Aspirin Drives Gout Sufferer Mad
Posted by GoutPal in Gout, tags: hyperuricemia, _aspirinI not only suffer gout.
I endure gout misinformation.
I’m desperate to present clear, concise, informed gout news and views, so you do not have to be misled.
Now aspirin has driven me insane.
First, let me refer you to my article about aspirin and gout. I thought this was a great piece of news for gout sufferers who have been worried about low-dose aspirin, commonly taken to reduce the risks of stroke and heart disease.
I always intended to research this further, and add it to the gout research section at GoutPal.com. Today I learned that my link to the original presentation abstract was faulty. I decided to complete my review of aspirin and gout and improve my report.
That’s when aspirin started driving me mad.
I looked on PubMed for the original research, and found that the presentation I reported was part of a wider ranging study of prevalence and risk factors for hyperuricemia. The research was filed as a translation from Chinese. It concluded:
Male gender, non-Han Chinese ethnicity (Muslim), renal dysfunction, diuretics, overweight/obesity, hypertension and hypertriglyceridemia are associated with increased risk of hyperuricemia. Retirement is associated with reduced risk of hyperuricemia.
Hardly inspiring, and hardly anything to do with the aspirin presentation that caught my interest.
Not quite bad enough to test my sanity, but annoying enough to leave me frustrated, and a little confused.
Madness Begins
I decided to report on the presentation I had used originally, but find a more reliable version or link to it. My starting point was the American College of Rheumatology who organize the meeting at which the presentation was made. Searches revealed not one, but two presentations about low-dosage aspirin relevant to gout sufferers.
Madness Prevails
Sure enough, my star presentation was still there with its favorable conclusion that
Low-dose aspirin use was not associated with increase of serum urate levels.
So aspirin is OK?
The other presentation, complete with lots of data and a chart of results, concludes that:
Low-dose [aspirin] users, versus non-users, appear to have higher levels of [Serum Uric Acid] and increased prevalence of hyperuricemia
No, it’s not!
Aaaagh.
I’ve gone mad.
Entries (RSS)
I take asprin for my heart which retains uric acid, how can I counteract this?
You really need to consult a doctor about this – I’m not qualified to give medical advice.
There may be alternatives to aspirin, but the best thing is to track your uric acid levels regularly.
The aspirin and uric acid studies that drove me mad, are statistical research projects. You are not a statistic.
Aspirin may not affect your levels in the same way it might affect some other people.
Find out your own uric acid level today, then check it regularly to see if it changes with different treatments. This only makes sense under medical supervision, especially as you appear to have other risks that may make treatment more complicated.
If you really want to go mad, research what aspirin does to the intestinal lining. It causes bleeding into the intestines. Prolonged use of aspirin leads to a reduction of iron in the body. Elevated iron levels in middle aged men and postmenopausal women are associated with the ailments of middle-age such as hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Some researchers believe that iron reduction is the mechanism by which aspirin is helpful against such ailments.
[...] At this point, I gave up and published Aspirin Drives Gout Sufferer Mad. [...]
True insanity will come quickly when you try to ascertain at what level aspirin stops retaining uric acid and starts expelling it. Everyone agrees there is a 180 degree change as aspirin dosage increases but just try toi find out how much is enough to have aspirin start HELPING gout instead of hurting it.
The search has been making me crazy for months and months…worse than MONTY PYTHON searching for THE HOLY GRAIL.
I’m not sure if this fits here ,or another discussion (Zips’?) on Aspirin as gout trigger/ cure but in my nutrition studies over the years I found references that the use of Vitamin C -together with aspirin can mitigate its’ bad effects on the stomach.
There is a buffered C ( to reduce acidity) and also a slow release type, though each extra adds to the cost.
Though this is another ‘acid based’ nutrient ,VitC seems to be a magic component in many bodily interactions -and I wonder if it could have a similarly protective effect in gout therapy with aspirin.
Again, aspirin is another old, effective, cheap and non profitable drug that like SodaBiCarb & Pottasium BiCarb (Zip?) could also be juggled into a safe process for Gouties.
The money that drives big pharma doesn’t get near this track- and never will imo.
“I’m not sure if this fits here”
The golden rule is – if in doubt, post something in the forum instead.
In an ideal world, comments are reserved for factual statements or experiences that add value to the article you are commenting on.
In reality, comments often raise questions and wander off topic.
I’m not enough of a control freak to get too worried about this, though I will move comments to the forum if they are not relevant to the article and if I have time.
The main benefit of “following procedure” is that you are much more likely to get a response if you pose questions in the forum. I’m lucky to have a number of regular visitors who check the forums for recent posts, and respond if they can. This does not mean that forum questions always get answered. If there are a lot of posts at once, they can occasionally get overlooked. The forum has the advantage that, once logged in, you are told about the topics that you have not read. This feature does not apply to comments.
I must admit that it’s not really clear how far comments can go- presumably this is why moderation is needed.
There are questions, opinions and ‘comments’ on this thread already after all!
Does this main section run like a blog then – so the main problem is loss of focus rather then rule breaking?
Even the forum, like others, gets ragged through use- and some of the best threads are quite tatty- but do often raise very interesting points, some of them asides.
Most of my post was about aspirin and its’ usage- so was in context. was the final comment the ‘offender’ here?
There are other threads on aspirin, but this one ‘got it’ ;)
By all means move this , or any other of my posts where they would best sit- I can’t say,as a new user, it is totally clear where dividing lines are.
This is the first mail notification I’ve received btw…
Now we’ve gone totally off-topic, but who cares??!
You are absolutely right about loss of focus, but I never really wanted to be “HeadMaster”, so anything goes to a point.
The main thing to think about is “Do I really want an answer to this?”
If so, 9 times out of 10 it is best to start a new topic in one of the gout forums.
My only alternative would be to stop comments completely, but I feel that this denies an opportunity for people to contribute real value to this site. There have been brilliant comments, as well as brilliant forum posts.
My job, once I get the reorganisation of GoutPal.com out of the way, is to highlight, summarize, and hopefully add to the many gems that offer real help to beleaguered gout sufferers.
In a perfect world, you should be able to post in the gout forum, or add comments, and still get the best out of the site, whilst also helping other readers where appropriate. But this is far from a full-time job for me, so sometimes things get sidetracked. I like to think of this as part of the GoutPal charm. Others think more in terms of chaotic necessity.
The mail notification happens when you subscribe to comments. Similar to, but separate from the subscribing options in the gout forum. I can see that you have subscribed to some comments, but as yet, no gout forum topics.