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I’m guessing my next best step is to try and find a good rheumatologist and make an appointment, possibly request a urine uric acid test and play with the idea of taking probenecid.
I’m assuming the periods of lower uric acid coincide with the times when I would take the medicine more regularly.
I’ve never had any other tests besides serum uric acid and actually having the doctors see my ankles and toes during a flare up.
I’m always checking my blood pressure, I’m a paramedic and always have blood pressure machines nearby. My pressure is always normal and my heart rate is always below 60. I’ve been very active (exercising) in the last six months and weigh 180 @ 5’8”.
I’m also prescribed adderall and drink a good amount of caffeine. The only time I feel any side effects from adderall or caffeine is when I’m taking allopurinol or uloric. I’ve also noticed my pressure tends to be on the high side when taking meds for gout, even got up to 230/120 one time. At that time I was asymptomatic except for a bit of double vision. I believe the rise in BP is due to the effects of the gout meds and adhd meds combined.
My blood sugar has always been normal, fasting and after meals. I started testing it regularly approximately two years ago. I stopped testing my blood sugar after failing to see a correlation between the drowsiness I was feeling and Blood glucose level
Date. SUA.
09/21/2010 10.7
03/10/2014 7.1
05/18/2015 4.7
12/06/2016 3.4
04/03/2017 6.0
04/05/2018 8.2
06/30/2018 9.6Allopurinol and Uloric side effects
Hello, I’m 37 and had my first gout flare up over ten years ago. I had a couple more flare ups before a doctor finally prescribed allopurinol, at first they were skeptical. I think most thought I was too young.
I just recently, within the last two to three months, realized allopurinol was what was causing pretty severe drowsiness. I would take allopurinol and be okay, but anytime I ate I would get very drowsy about 20 minutes later. At times the drowsiness and mental fog were debilitating. I realized every time I ate I felt drowsy and that when I fasted I felt better. For the past few years I’ve been playing with my diet trying to find what it was I was having an allergy/intolerance to. I started feeling better, and eventually stopped being drowsy most of the time but couldn’t pinpoint what still made me drowsy every now and then. I had also began taking allopurinol more sporadically until eventually abandoning it altogether.
In April I had a physical exam at work and my uric acid was 9.2. I thought maybe a change in diet and exercise would help so I stayed away from the allopurinol. I had a physical scheduled with my primary DR for the end of June so I gave myself until then to give dieting a shot.
I took allopurinol for the first time in a long time at some point in May or June. I had been fasting that day until 3pm, slept well the night before and hadn’t felt the drowsiness I dreaded for a very long time. About 20 minutes after eating the dreaded drowsiness hit me like a truck, It was unmistakable. It quickly became apparent that the only thing I had done differently was taking allopurinol. I stopped taking it again and experimented with it a few days later, same reaction.
During my physical with my Dr I told him about the side effects and that I wanted to try a different medicine to control my Uric Acid, this time it tested at 9.6 my doctor prescribed uloric but it seems to have the same side effects as allopurinol.
I used to take 300mg allopurinol, my dr prescribed 80mg of uloric. I want to reduce my uric acid levels to a safe number. without meds I haven’t had a flare up in at least two years.
Any suggestions as to what my next steps should be would be greatly appreciated.
Please excuse me if I left information out or jumped around a bit, today the drowsiness and brain fog have been intense.