Temporary Uric acid Medication Stop

[d q]

@keith – hope you’re well mate. We don’t really hear much from you these days! Where have you been! Holidaying again? 🙂

Keith, I had a few questions I wanted to ask you (and anyone else that may have tried this actually). I remember you mentioning you took an Allopurinol break after an intense regime for a period of time. You also mentioned that providing you find a good rheumatologist who is ready to work with you on this method it can actually work. Now as some of us can’t take Allopurinol or Febuxostat for long periods of time due to side effects or other related boundaries would it be possible you could explain how this start/stop treatment works?

Is there a certain procedure for e.g. Uric Acid under (xxx mmol) for a given period of time and then you can take a few months drug break? Or is there a specific method or formula according to gout severity or length of time you have had it, etc?

I’d like to discuss this option with my rheumatologist as Allopurinol caused me a few problems and I want to talk preemptive action if Febuxostat doesn’t work too.

Thanks mate 🙂

[Keith Taylor]

Actually, I did get a week in the Algarve last month. Because it’s nice to enjoy some warm sunshine during January, though the nights were very cold. Unfortunately, there is now a national shortage of Port Wine in Portugal! 🙂

But the main reason is that my time has been limited of late with both personal and professional commitments. So I had to focus more on GoutPal.com, as it helps many more people. However, I have tried to monitor posts from the update service and step in if I can see a need.

Regular readers of that service will know that it only presents the first few lines. So anyone who wants to grab my attention should start their new topic or reply with something interesting!

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Anyway, I’ve updated Review Is Allopurinol A Lifetime Drug to reflect some more recent research in this area. But, there is no real consensus, and all research has been on allopurinol, not febuxostat.

Personally, I think it’s a matter of common sense. So the dirty dish analogy is useful there. Then it’s a matter of remembering the key points:
1. You need to be sure that the dish is clean! That is, your uric acid should have been well below 6mg/dL for 5 years without any gout symptoms. Also, you should have no visible signs of tophi.
2. You need to carefully check for dust! That is, you need to monitor and record your uric acid levels during the withdrawal period. Then take professional advice using the research I’ve mentioned, to take a view on when to restart uric acid treatment.

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Have you ever stopped uric acid treatment and had gout return?

[d q]

Thanks @Keith. I’ll take a read and shoot a reply here if I have any further questions. Thanks again mate 🙂

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