[Cindy]

Hi Rich,

From my understanding, Allopurino is not taken as a pain relief, but instead it’s a Uric acid lowering drug. So, in your case of taking 20 days then stopped, then when you feel pain you take it again is not quite the correct way. Allopurino needs to be taken for at least 6 months if you have no sign of gout attack in this time & can maintain a “safe” uric acid level. The seemingly long time in taking Allopurino is for the old uric acid crystal to dissolve (actually very slow). Else, you’ll be in Keith’s term “Gout Hell” where gout will always come & go but is never completely cured.

Hope this helps you a little & definitely you have to talk to your doctor to get a better treatment plan.

[Cindy]

Hi all,

It’s been a while since the last update, my husband did a blood test on Jun 10 & the result is shown below:

Date Allopurinol Uric Acid Glucose
(mmol/L) (mmol/L)
Feb 18 no allopurinol 0.543 6.39
Mar 15 200mg
Apr 1 200mg 0.407 5.9
Apr 12 300mg
May 13 300mg 0.252 5.3
Jun 10 300mg 0.379 5.7

It seemed that we got too happy with the previous result & relaxed a bit, hence the rise in Uric Acid again 😳 Good news, however, is his liver function test has lowered to normal range.

He will do another blood test in August, I shall update again later.

[Cindy]

Hi Christopher,

Here’s info from Keith’s website sub-title “Lowering Uric Acid Can Cause Pain”:

Unfortunately, as they are dissolving, uric acid crystals shed the protein coating, and the immune system starts to attack again, which may result in a painful gout flare.

Allopurinol Medication: Why It Hurts To Get Rid Of Gout

Hope this helps answer your question.

[Cindy]

Not sure if I should continue the subject here … but I’ll do it now & if Keith you think that this should be somewhere else, please feel free to do so.

I’ve been reading about Tinnitus on the web & found something that may worth more readings. According to Chinese medicine, a tinnitus can be caused by a weakened kidney function. As allopurinol does in fact have some effect on the kidney, my husband’s tinnitus could actually be because of allopurinol. Though so far his kidney functions read OK from the blood tests we’ve been doing, I guess each person’s side effects and reactions to the drugs are different. & though kidney function is affected but yet not to point of “damage” which can be seen from the blood tests. I need to get more information & maybe if possible seek some Chinese dr’s point of view.

[Cindy]

Thank you both nobody & Keith!

Since starting Allopurinol in March my husband had just 1 minor gout flare up which subsided in about 1 day. And I can see that the once swollen big toe part is now slowly shrinking. I think Allopurinol is clearly working in lowering the uric acid.

As his latest reading is 0.252, I think we will keep on taking Allopurinol 300mg for 2 more months & do another test. Since the result is really encouraging & there is one point that keep us hesitant in increasing the dosage is because my husband is having tinnitus since starting Allopurinol. Of course all the readings & even dr. said the medicine is the not cause, but we don’t know … 😕

[Cindy]

Keith, my husband has switched from 200mg to 300mg one month ago, & his uric acid went from 0.407 to 0.252, do you think he should increase the allopurinol dosage? Or he should keep with the 300mg for a month or two & see if the uric acid is ok? So far the kidney & liver functions are both ok with each blood test.

[Cindy]

My husband did a blood test On May 15, 2017, after being on 300mg Allopurinol for a month now.

The result is so much better encouraging! 😀
I’ll give a summary below:

Date Allopurinol Uric Acid(mmol/L) Glucose(mmol/L)
Feb 18 no allopurinol 0.543 6.39
Mar 15 200mg
Apr 1 200mg 0.407 5.9
Apr 12 300mg
May 13 300mg 0.252 😎 5.3

Now my question is: how long should my husband stay on 300mg Allopurinol before we can switch down?

[Cindy]

My husband’s been on Allopurinol 200mg for about 1 month & he did a blood test again, the results are very encouraging! 🙂

Uric acid: 0.407mmol/L (0.543 before)
Glucose: 5.9mmol/L (6.39 before)

So it seems that the blood sugar is also much better now.

He is now starting Allopurinol 300mg & will go for another blood test in a month; hopefully, he can get to the “safe level”.

BTW, regarding Keith’s comment about the genetic screening, we didn’t do that; because we don’t see the very bad rashes as described by the Hypersensitive syndrome. We shall continue with the blood test & watch the uric acid, blood sugar, liver & kidney functions closely.

Thank you Keith for your good heart & hard work in keeping the website! Truly I’ve learned a lot in treating my husband’s high uric acid & the non-stop gout flares since Oct. last year. We are happier now because we know at least this illness can be “managed”. 🙂

[Cindy]

We went see a different dr. yesterday & she prescribed 200mg Allopurinol. Just wondering if this is too much to start with?

[Cindy]

Sorry this is not a reply to Andrew, but I’m surprise to see Patrick’s comment about how expensive Colchicine is in the US! 😯 Colchicine 0.5mg costs only less than US$0.1 in HK where I can buy them in drug stores easily. 😕

[Cindy]

Hi Keith, thanks for your reply. As you have mentioned many times that we have to “educate” our dr. sometimes. In our case, we will go see another doctor ASAP. Thanks also for your effort in giving us a lot of valuable information! 🙂

[Cindy]

High Uric Acid with high blood sugar

My husband has just did a body check & his uric acid is 0.543mmol/L & Glucose is 6.39. Now the doctor said she cannot start Allopurinol because of the high glucose reading. Is this true? Or he should start Allopurinol anyway to “take care” of one thing first?

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