Admin
23rd October 2009, 05:51 AM
Voxy News (http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/more-medicine-fixes-gout-research/5/28254) are reporting:
More Medicine Fixes Gout: Research
Thousands of New Zealand gout sufferers may not be taking enough medicine to fix the painful and disabling affliction, according to new research.
University of Otago researchers found 86 percent of study participants with the "disease of kings" could lower their levels of uric acid -- the cause of the ancient malady -- by taking more of the most commonly-used anti-gout drug, allopurinol.
Rheumatologist Lisa Stamp found by increasing the drug dose most of the 35 patients in the year-long study controlled or eliminated the disease.
The gout-causing uric acid crystals "vanished, quite a lot of the time" as the doses were increased, she told NZPA today.
Current medical guidelines, set down in the mid-1980s, set the dose at such a low level, due to fear of side-effects.
However, the lower doses made it difficult reduce uric acid and control gout, she said.
After testing the kidney function of patients, the researchers gave them up to 400 milligrams over the recommended dose.....
Full Story (http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/more-medicine-fixes-gout-research/5/28254)
More Medicine Fixes Gout: Research
Thousands of New Zealand gout sufferers may not be taking enough medicine to fix the painful and disabling affliction, according to new research.
University of Otago researchers found 86 percent of study participants with the "disease of kings" could lower their levels of uric acid -- the cause of the ancient malady -- by taking more of the most commonly-used anti-gout drug, allopurinol.
Rheumatologist Lisa Stamp found by increasing the drug dose most of the 35 patients in the year-long study controlled or eliminated the disease.
The gout-causing uric acid crystals "vanished, quite a lot of the time" as the doses were increased, she told NZPA today.
Current medical guidelines, set down in the mid-1980s, set the dose at such a low level, due to fear of side-effects.
However, the lower doses made it difficult reduce uric acid and control gout, she said.
After testing the kidney function of patients, the researchers gave them up to 400 milligrams over the recommended dose.....
Full Story (http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/more-medicine-fixes-gout-research/5/28254)