Me Against Gout
- Thread starter RetaRX
- Start date
Raising your reta dose could be a very reasonable move, provided you can still get enough food in. There still isn’t precise information about the size of effect to anticipate, but when it comes to uric acid reduction, reta sits roughly in allopurinol’s range (tirz and sema don’t share that action), and the effect is dose-dependent and glucagon-mediated. So if you don’t need to stay at that lower dose to dodge side effects or avoid undereating, the smallest effective dose probably isn’t giving you much of an advantage.
Pepperboi
Explorer
Even though this board centers on peptides, having gotten gout in my ankles means I want to offer a reasonable viewpoint.
Since starting 100mg Allopurinol, no flare-up has occurred for pretty much 8 years, and my lifestyle hasn’t changed.
A fucked-up liver and a horseshoe kidney were what I was born with.
Add congenital heart defects to that, and I’m seeing a doctor quite often, with routine bloodwork.
In my experience, beginning Allopurinol at a low dose and then titrating upward is the best approach.
Since starting 100mg Allopurinol, no flare-up has occurred for pretty much 8 years, and my lifestyle hasn’t changed.
A fucked-up liver and a horseshoe kidney were what I was born with.
Add congenital heart defects to that, and I’m seeing a doctor quite often, with routine bloodwork.
In my experience, beginning Allopurinol at a low dose and then titrating upward is the best approach.
RetaRX said:
Thanks to all of you for weighing in. I’m not out here suggesting anyone should avoid allo; I’m just spelling out the path I picked and the reasons behind it.
I could have phrased my point about long-term damage better. My claim wasn’t that using it for years brings about liver and kidney disease. Rather, my point was that long-term harm is possible. Is that uncommon? Yes.
I’ve come to accept that if nothing else works, I’ll begin Allo or its equivalent.
Until then, I’ll keep sharing updates as this journey moves along
Man.... I truly need you to hear this: the position you're arguing against isn't one anybody here is taking, and your own experiment is actively harming you.
People have made the same point over and over, yet you keep pulling it back to inflammation.
Gout is NOT a disease of inflammation. It IS a disease of uric acid crystals, and those crystals are what set off inflammation.
There’s no debate that diet and weight loss may help bring uric acid down, but for most people.... particularly someone at 45 who has episodes every 6–8 weeks..... genetics carry a HUGE role, and lifestyle changes by themselves will NEVER be sufficient to break down those crystals, nor to lower uric acid enough to keep more from forming.
You can spend years searching for the best anti-inflammatory peptide on earth, but unless it can drive uric acid low enough, or break down the crystals (peptides can't do that) .... you're dealing with the smoke, but the fire is still burning.
That's the reason allopurinol keeps coming up, or other urate-lowering therapies. Nobody is telling you to avoid experimenting. The warning is not to mistake inflammation treatment for treatment of the disease.
Try every experiment you like when it comes to symptom control. The mistake is treating symptom control as disease control, and that is the mistake you're making. The two can, and should, be done together.
AlexSilver
Explorer
Jfrick11 said:
RetaRX said:
Thanks to all of you for weighing in. I’m not out here suggesting anyone should avoid allo; I’m just spelling out the path I picked and the reasons behind it.
I could have phrased my point about long-term damage better. My claim wasn’t that using it for years brings about liver and kidney disease. Rather, my point was that long-term harm is possible. Is that uncommon? Yes.
I’ve come to accept that if nothing else works, I’ll begin Allo or its equivalent.
Until then, I’ll keep sharing updates as this journey moves along
Man.... I truly need you to hear this: the position you're arguing against isn't one anybody here is taking, and your own experiment is actively harming you.
People have made the same point over and over, yet you keep pulling it back to inflammation.
It IS a disease of uric acid crystals, and those crystals are what set off inflammation.
