What To Do When You Have High Uric Acid
Uric acid is the result of purines breaking down in your body. Some foods have high purines while some have low purines. When you eat foods with high purines, it can result in high uric acid levels in your blood. But it’s not always the case since most plant-based purines do not have the same negative effect. Meanwhile, other high purine sources such as red meat, organ meats, shellfish, sugary foods, and alcohol are known to elevate uric acid levels.
A serum uric acid level that’s above 7.0 mg/dL is already considered high. If you’re a woman, it should not be higher than 6.0 mg/dL. So, what is one to do when yours happens to be above the normal limit? Several things.
Change diet
One of the first things you can do to lower your uric acid is by changing your diet. Remove anything high purine and start eating more low purine foods. The good news is that it’s not hard to figure out what is high purine or low purine.
Low purine foods are often healthy whole foods you find at the supermarket such as fruits, vegetables, milk cheese, eggs, rice, etc. Meanwhile, high purine foods tend to be obviously bad foods such as beer, red meat, organ meats, processed foods, desserts, sugary beverages, and beer.
With this in mind, you shouldn’t have a hard time adapting the low purine diet into your lifestyle. You don’t have to make drastic changes right away. Begin with the worst offenders in your existing diet and replace with healthy alternatives.
Exercise and lose weight
With a healthy diet, you should quickly lose those excess pounds you’ve been carrying. But if that’s not enough, you should also include exercise in your daily regimen. It’s good for your body, especially your joints, which tend to be weak from carrying all that excess weight. Exercise will make weight loss much easier and reduce your risk of experiencing gout attacks. Just be careful not to lose too much weight in a short amount of time since this has been known to elevate uric acid levels in the blood.
Drink lots of water
Make sure you are keeping yourself hydrated all day. This advice is important regardless if you have gout or not. For gout sufferers, drinking lots of water will help dilute the uric acid that’s building up in the body. The high liquid intake will cause you to take more trips to the bathroom which means you are eliminating that excess uric acid. In addition, drinking water can help loosen up those tight joints. If you’re exercising regularly, water intake is even more important. You don’t want to get dehydrated as this is another cause for a gout attack.
Take medication
There are certain medications which can help lower uric acid in your body. Sure, diet can help reduce uric acid but it’s not enough especially if your body is producing too much of it or it’s having a hard time eliminating it through the kidneys. In this case, medication is highly needed. Your doctor will prescribe medication that best suits your condition.
When you have gout, it is very important not to skip this step. Most patients think they can get away with lifestyle changes alone. But the truth is, that is not enough. You need to complement it with potent medication which can help lower the uric acid in your body.
Monitor your uric acid regularly
You can monitor your uric acid regularly by visiting the doctor every month or every few months. This is to ensure that you are within the healthy levels.The only problem is that these doctor visits and tests can get expensive very quickly. Not to mention they are a hassle and take a lot of time out of your day.
For convenience, you can use a product such as Uritouch which allows you to measure your uric acid levels right at the comfort of your own home. No need to go to the doctor’s office and wait for test results each time. Do it whenever you want so you know exactly where you stand with your health. This way, you can make adjustments immediately.
You never have to live in fear thinking whether that last meal you had could be a cause for a gout attack. Simply take a test and see what your uric acid level is. If it is too high, you can prepare yourself with medication and remedies in case a gout attack happens. Get some NSAIDs, do an Epsom salt soak, and drink plenty of water. Or if your uric acid levels are low, you can relax and sleep well knowing you are in good standing.