Just like any other organs in the body, the liver is very important for the day-to-day survival of life. The liver is responsible for the overall balance maintenance of the body. These include the manufacturing of the glucose, balancing the acid base, and the excretion of bodily toxins. Therefore, messing up with the liver is basically adding trouble to your body. This may slowly poison you. Not just that, it may also cause some lasting illnesses, just like diabetes.
If you don’t know it yet, allopurinol is a medication that is used in treating gout, as well as hyperuricemia. This is actually good in creating a various mess on the body. In this article, you will get to know and understand how the allopurinol may damage the liver, as well as in the process of inflicting diabetes.
The liver and Allopurinol
The medication, allopurinol is actually one of the mortal enemies of the liver. Actually, it is just right to say that the main job of allopurinol is disturbing or giving trouble to the liver. Furthermore, its own side effects are lowering the uric acid level. Even though it may seem to be quite exaggerated, objectively and scientifically speaking, it is true by all means. In order to understand why, you must first understand two different things;
- How does allopurinol reduce the uric acid?
- Why does the uric acid exist in the body?
How does allopurinol reduce the uric acid level?
Apart from the overtaxing of the liver, the allopurinol may inflict the multiple damages to the organ. Firstly, allopurinol a medication, and the liver is the frontline that’s responsible for the granting of clearance to all the medicines we take.
Moreover, allopurinol has been known to have an effect on the liver. For example, it may cause cholestasis and hepatic granuloma. The granuloma may cause necrosis in the liver. This just means that the cells begin to devour in the liver. However, cholestasis is the obstruction of the pathway of the bile. It may also cause hypersensitivity, varying on a person. This particular hypersensitivity may cause damage to the skin.
How does allopurinol reduce the uric acid?
The allopurinol, just like XO inhibitors doesn’t flush the uric acid out of the body. Rather, it halts the production of additional uric acid through the inhibition of the xanthine oxidase. This is a liver enzyme that is responsible for the breakdown of purine.
As you can see, the major effect of the allopurinol is disrupting the liver. This may be very difficult for the liver. Because the production of uric acid will just be paused for a while. The purine will never vanish from the body or be converted into uric acid. Thus, the liver will produce more xanthine oxidase. What’s even worse is that when you stop taking allopurinol, it’s like opening a dam’s floodgates –purine will be onrush!
The connection between liver and diabetes
The abnormalities on the liver are actually equivalent it the abnormalities of the body as a whole. And since the liver has a significant role in the glucose metabolism, messing it up is just like messing up with your own metabolism of glucose in the body.
Liver: Its role
Gluconeogenesis is the process that is known to mainly occur in the liver. This certain process actually comes from the words “genesis” meaning creation, “neo” meaning new, and prefix “gluco” as a representation for glucose. Put basically, it is the process of producing some new glucose in the body to use. Distressing this certain process may cause either hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia, both of which may lead to diabetes.
Moreover, this may be a double-whamy for those who suffer from gout. This is since the condition of diabetes may get gout attacks and hyperuricemia much worse. It is quite ironic for the allopurinol, since it’s meant to be a great medication for gout.
Conclusion
The allopurinol may cause diabetes indirectly, as it picks a fight with the liver. This is just one of the numerous side effects of allopurinol. If you’re interested in having your skin peel off (literally) or having your organs rot by themselves. Go ahead and take allopurinol.
