Medication For Gout Aftercare follows my last article: Starting Gout Treatment Guidelines. It’s the opposite end of the gout treatment process.
Once you have gout under control, it’s no time to be complacent.
See Medication For Gout Aftercare summary.
You need to continue monitoring your uric acid levels. That way, you will stay free from gout pain for life.
This article is aimed at gout patients who have successfully controlled their uric acid. That means that you must have completed a period of at least 6 months where both of the following are true:
- You have controlled uric acid safely below 5 mg/dL*.
- You have had no gout flares.
As we shall see, this is usually the easiest part of controlling gout. Like most maintenance jobs, a few minutes a year is all it needs. But, beware!
Before you continue, please read my update notice…
2020 Gout Treatment Plans
This is step 7 of Personal Gout Treatment Guidelines 2016. Now I have replaced this single plan with several plans for different types of gout sufferers. So the nearest equivalent is GoutPal Plan for Gout Students. Where you learn about medical, herbal, or dietary uric acid treatment. Before deciding on one approach. Or your mixture of more than one approach.
Therefore, you can continue with your learning. Or switch to a new plan starting at Questions for Gout Sufferers.
Monitoring Your Medication For Gout
Do not be tempted to overlook monitoring your medication for gout. If you allow uric acid to start building up again, you will be back where you started. In fact, you will be worse than when you started controlling gout, as you will be older, and more damaged.
The previous step in your gout treatment plan took a minimum of six months. Monitoring your medication for gout takes a lifetime. All you need is a simple blood test, at least once a year. That should monitor uric acid, liver function, and kidney function. Most of the time, there will be no change. Occasionally, something might signal to you or your doctor that it’s time to improve your medication for gout.
Medication For Gout Aftercare
In the gout forum, Evgeny questioned if he might reduce his dose of febuxostat (brand name Feburic). As I write, I don’t have enough information to know if it is the right time to consider this. We can only consider Medication For Gout Aftercare after we have reduced the burden of uric acid crystals. This applies equally to all gout medications, whether pharmaceutical or herbal. But, there are never any fixed rules.
Every case has to be examined on an individual basis. We have to consider all the facts, then choose the safest way. Over the many years of improving your medication for gout, here are some common reasons for change:
- Your metabolism has changed.
- New gout medications are available.
- Your doctor changed.
- New professional recommendations on safe gout treatment.
Aftercare is important!
Do not be like my friend who reached his eighties thinking he’d done everything right by taking his daily allopurinol. Years turned to decades, yet his doctor never reviewed his medication for gout. His final 2 years were misery. He thought he’d done everything right. He did not know about new treatment guidelines and the need for annual monitoring. Why would he, if nobody told him?!
So, I’m telling you. Do not stop your medication for gout aftercare, just because you feel great. Pester your doctor for annual reviews. When you do need to make adjustments to your medicine for gout, make them slowly. Gradual change and careful monitoring will keep you safely free from any fear of gout.
As you get checked and reviewed, post your results in the gout forum. That way, you encourage thousands of fellow gout sufferers to take the right course. You show the world – gout control is easy when you do it right.
This is the final step in my Personal Gout Treatment Guidelines 2016 series. The full series is:
- Starting Gout Treatment Guidelines
- Chronic or Acute Gout Treatment?
- Medical or Natural Gout Treatment?
- a) Which Gout Treatments for Pain Control?
b) Which Gout Treatments for Uric Acid Control? - Monitor Your Treatment of Gout
- Successful Gout Treatment at Home
- Medication For Gout Aftercare
In this series, I have created a general template for gout control. Every gout patient needs their own personal gout treatment plan. Your doctor might have already created a template for you to customize. If not, you can customize my general plan to create your personal plan.
Throughout 2016, I will provide more specific templates based on input from GoutPal members in my gout forum. If you need help to customize your personal gout treatment plan, please ask in my gout forum.
Leave Medication For Gout Aftercare to return to your GoutPal Plan for Gout Students.
* In this article, I use 5 mg/dL as the usual safe uric acid level. In your life, you should have your own safe level. You should agree different target levels with your doctor at different steps in your gout treatment plan. If you have to accept levels that are over 5 mg/dL (300μmol/L), then you should know the reason, and manage the additional risks that implies. If you don’t know your safe uric acid level, let’s discuss it in the gout forum.
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TL;DR - Medication For Gout Aftercare
Medication For Gout Aftercare summary.- Do not relax until you've gone six months with safe uric acid and no gout flares.
- Get blood tests for uric acid, liver function, and kidney function, at least once a year for life.
- Make adjustments to your medicine for gout slowly.
If you need help improving your personal gout treatment plan, ask in GoutPal's Gout Forum.
