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Hi.? Sorry I havn't checked in for a while.
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So, I finally was able to go back to the hospital in Tokyo where I was originally diagnosed with Gout and had 10.7 uric acid level.? Well, the doctor said its now down to 4.0 which means that the local hopsital must have been right, too.? I guess the 100 mg of allopurinol combined with changing my diet was enough??
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The thing is, I still get a lot of fatique and pain sometimes after drinking too much even though my uric acid level is low.?
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Could it be possible that I don't actually have gout at all and this is a result of some other health problem?? If so, any idea what it might be?? Ive had tests done and the doctors say my liver and kidneys are working properly so I dont know what else it could be.? I was also tested for diabetes and that came up negative.? I also recently had a test done for just about every STD and they were all negative as well.?
good to know.? i love mushrooms and they are cheap and plentiful in japan.? thanks for clearing that up
Ok.? Well, I sorta doubt it would be another kind of arthritis.? I don't think most other kinds of arthritis are common for someone in their late 20s.
they never actually extracted any serum from my knee.? all they ever did was take regular blood from my arm.? is it important that I have them extract the serum from my knee as well?? I was diagnosed with gout simply based on high uric acid and the symptoms.
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sorry about the profile, I didnt really bother to fill it out.
Hansinnm…
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I noticed that you said SUA (Serum Uric Acid) test just now.? Is this different than just a UA (Uric Acid) value?? On the test results sheet I recieved, it has the kanji for Uric Acid (??) and then it says “UA” next to it (and the value for the field indicates 3.9 mg/dL).? Is this the exact same thing or is there any difference?
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Regarding the Comprehensive Metabolic Panel Test… wouldn't I be able to have that done in Japan?? I tihnk what I am going to do is, before I leave to visit the US, I am going to get my blood tested again at the local hospital AND the hospital in Tokyo at which I was originally diagnosed.? That way I should know if theres some sort of difference in the testing methods.? If they are both the same, I should be able to say with confidence that my uric acid level has, infact, gone down.? If the Tokyo one says its still high, I suppose that would indicate that the local hospital is doing something wrong.? Ill get tested again in a week or 2.?
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BTW… I noticed you said “with your excellent command of the English language…” in your post.?? I'm a native English speaker and an American lol.? I just live in Japan for work.
odo said:
The 2nd Dr may only be using a different unit of measurement. See here:
https://gout-pal.com/reference/uric-acid-levels/
If you do the maths, you will see .39 or 390 is about 6.6mg/dL; this would be a very good result from so little Allo, but maybe not impossible. However, still not safe. You really need to be down at 5.00 or less. Might be worth a visit back to Dr #1, as he seems to be more knowledgeable (didn't tell you to reduce the meds, which is bad advice). Like all scientific tests, introducing variables confounds results.
I just checked the printout of my test results that he gave me and it does infact say mg/dL right there on the sheet next to the value… so i really dont know what to make of all this…
Well, I must say these responses are not making me feel very at ease.? I suppose its possible for the doctor to have given bad results.
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Basically, heres the situation.? I live in the country side of Japan about 3 hours away from Tokyo.? The hospitals in my area are very small.? I often go to Tokyo on weekends to drink and stuff.? Ive been having joint pains and fatigue for a while so I had a test done while I was in Tokyo one weekend.? The doctor there was the one who diagnosed me with gout and said my uric acid level was 10.7 mg/dL.? I had never even really heard of gout before this so I just took his word for it.? So… since Tokyo is rather far, I went to another local hospital and they did the test again a few weeks later which is the one that turned out to be 3.9.? I suppose its possible that the doctor here in my town is using incorrect methods of testing or something.? I guess maybe I should go back to get tested again by the doctor in Tokyo…
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Sometimes its hard to get good medical help here…. I'm acutally going back to the US for a few weeks soon to visit but I have no insurance coverage there so it wouldn't matter anyway….
So here is an update.
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I went to the doctor again on Friday and he got the results of my blood test back.? He said that my uric acid level was already down to 3.9 which I was very surprised but happy to hear.? He said that I should reduce my dosage of allopurinol to 100 mg.? He also said that its totally OK for me to drink red wine but that I should still avoid other alcohol.? He said to keep eating a balanced diet and that the key is not to completely avoid things like meat and seafood but to simply make sure that my meals are well balanced and then 25% or less of each meal should be meat and most of my food should be vegetables and fruit.? He said to go back in a few weeks for another blood test.
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I drank red wine Friday and Saturday night (about 1 bottle each night… maybe a little more than that on Saturday since I was bar hopping) and I felt pretty much the same as I did before I went drinking.? So it seems like red wine doesnt really have much of an effect on my gout.? I drank lots of water so I think that helped, too.
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I still have a good deal of pain and fatigue in my joints, but the doctor said its just the uric acid crystals that are still in my joints being broken down by the medicine and that it should subside soon.? For the time being, he says there should be no new uric acid coming from my blood, so that's good at least.
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Hopefully if I keep this up, once the pain from this attack is over, I wont have one again or for a while, and can continue to keep my uric acid levels down.?
