Uric Acid: Symptoms, Treatment and More

Do you know that uric acid symptoms can vary according to the progression of the disease?

Uric acid or hyperuricemia occurs when there is an excess accumulation of uric acid in your body.

Moreover, high uric acid levels can lead to a number of diseases.

These also include a painful type of arthritis: Gout.

Elevated uric acid levels are also associated with different health conditions.

These include heart diseases, diabetes, and kidney disease.

Since, 1960, the rate of high uric acid or hyperuricemia is increasing sharply.

The most recent study indicates that 43.3 million Americans have hyperuricemia and gout.

Certain factors can increase your risk of high uric acid levels, which includes food high in purines.

Keep on reading to learn more about uric acid symptoms, causes, treatment, and more in this guide.

Uric Acid Symptoms

Do you know that only one-third of people experience uric acid symptoms?

This is known as Asymptomatic Hyperuricemia.

Though hyperuricemia is not a disease, however, if uric acid levels remain high, over time, they can lead to a number of diseases.

Let’s discuss the uric acid symptoms as follows:

Gout

Gout or Gouty Arthritis occurs in about 20% of people with Hyperuricemia.

A rapid drop in uric acid levels can also trigger it.

Moreover, gout can appear either as isolated attacks, or flares.

In some cases, you may experience chronic gout, which involves a number of attacks occurring over short periods of time.

It is important to note that gout can affect any joint in your body, however, flares often first appear in your large toe.

Feet, ankles, knees, and elbows are also common sites where gout can affect.

Additionally, gout attacks tend to occur often at night and the attacks peak in intensity in about 12 to 14 hours.

If you do not get treatment, attacks of gout can subside within 2 weeks.

Some of the symptoms of gout are:

• severe pain in your joints
• joint stiffness
• difficulty moving affected joints
• redness and swelling
• misshapen joints

Other High Uric Acid Symptoms

Some of the other high uric acid symptoms are:

Tophaceous Gout

In case you have had hyperuricemia for a number of years, uric acid crystals can form clumps: Tophi.

These hard lumps are present under your skin, around your joints, and in the curve at the top of your ear.

Tophi can worsen joint pain and over time causes damage to your joints or compress your nerves.

Moreover, they are often visible to the eye and can become disfiguring.

Kidney Stones

Uric acid crystals can cause a buildup of stones in your kidneys.

Most often, these stones are small and you can pass them in your urine.

However, in some cases, they can also become too large to pass and block parts of your urinary tract.

Some of the symptoms of kidney stones are:

• pain arching in your lower back, side, abdomen, or groin
• nausea
• difficulty urinating
• blood in your urine
• foul-smelling urine
• increase in the urge to urinate
• pain while urinating

On the other hand, if you have a kidney infection, you may experience fever or chills.

This buildup of urine is an ideal breeding zone for bacteria.

As a result, urinary tract infections, UTIs can occur when you have kidney stones.

Causes of High Uric Acid

In most cases, a high uric acid level can occur when your kidneys are unable to eliminate uric acid efficiently.

Things that may cause this slowdown in the removal of uric acid often include foods, obesity, diabetes, taking certain diuretics or water pills, and drinking too much alcohol.

Some of the other less common causes are a diet high in purine-containing items or your body producing too much uric acid.

Purines are chemicals that are present in certain food items.

These are red meat, organ meat, seafood, and beans.

Normally, your body rids itself of uric acid when you urinate.

However, in the case of high uric acid or hyperuricemia, your body either makes too much uric acid or is unable to excrete enough of it.

It often happens when your kidneys are not eliminating it quickly enough.

Moreover, excess uric acid levels in your blood can lead to the formation of crystals.

Though these can form in any part of your body, they tend to form in and around your joints and in your kidneys.

The defensive system of your body, i.e. white blood cells may attack the crystals, thus, causing inflammation and pain.

Learn more about Clinic Local Management in Dubai here.

Risk of developing High Uric Acid

Though learning about uric acid symptoms can help you to control them.

However, understanding what might increase your risk can also help you to avoid this condition.

Anyone can have this condition, however, it is more common in men than in women, and your risk increases with your age.

You are more likely to get it if you are of Pacific Island heritage or African American.

Different risk factors that are associated with high uric acid or hyperuricemia are:

Using alcohol, some medications, especially for heart diseases, and lead exposure.

Moreover, pesticide exposure, kidney disease, high blood pressure, high blood glucose levels, obesity can increase your risk.

Some other factors are hypothyroidism and extreme levels of physical activity.

Diagnosing High Uric Acid

If you have uric acid symptoms, then you should make sure to visit your doctor.

Your doctor may order blood and urine tests to measure creatinine levels.

This can help them to determine kidney function as well as uric acid levels.

Your doctor will take blood from a vein in your arm, typically on the inside of your elbow or in the back of your hand.

Uric acid is commonly found in your urine as your body excretes it.

