Coming off Allopurinol Introduction
This old topic is about coming off allopurinol gradually. So it applies to gout sufferers during Gout Progression Phase 6: Adjust Uric Acid Cure.
After you've read this, there is a link back to the latest version of GoutPal. Where you can seek more ways to clarify your role in shared decision-making with your health advisers during gout recovery. Or you can continue to make comments below. Revitalizing this old thread for the benefit of current gout sufferers.
You can read all this general chat about coming off allopurinol. Or skip to:
Coming off Allopurinol Forum
🕖Latest Change: January 11, 2023 – ⎙Published:April 11, 2013.
How to Taper off Allopurinol
Going back to Sam's original question about "coming off allopurinol". If your test results show that uric acid is safe, then you are right to taper off slowly.
Unfortunately, I can't find any specific advice on this from American rheumatologists. However, I did find some relevant British advice at Allopurinol: medicine used to treat gout - NHS:
Tapering off allopurinol
If you stop allopurinol treatment suddenly, there is a high risk that gout may get worse or you will get serious side effects. Only stop taking allopurinol if a doctor tells you to. A doctor will help you to reduce your dose slowly so you do not get serious side effects.
Do You Need to Wean Off Allopurinol?
So my first advice to people in your situation is to get a blood test and see if your doctor recommends you should wean off allopurinol. And if so, how?
Now, pill-splitting is an option. But going from 300 mg to 150 mg is quite a jump. Because when we're in the "titration phase", doctors usually recommend increments of 50 - 100 mg. See Gout Progression Phase 6: Adjust Uric Acid Cure for more. So if I were in your situation, I'd probably ask for a reduction to 200 mg per day as part of our shared decision-making process.
However, I understand the desire to avoid wasting your stock of 300 mg allopurinol pills. So another option is to increase the gap between doses from 24 hours to 36 hours. But every gout sufferer is different. So again, as part of your shared decision-making responsibilities, you have to discuss this with your doctor. Because your medical history may be important in ways that are outside the scope of an allopurinol forum.
Coming off Your Allopurinol
Which aspects of coming off allopurinol are you interested in? Do you think you need to wean off allopurinol? Please tell me your stories about coming off allopurinol in the comments below.
I'm working on templates that help you identify, understand, and resolve the best way to taper off allopurinol. In the meantime, you can start by adding notes about what you've learned about coming off allopurinol so far.
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