You have just received the results of your annual physical only to find your urine uric acid levels to be elevated.
Your doctor suggests allopurinol to bring these levels down but you respectfully decline, believing that it is nothing much to worry about.
The next day you mention to a co-worker and close friend that your urine uric acid reading was really high, somewhere in the 9 mg/100 ml range.
Your co-worker is shocked and informs you that he had heard from his gout ridden father that levels like that put men at great risk of that painful joint condition.
In fact, if he wasn't mistaken the probability is over 90 percent, and his dad is always bugging him to have his urine uric acid levels tested since heredity has been linked to the condition.
Stories like one above happen all the time.
A warning sign such as high urine uric acid levels appear only to be discounted, and quite frankly it seems like the logical thing to do since gout can strike healthy men and women over the age of 25 without warning.
After all if an individual's serum uric acid level is around 7 mg/100 ml instead of 9 the chance of developing gout falls to around 15 percent.
So small changes can make a big difference.
Urine uric acid is a waste product and is the result of the breakdown of DNA and RNA metabolism.
The normal amount excreted daily is somewhere between 200 and 600 mg through urine uric acid with 100 to 300 mg being disposed of through bile.
As you can see the body is constantly working to eliminate this naturally occurring waste.
Certain foods contribute to the amount of urine uric acid.
The list is relatively long, but a few examples would be organ meats, shellfish, herring, sardines, mackerel, beans, oatmeal, spinach, and cauliflower.
Another contributing factor is alcohol.
Alcohol actually accelerates the breakdown of high purine foods while decreasing the kidneys ability to eliminate this substance.
In those susceptible to gout having a few drinks to relax after a hard day at the office just might be the tipping point that triggers a painful gout attack.
In this article we have just touched on a couple of causes.
Others would include obesity, cancers, blood disorders, radiation, hypothyroidism, and certain drugs especially diuretics.
Certainly, there is no shortage of contributing factors for elevated urine uric acid.
Attacks of the gout are a serious and painful matter and should not be ignored.
Believing that somehow you will avoid the condition, or the initial attack was just a fluke is a mistake.
Statistics show that after the initial attack secondary attacks are likely but the science of predicting when they will occur and their severity is less than dependable.
While avoid recurrent attacks may be difficult there are three steps that can be implemented at home to reduce your chances of having a gout attack.
First, reduce the intake of purine laden foods such as shellfish and organ meats; second, drink plenty of fresh water (6 eight ounce glasses a day); and last but not least implement an alternative gout remedy containing the natural ingredients turmeric and milk thistle.
By implementing these three steps you will have made great strides on the path to reducing elevated uric acid levels and avoiding future attacks.
Your doctor suggests allopurinol to bring these levels down but you respectfully decline, believing that it is nothing much to worry about.
The next day you mention to a co-worker and close friend that your urine uric acid reading was really high, somewhere in the 9 mg/100 ml range.
Your co-worker is shocked and informs you that he had heard from his gout ridden father that levels like that put men at great risk of that painful joint condition.
In fact, if he wasn't mistaken the probability is over 90 percent, and his dad is always bugging him to have his urine uric acid levels tested since heredity has been linked to the condition.
Stories like one above happen all the time.
A warning sign such as high urine uric acid levels appear only to be discounted, and quite frankly it seems like the logical thing to do since gout can strike healthy men and women over the age of 25 without warning.
After all if an individual's serum uric acid level is around 7 mg/100 ml instead of 9 the chance of developing gout falls to around 15 percent.
So small changes can make a big difference.
Urine uric acid is a waste product and is the result of the breakdown of DNA and RNA metabolism.
The normal amount excreted daily is somewhere between 200 and 600 mg through urine uric acid with 100 to 300 mg being disposed of through bile.
As you can see the body is constantly working to eliminate this naturally occurring waste.
Certain foods contribute to the amount of urine uric acid.
The list is relatively long, but a few examples would be organ meats, shellfish, herring, sardines, mackerel, beans, oatmeal, spinach, and cauliflower.
Another contributing factor is alcohol.
Alcohol actually accelerates the breakdown of high purine foods while decreasing the kidneys ability to eliminate this substance.
In those susceptible to gout having a few drinks to relax after a hard day at the office just might be the tipping point that triggers a painful gout attack.
In this article we have just touched on a couple of causes.
Others would include obesity, cancers, blood disorders, radiation, hypothyroidism, and certain drugs especially diuretics.
Certainly, there is no shortage of contributing factors for elevated urine uric acid.
Attacks of the gout are a serious and painful matter and should not be ignored.
Believing that somehow you will avoid the condition, or the initial attack was just a fluke is a mistake.
Statistics show that after the initial attack secondary attacks are likely but the science of predicting when they will occur and their severity is less than dependable.
While avoid recurrent attacks may be difficult there are three steps that can be implemented at home to reduce your chances of having a gout attack.
First, reduce the intake of purine laden foods such as shellfish and organ meats; second, drink plenty of fresh water (6 eight ounce glasses a day); and last but not least implement an alternative gout remedy containing the natural ingredients turmeric and milk thistle.
By implementing these three steps you will have made great strides on the path to reducing elevated uric acid levels and avoiding future attacks.
Source...