Your doctor may order a 24-hour urine collection if they find elevated levels of uric acid in your blood.

Moreover, your doctor may ask to repeat the urine test after a purine-restricted diet. which helps them to determine whether:

• you are eating too much high purine food
• your body is making too much uric acid
• or your body is not excreting enough uric acid

In case you are experiencing symptoms of gout, your doctor will want to test any fluid that is building up in your joints.

They will do so by performing a test using a fine needle to draw fluid from the joint.

They will then send the sample to the lab where they will examine for any evidence of uric acid crystals.

The presence of these crystals indicates gout.

Learn more about Cold Laser in Jumeirah here.

Treatment Options for Gout

The treatment of high uric acid or hyperuricemia will depend on the cause.

In case your high uric acid is asymptomatic, the treatment is not recommended.

In such a condition, there is no proven benefit to administering uric acid lowering therapies.

However, if your hyperuricemia is tied to an underlying disease, then your doctor will treat that condition.

Treatment for Gout

With the help of the following medications, your doctor will treat gout:

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs: NSAIDs can help to prevent or even reduce the severity of gout.

These medications include ibuprofen, Motrin, naproxen, and celecoxib.

Colchicine or Colcrys can help to prevent and even treat gout especially for people who are unable to tolerate NSAIDs well.

Probenecid can help to lower uric acid levels by increasing urination and can also help to prevent gout attacks.

Allopurinol or Zyloprim and Febuxostat or Uloric can help to prevent gout by reducing the amount of uric acid in your bloodstream.

On the other hand, treatment for tophaceous is the same as that for gout.

If the tophi become too large that it interferes with joint movement, damage surrounding tissue, or protrude through your skin, your doctor may need to surgically remove it.

During this procedure, your doctor will make an incision in the skin overlying a tophus and will remove it.

However, in rare cases of joint damage, joint replacement surgery may be required.

Learn more about The Best Laser in Jumeirah here.

Kidney Stones Treatment

If you have kidney stones, that are smaller than 5 millimeters, mm, your doctor will advise you to drink a lot of water.

Moreover, they will also ask you to take over-the-counter medications until the stone passes.

However, if the kidney stones are 5 mm or larger, then they are less likely to pass on their own.

In some cases, your doctor may prescribe tamsulosin or Flomax to relax the muscles in your urinary tract.

This can make it easier and less painful to pass the stones.

Some additional techniques may also be necessary.

Extracorporeal show wave lithotripsy is a noninvasive procedure where your doctor will direct ultrasonic energy or shock waves through your skin at the kidney stone.

These shock waves break the large stone into smaller pieces that will pass more easily through your urinary system.

However, if they are bigger than 10mm, you may need to have them surgically removed.

Ureteroscopic surgery will help.

In this procedure, your doctor will insect a 2mm scope through your urethra.

It will go through the bladder, directly into the ureters, which are the tubes connecting your kidneys to the bladder.

Your surgeon can perform stone extraction.

If the stones need to be fragmented, stents may be placed to aid the flow of urine.

This can help to relieve pain and keep the ureters dilated to allow the easier passage of fragmented or dissolving stones.

High Uric Acid Diet

With the help of certain dietary changes, you can help to decrease the level of uric acid symptoms in your blood.

If your hyperuricemia is due to gout, then dietary changes can lower your risk of gout attack and even slow the progression of any joint damage.

If you think that changing your diet can be beneficial for you, then you should consult your doctor.

They can help you to determine if this is the best choice in your case or not.

However, if you do adjust to this diet, you should make sure to continue following the diet that your doctors recommend.

Make sure to avoid making dietary changes as a first-line treatment

Remember that uric acid forms when purine breaks down in your body.

Though it occurs naturally, it is also present in certain foods.

Therefore, make sure to avoid these foods.

What you need to avoid is:

• red meat
• sugary foods and beverages, especially if they contain high-fructose corn syrup.
• organ meal like liver
• meat gravies
• some type of seafood like anchovies, sardines, calls, and mussels.
• fish-like tina, cod, herring, and haddock
• spinach, peas, and mushrooms
• beans and lentils
• oatmeal
• wheat germ and bran
• beer and alcoholic beverages
• yeast supplement

Additionally, you should drink plenty of fluids, especially water.

Hydration can help to reduce gout attacks and as a general rule of thumb, drink eight 8-ounce glasses of liquid each day.

Make sure to talk to your doctor about how much your should drink.

Moreover, you should also exercise regularly and maintain a healthy weight.

Your doctor can make certain recommendations that best suits your needs.

Learn more about Al Wasl Dubai Clinic here.

Final Thoughts

In the case of asymptomatic hyperuricemia, diet and lifestyle changes can help to reduce uric acid symptoms in your blood.

However, if you do not control these levels, you will be at a risk for developing chronic gout, kidney problems, hypertension, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.

Make sure to follow the instructions of your doctor to prevent the development of serious chronic medical conditions.