Are you suffering from gout? Then you must have known how unimaginable the pain that is caused is. If you’re not, then you are lucky! After all, who will ever expect or wish that their joints will one day get inflamed and will almost burn with pain, I mean literally? That being said, those who suffer from gout wish that there are medications that’ll do some miracles too. One example of which is a medication that will help in lowering the uric acid level. One is allopurinol.
Allopurinol is actually a medicine that is really beneficial for the condition. This article wishes to explain the use, the side effects, as well as the mechanisms of the allopurinol for gout. Read on to know all of these.
The Use of Allopurinol
Supposedly, the allopurinol is an awesome pill, which may lower the uric acid, in an instant! If you’ve been taking allopurinol, try going to your doctor for a uric acid test after and then see the miracles that it does. The uric acid will become lower. Moreover, allopurinol is thought to lower the uric acid faster. In all honesty, allopurinol is a very good medication for this. Conversely, it’s effect is temporary only.
The reason is that the allopurinol will never be capable of flushing the uric acid out. It’ll not even stop the uric acid production. Allopurinol just pauses it and interrupts it in order for the body to catch up. Desolately, as the body tries catching up, it may catch up in a wrong way. Before you will be able to hit that shiny red button at the corner of the browser, think about it so well. Why does the allopurinol cause some severe gout attacks?
Mechanisms of Allopurinol
As what is mentioned a while ago, the allopurinol help pauses the uric acid production. However, how come that it doesn’t stop it totally?
What the right term to use is “delayed”. Well, there is no uric acid that’ll be produced for the mean time, but there will be twice as much later on.
Allopurinol is actually a xanthine oxidase inhibitor. As the effect of it sets in, the enzyme xanthine oxidase will not be capable of breaking down the purine into uric acid. Rather, it tries breaking down the allopurinol as the allopurinol plays like a purine. This just means that the uric acid will not be able to increase for a moment. Conversely, the body will not be able to tolerate so much purine. The worse thing is that the purine will never be flushed out without it being converted into uric acid. therefore, all of that purine you’ve paused must be converted into uric acid in due course. Since there is too much purine that’ll be stocked, the body will rush the process of conversion. Therefore, the uric acid will come in a multitude assault. Hence causing a severe gout attack.
Side Effects of Allopurinol
Moreover, taking the allopurinol for gout may cause some temporary reduction of the uric acid. This is as an exchange of the overabundance of side effects. The austere gout attack is just one and is a real guarantee. Another side effect is diarrhea, which typically happens. Additionally, allopurinol has two frightening side effects. I am talking about the Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis and Steven-Johnson Syndrome. Both of these illnesses are actually austere skin responses, which may not just damage aesthetically but medically as well. They may cause the epidermis to peel off. Furthermore, allopurinol may also cause a bone-marrow depression. Because the bone-marrow are the ones responsible for the blood cell production, it may lead to aplastic anemia eosinophilia, and cytopenias. Furthermore, it may cause interstitial nephritis as well. Thus delaying uric acid’s excretion rate. This is so ironic for a medicine that’s supposed to be treating gout.
Another side effect of the allopurinol is its own intricate dosage. Hence, it needs careful monitoring. Even just a little mistake may cause overdose, which can be very harmful as it may unleash a lot of conditions like eosinophilia, hepatitis, and even abridged excretion of uric acid. Overdose may be very lethal. Furthermore, allopurinol interacts with so many medications. For example, it may interact with phenytoin, vidarabine, diuretics, and a lot of other drug interactions. Consequently, it’s wise to tell your own doctor about whatsoever medicines you’re taking with allopurinol.