There’s no debate that diet and weight loss may help bring uric acid down, but for most people.... particularly someone at 45 who has episodes every 6–8 weeks..... genetics carry a HUGE role, and lifestyle changes by themselves will NEVER be sufficient to break down those crystals, nor to lower uric acid enough to keep more from forming.
You can spend years searching for the best anti-inflammatory peptide on earth, but unless it can drive uric acid low enough, or break down the crystals (peptides can't do that) .... you're dealing with the smoke, but the fire is still burning.
That's the reason allopurinol keeps coming up, or other urate-lowering therapies. Nobody is telling you to avoid experimenting. The warning is not to mistake inflammation treatment for treatment of the disease.
Try every experiment you like when it comes to symptom control. The mistake is treating symptom control as disease control, and that is the mistake you're making. The two can, and should, be done together.
That is 100% correct.
The inflammation comes from those damn uric acid crystals building up inside the joints—they're what cause it.
randompersonrandom
Explorer
I'm completely ignorant when it comes to gout, and I'm only asking because I'm curious—I have no stake in the outcome. If your uric acid reading is abnormal at 6 weeks, does that indicate gout is still there even without flareups? And if that's the case, would you then accept allopurinol for good, so it doesn't harm you despite the absence of symptoms?
Stace_wow
Explorer
What do you eat, generally?
I appreciate your perspective. My plan is to try various methods aimed at bringing down inflammation and uric acid levels before I accept a lifelong medication. That’s not to say others shouldn’t do so, or that I won’t down the road. Right now, I’m against it.Jfrick11 said:
RetaRX said:
Thanks to all of you for weighing in. I’m not out here suggesting anyone should avoid allo; I’m just spelling out the path I picked and the reasons behind it.
I could have phrased my point about long-term damage better. My claim wasn’t that using it for years brings about liver and kidney disease. Rather, my point was that long-term harm is possible. Is that uncommon? Yes.
I’ve come to accept that if nothing else works, I’ll begin Allo or its equivalent.
Until then, I’ll keep sharing updates as this journey moves along
Man.... I truly need you to hear this: the position you're arguing against isn't one anybody here is taking, and your own experiment is actively harming you.
People have made the same point over and over, yet you keep pulling it back to inflammation.
It IS a disease of uric acid crystals, and those crystals are what set off inflammation.
There’s no debate that diet and weight loss may help bring uric acid down, but for most people.... particularly someone at 45 who has episodes every 6–8 weeks..... genetics carry a HUGE role, and lifestyle changes by themselves will NEVER be sufficient to break down those crystals, nor to lower uric acid enough to keep more from forming.
You can spend years searching for the best anti-inflammatory peptide on earth, but unless it can drive uric acid low enough, or break down the crystals (peptides can't do that) .... you're dealing with the smoke, but the fire is still burning.
That's the reason allopurinol keeps coming up, or other urate-lowering therapies. Nobody is telling you to avoid experimenting. The warning is not to mistake inflammation treatment for treatment of the disease.
Try every experiment you like when it comes to symptom control. The mistake is treating symptom control as disease control, and that is the mistake you're making. The two can, and should, be done together.
That's almost certainly the case.
My diet consists of whole foods with plenty of protein and very little alcohol. Honestly, the standard of what I eat has always been high, but the amount I consumed was likely my main issue—though I've got that managed at present.
Stace_wow
Explorer
If anything in my body starts acting off, my first move—every single time—is to examine what I’m eating.
After a gout flare that lasted a year, I cut out meat and felt better within a week.
Not everybody is able to take that route, and naturally it might not help every person. Still, if issues keep hanging around…it could be something to try!
After a gout flare that lasted a year, I cut out meat and felt better within a week.
Not everybody is able to take that route, and naturally it might not help every person. Still, if issues keep hanging around…it could be something to try!
Bioexplorer
Explorer
Coffee is one thing not to overlook when you assess your diet. Uric acid should come down by 0.4 mg/dl on 6 or more cups a day. Your liver gets protection from it too.