat heart diseases, hypertension and edema, can reduce the uric acid passed in the urine considerably, resulting in gout. A physician will likely offer pain medication as well as medication to eliminate the excess uric acid causing the gout. This medication will help reduce uric acid levels to normal or as near normal as possible. Quite often, this medication is part of long term treatment.

If your body produces too much uric acid or does not remove enough of it, you may get sick. A high level of uric acid in the body is called hyperuricemia and it can lead to gout or kidney damage. If caught and treated early, people with gout can live a relatively normal life. Some patients do not respond to treatment because they fail to follow protocols, have alcoholism, or are undertreated by physicians.