Gout Forum - Uric Acid Fluctuation - What Is Normal And What Relationship

PAUL ROWE wrote:

I've had gout attacks off and on for many years. My doctor tests my uric acid about twice a year and it is usually above 8 and below 9. I am also type 2 diabetic and have my hba1c tested every three or four months. Since my doctor only orders the uric acid test once in a while, I assumed that uric acid doesn't fluctuate much.

The problem is that it is impossible to know whether various remedies one reads about such as cherry juice, herbal preparations, low purine foods, baking soda, etc., have any effect if one cannot measure the effect by testing the uric acid level.

I recently found a uric acid meter on the internet and ordered one. I've been testing every morning before eating and am surprised that it fluctuates widely with reading so far (over 12 days) between 3.6 and 7.6 with an average about 4.5.

The question, is: does anyone know how rapidly the uric acid level in the blood responds to dietary input and also to allopurinol input?

I'm also getting the impression that the uric acid in the tissues is a different matter than the uric acid in the blood and that it may take a while for lowered blood uric acid to have an effect on the level in the tissues. Or maybe there is little or no relationship between the two. Is there any information about what will lower the uric acid levels in the tissues (get rid of the crystals in the joints, etc.) ?

Paul rowe

My doctor uses "7" as my magic number. If when I am tested, I am below 7, which has been the case of late, he feels good, and I do not have to take a maintenance dose of chochicine. If I show successive readings (separated by a few weeks, not every day), I take one colchicine a day along with 200 mgs of allopurinol.

Nothing gets rid of uric acid when it accumulates in the joints; this is the gout attack, and when an attack occurs, you treat the symptoms as prescribed by the doctor.

Try and think of it this way: in gout, you have excess uric acid in your bloodstream. As far as attacks go, as long as the uric acid stays in the bloodstream, attacks do not occur. If anything happens to take the acid out of solution, it forms crystals that deposit in the joints and the kidneys, and chronically, elsewhere. Allopurinol reduces the amount of uric acid in the bloodstream, so you have less uric acid available to the attack mechanism. If you eat the wrong foods, suffer any injury, are exposed to certain medications, uric acid increases and the crystals form and depsosit. Once they deposit, the pain is from the inflammation that arises. At this point, you can only treat the inflammation.

Ray