Side Effect of Allopurinol?

[JessBrent]

First off, I wanted to say thank you to all of you fellow gout suffers who are comfortably managing their gout but still follow and post on this blog; you've been a world of help to me and my husband, who was recently diagnosed with gout.  My husband began taking 300mg of Allopurinol 6 weeks ago, went in for labs last week and his UA levels were 6.5, down from 10.  The Dr. advised that he increase the Allopurinol to a pill and a half (450mg) and will take UA levels in another 4 weeks.  Dr. wants UA levels under 6.

My question is; do any of you experience dizziness?  And if so, does this go away over time?  After starting Allopurinol my husband began to feel dizzy upon transferring, when getting up from bed the couch, etc. and has noticed an increase in the side effect when he increased the Allopurinol dosage.  Just wondering if this is something he will have to get used to…?  Otherwise, acute attacks are at bay and we're happy to be treating the root of the problem verses the attacks.  -Thanks again

[Keith Taylor (GoutPal Admin)]

Dizziness is one of the reported side effects of allopurinol. Interestingly, it was also reported amongst the top 10 side effects for febuxostat (Uloric / Adenuric).

I can't speak from personal experience, but if you search for allopurinol dizziness in the search box above or below, you will see a few mentions of it. I have had a quick look, but I cannot see how long this is reported to last.

[zip2play]

Jess,

I'm pushing 2 decades of daily allpurinol use. I've never experienced dizziness.

The only bouts of dizziness I've ever had that were gout related was early on trying to treat acute attacks with Indocin (indomethacin)… that drug had me constantly very dizzy.

[JessBrent]

Thanks zip2play I guess we'll just take a wait and see approach and bring it up to the Doctor next month.

[vegetarianGuy]

Jess,

1+ month on AlloP and did not feel any dizziness but lot of doziness Some eye/headache type of pain but not sure if it was even related as it had started one day before my first AlloP.

So all in all I would say my body is handling AlloP quiet well (fingers crossed). Only thing I notice is slight tiredness. Something I can live with if it means healthy joints and long active life.

[Utubelite]

I felt a lot of dizziness when I started taking Allop. And I did get the same feelings of dizziness when getting up( once I almost fell down but I was able to get support of a chair and balance myself) and out of balance feelings while transferring /moving. I reported it in my earlier posts.

My dizziness continued for almost 3 months and then it almost went away. I was also taking some other medications and they might have played their role as well.

Now I am on Allop for almost 8 months and the dizziness is almost gone( 98% plus cured).

[davidk]

I tried 300 mg Allopurinol and was so dizzy and foggy headed that I could not concentrate or do my job. I had to give up on it after 2 weeks.  Months later I switched to Uloric and have been doing great.  I'm on several other meds though and everyone is different, so its hard to say.  Sounds like some people have had good luck with the dizziness going away after a while.  If it's just when he gets up or such, probably worth giving it a little longer to see what happens.  Uloric works for me, but it's a newer (less tried and proven) and much more expensive drug, so if you can make Allopurinol work that's probably the best bet.

[JessBrent]

Thanks guys!  Nice to know he's not the only one and here's hoping that the dizziness slowly fades away.  It would be nice if we can stick to Allopurinol, since it's on the $4 list. 

Utubelite, I'll read through your earlier posts.  Thanks again.

[zip2play]

God bless that $4 List!

[Author]

Posts