Uric Acid: dietary contribution
Yes, I imagine that the 15%/85% might well be
approximations.
I was concerned mainly from the viewpoint of my
wanting to go on Allopurinol. It is not a drug to be
taken lightly, but some studies show that going off
NSAIDs entirely and taking a course of Allopurinol has
totally ended all gout attacks in patients that
previously had up to three attacks a year. (Yes, study
had relativelyfew participants).
I was mainly concerned with determining my chances of
getting another attack prior to taking the
chemotherapy agent, Allopurinol.
I did go on a low carbohydrate, high protein/fat diet
to lose thirty pound during which I consumed such high
purine items as: liver pate, sausages, turkey.
Combined with the cell turnover from mobilizing stored
fat, my high purine diet may have contributed to this
initial attack of gout which is still lingering.
IF I do not repeat the poor dietary selection and the
weight loss program, I might be able to avoid future
attacks. This ofcourse would make Allopurinol a very
poor choice to elect at this point in time.
It seems that if this "ten to fifteen" percent dietary
is a reasonable estimate, that my dietary selections
might have been a "tipping point" for the attack even
though the weight loss was six months before symptom
onset.
"my wanting to go on Allopurinol. It is not a drug to be taken
lightly, but some studies show that going off NSAIDs entirely and
taking a course of Allopurinol has totally ended all gout attacks in
patients that previously had up to three attacks a year. (Yes, study
had relativelyfew participants)."
Your research is incomplete. Allopurinol works for everyone who can
tolerate it, all the time, in every case. There are literally
thousands of studies where this has been reported to be true. There
are no cases reported, at least that I could find, where it did not
work if the patient could tolerate the drug.
"chemotherapy agent, Allopurinol."
Yes, allopurinol is used in chemotherapy. However, it is not used as
a primary agent against cancer. It is used in conjunction with
reagents and radiation that kill the cancer.
Why is it used in chemotherapy?
The nobel prize was awarded for discovering its function by the way,
and what it does in chemotherapy is exactly what it does for us with
gout. It stops the production of uric acid.
So why would cancer patients need that?
When you kill a cancer, or large parts of a cancer, you end up
putting an overload on the bodies internal digestive system and you
overload that system with DNA and RNA from dead cells that were
killed by the chemo drug or that were killed by the radiation. These
excess cells end up flooding the system with too much purene for the
already weakened system to handle and uric acid poisoning often
results. Gout, kidney stones, kidney blockage etc. are among the side
effects of the chemotherapy that results from killing a large number
of cells in the body quickly. Allopurinol is used to block the
pathway to uric acid, leaving the end products of cell metabolism in
a more water soluble form that is more easily excreted by the kidney.
I don't know what country you are from but you suggested that
physicians are reluctant to perscribe Allopurinol. Clearly you are
not in the USA because this is not the case here. It is a very low
cost and relatively easy to get drug. It is safe for most people
although ther are side effects, mostly an alergic reaction that is
most likely to occure when you first start taking the drug. Because
of this possible allergic reaction, some physicians will start you
off low and build up your dosage and some will just jump in with much
larger dosages and then reduce the dose when the gout is gone. Mine
started me on 100 mg a day and I have increased my own dosage now up
to 300 a day. The symptoms did not seem to go away at all on 100 mg a
day and now on 300 they seem to be subsiding.
It seems more logical to me that if you had simply increased your
rate of uric acid removal-if you had drunk more water-you might also
have avoided the attack...