Allopurinol for gout - "Allopurinol, where's my Allopurinol?"LONG TERM GOUT TREATMENT Some Allopurinol brand names: ZYLOPRIM, LOPURIN, ZYLORIC. It's also available as a generic brand. Allopurinol mispellings Allupurinol, Allopurinal, Alopurinol, Alopurinal. We include mispellings because mispellings on precriptions can lead to the wrong medicine being prescribed. Allopurinol for gout has been a treatment for over 40 years. It was introduced in 1963 and is at present the most widely prescribed drug for gout. It may well be dethroned by Febuxostat, a new gout drug.(See the new gout drugs pages). Allopurinol works by inhibiting the production of uric acid . It works in a similar way to cherries, possibly celery, and perhaps in the way that quercetin and berries such as strawberries, have been reputed to work. That is, by inhibiting the production of xanthine oxidase and therefore uric acid. It may reduce your uric acid levels by more than a low purine or other kind of diet.
But in this study the low purine diet out-performed it.
A low purine diet will reduce serum (blood) uric acid by about 1mg-2mg/dL (dL is a short form of deciliter). Always drink lots of water on a course of Allopurinol -
see the 'What to drink?' section for why.
Most likely it can reduce uric acid levels more than other natural gout remedies, although recall from the celery section that James Duke PhD said he swapped Allopurinol with celery seed extract and didn’t have a recurrent gout attack. So in his case celery appears to have performed better than Allopurinol. Less uric acid production means less to excrete and less to potentially produce MSU crystals. So Allopurinol is used for over excretors too. And the body is less acidic and more alkaline (a higher pH level) when it has less uric acid. Allopurinol should not be started during a gout attack. But if it has been taken before the gout attack, continue taking it. This a because sudden changes in blood uric acid levels can worsen the gout attack. Therefore your doctor will wait for a period after the gout attack subsides before starting you on this one, or other long term gout treatments. Once started doctors recommend it should be continued. If discontinued, uric acid levels are likely to rise above 6mg/dL and gout attacks begin again. Tophi may redevelop. If you take Allopurinol gout attacks may begin, whilst it's being taken. That's why low dose Colchicine or NSAIDs may be prescribed in advance of Allopurinol for about two weeks. They act prophylactically (i.e. advance prevention). This combination is quite common. Allopurinol can be prescribed for many kidney disease patients and for those with tophaceous gout, as long as a creatine clearance test ascertains how well the kidney's are functioning. The creatinine clearance test results will influence the amount of the Allopurinol dosage. Dosage 100mg gradually increased to 600mg daily if necessary. A usual dose is 300mg daily.It will be prescribed at a level needed (hopefully) to reach the target serum uric acid level of about 6mg/dL unless of course it causes the kind of side effects which mean it has to be stopped. Allopurinol requires only one tablet a day, so there's much less chance of forgeting to take a dosage. That's another factor that makes Allopurinol for gout a "popular" medicine. Possible side effects include diarrhea, headaches, fevers, skin rashes (2% of users), mainly in people prone to allergic reactions, and others.
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