How to Avoid Gout Medication Side Effects tells you about managing all gout treatments. So, I describe a general approach to safe gout medication. Because many side effects are caused by bad treatment plans.

Gout Medication Side Effects Audience

I wrote Gout Medication Side Effects mainly for Gout Victims who will not start uric acid control. Because they feel they cannot manage side effects safely. So, they stop their treatment instead of managing it properly.

Also, this is useful for any gout sufferer who is scared of gout medication side effects. So, do you know which type of gout sufferer you are? If not, please read Questions for Gout Sufferers before you continue.

How to Avoid Gout Medication Side Effects

Firstly, let’s consider important medical factors that affect all treatment programs, not just gout:

  1. Doctors are used to managing risks and benefits of medical treatment. So, discuss your concerns with them before you start trawling the Internet. Because you are most likely to read meaningless advice from people reporting side effects that have nothing to do with you.
  2. Side effects can only happen after you start your gout medication. So stop worrying before you even start treatment. But, always learn, understand, and plan safely.
  3. Some aspects of managing side effects apply to all medications. So, I will explain general principles here. Then I list different gout medications so that you can read about their individual known side effects.

Gout Medication Side Effects Principles

The important principles of gout medication side effects are:

  1. Plan your medication program properly to match with symptoms control.
  2. Prevent non-medical influences creating imagined side effects.
  3. If side effects occur, monitor the symptoms carefully.

Gout Medication Side Effects Planning

Before starting any gout medication, you must have initial blood test results for uric acid, kidney function, and liver function. But, in the case of gout pain control, you can start taking medication before your doctor gets the test results. However, it is important that your doctor has these starting values in case you experience side effects later.

Also, you should be aware of any other pre-treatment tests that are advised for specific gout drugs.

Gout Medication Side Effects Prevention

Above all, read the label that is in the box. For example, NSAIDs commonly prescribed for gout pain often cause stomach problems. But, these might be prevented with enteric-coated pills or associated medicine. Also, look at taking pills before, during, or after meals.

Surprisingly, one aspect of side effect prevention is rarely mentioned. To explain, think about the placebo effect. When a patient takes an inactive “pretend” treatment. But, they can still feel better. Then, note the opposite is also true. Because we can feel false side-effects called the nocebo effect. In any case, this is an advanced medical topic, that your doctor must manage on an individual basis.

So, you need to be aware of nocebo. More importantly, you must talk about nocebo with your doctor. In fact, one general nocebo quote[1] might have been written for gout:

Many disorders have a natural course of illness in which symptoms fluctuate. Making it difficult to differentiate between a placebo or nocebo response. And the natural course of illness at an individual patient level.

Fortunately, you can help yourself with nocebo. As well as rely on help from your doctor. Because many of the strategies recommended to doctors[1] are available to you:

Managing patients’ beliefs and experiences are at the core of possible strategies. Framing of information is an effective way to put the benefits and risks of treatment in perspective. Focusing on the positive possibilities. A caring and empathic relationship is beneficial. When the medical problem allows for a small delay in the start of therapy. A lower initial dose might be helpful.

Also, as well as help from your doctor, you can get one-off help in the gout forum. Or, we can start a structured gout help plan to help you understand and manage your side effects.

Gout Medication Side Effects Monitoring

As gout patients with side effects, we often forget to monitor these effects carefully. So, you must start your day with self-examination and self-awareness. More importantly, you must make a daily note of your symptoms. Because you need that information when we come to assess if changes to your gout treatment are successful.

Again, GoutPal can help you by recording daily symptoms within your personal gout management plan.

Gout Medication Side Effects Summary

You can avoid most gout medication side effects with careful planning. Also, adequate pre-treatment tests and understanding how gout changes. But, you must also be aware of false side-effects known as the nocebo effect. Then, you can work with your doctor to identify and overcome all gout medication side effects.

Control of real physical side effects depends on your specific gout medication. So, I deal with those on the appropriate gout treatment page. But, we can often control nocebo, with the right approach. As well as the advice I described above, we can also see certain personal factors linked with nocebo[2]:

factors such as optimism, suggestibility, empathy, and neuroticism have been linked to placebo effects. While pessimism, anxiety and catastrophizing have been associated to nocebo effects.

Nobody Needs Gout Medication Side Effects
Nobody Needs Gout Medication Side Effects

Your Gout Medication Side Effects

Finally, let’s look at your gout medication side effects. Because a logical approach is the fastest way to overcome such effects:

  1. Do you have a good plan with adequate pre-treatment test results? If not, it might be best to start again. But, you must discuss this with your doctor before stopping any prescription treatment.
  2. Can you rule out nocebo effects? If not, consult your doctor, or get help in the gout forum.

If you answered yes to both questions, please see more information about side effects for your specific gout medication:

I will review each of those pages in light of these general principles. Do you want me to email you as I complete each review? If so, please send this form:

Enter your email address:

No Charge.
Subscription is free.
100% Safety Guaranteed.
Your email address is safe - I will never share it with anyone else.
No Commitment.
Each of my update emails ends with an Unsubscribe link. So, you can stop updates whenever you like. Then, rejoin whenever you like. You are in control.

For more gout info update services: Gout Info Update Service.

Return from Gout Medication Side Effects to your GoutPal Plan for Gout Victims

Gout Medication Side Effects References

  1. Chavarria, Victor, et al. “The placebo and nocebo phenomena: their clinical management and impact on treatment outcomes.” Clinical Therapeutics (2017).
  2. Corsi, Nicole, and Luana Colloca. “Placebo and nocebo effects: The advantage of measuring expectations and psychological factors.” Frontiers in Psychology 8 (2017): 308.

Please give your feedback

Did this page help you? If yes, please consider a small donation. Your donations help keep GoutPal's gout support services free for everyone.

If not, please tell me how I can improve it to help you more.

Please use the Feedback Form from the Donate button. Or join the discussions at:I will never reveal your email address to anyone else.
Tags: