Two months of measuring my uric acid level
It has been two months since I recieved my uric acid meter and started using it every day. I wrote about how to use it when I got it, and I followed up with a post about what I had learned about using it after two weeks. Now it has already been two months and I wanted to follow up how I have used it and what I have learned in the process.
The trusty UASure uric acid meter that I have been using for two months now.
The past two months have been a bit of a revelation. I had no idea my uric acid was so high - or that I could get it to be so low. I have had days when it was above 11, and days when it was below 6. I have had tinglings in my fingers and my toes, despite the efforts of my Sixpad Footfit Plus to give me massages without touching my feet. But I have escaped flste-ups and gout attacks thanks to being able to check when I need to lower my uric acid.
The biggest discovery, however, has been the effect of diet. When I eat a low-purine diet, my uric acid level goes down to 6 mg/dL or less. One hamburger, and it moves to 9.
The biggest discovery, however, has been the effect of diet. When I eat a low-purine diet, my uric acid level goes down to 6 mg/dL or less. One hamburger, and it moves to 9.
This is actually consistent with the different roles uric acid plays in our bodies. Uric acid does not just clump up on the ligaments and form sharp, needle-like crystals (which actually are monosodium urate). It is an important antioxidant, balancing the dangerous hydroxylradicals and creating nitrous oxide, which signals to your heart how it should beat. This is the reason people with heart problems get nitroglycerin. But at the same time, it is an oxidant, destroying the cells that capture it, and has to be controlled by vitamn C (which it oxidizes so the vitamin can be used as an input into the biochemic cycle that produces energy in your cells).
Uric acid is also an important signalling substance, telling your muscles when to grow and counteracting the anaerobic energy production which happens when you do tapid excercise. This is the lactic acid production you feel in your muscles when you for instance run long distance; and this is of course why my body feels it is more important to raise the level of uric acid when I get more excercise.
Uric acid is also an important signalling substance, telling your muscles when to grow and counteracting the anaerobic energy production which happens when you do tapid excercise. This is the lactic acid production you feel in your muscles when you for instance run long distance; and this is of course why my body feels it is more important to raise the level of uric acid when I get more excercise.
But why, if I am not excercising more than normal and do not eat a lot of sweet things, does my body feel a need to first suck up a lot of purines from the food, and then use those purines to make uric acid - whether I need the extra energy or or not?
The uric acid is produced as a byproduct when your liver turns sugar into glucose. The enzymes doing it are derived from recycled material in your cells or from the purines in your food. Your body normally produces between 5 and 7 mg/dL, and the purines in your food are added on top. The uric acid that can not be excreted through urine and poop is stored in your body as uric acid crystals.
If you are hyperuricemic (has very high level of uric acid, above 10) for a long time, the uric acid will be stored in the connective tissue, especially in your feet because the temperature is often slightly lower there and it makes uric acid crystal formation easier.
When the concentration has been high enough, or there is a trigger event such as a blow or dehydration (or stress), the crystals spill out into the fluid in the joint and irritates the cells there so they think there is foreign matter or a virus, and that starts an inflammation to remove it. You experience that as a gout attack.
So the answer is "it depends". If you eat a purine-rich meal, it takes the same time as for you to metabolize the food, which can be from 30 min to 6 hours depending on your metabolism. But unless you were already hyperuricemic, that is had a high level of uric acid level for a long time, the spike will quickly go down.
The uric acid is produced as a byproduct when your liver turns sugar into glucose. The enzymes doing it are derived from recycled material in your cells or from the purines in your food. Your body normally produces between 5 and 7 mg/dL, and the purines in your food are added on top. The uric acid that can not be excreted through urine and poop is stored in your body as uric acid crystals.
If you are hyperuricemic (has very high level of uric acid, above 10) for a long time, the uric acid will be stored in the connective tissue, especially in your feet because the temperature is often slightly lower there and it makes uric acid crystal formation easier.
When the concentration has been high enough, or there is a trigger event such as a blow or dehydration (or stress), the crystals spill out into the fluid in the joint and irritates the cells there so they think there is foreign matter or a virus, and that starts an inflammation to remove it. You experience that as a gout attack.
So the answer is "it depends". If you eat a purine-rich meal, it takes the same time as for you to metabolize the food, which can be from 30 min to 6 hours depending on your metabolism. But unless you were already hyperuricemic, that is had a high level of uric acid level for a long time, the spike will quickly go down.
If your body is geared to take up all proteins and carbohydrates that passes through the lower intestine, that would explain why the purines you do not need are not just left in the intestine but absorbed into your body. It explains about 30% of all the purines in the blood. Because the uric acid meter does, of course, measure the concentration of uric acid in the blood at the moment you take the sample.
The uric acid concentration during the day goes up and down, as I have shown before. But it goes up and down over long periods of time too, and the only reasonble explanation is the diet. If you look at my blog, you can see my daily UA reading, and you can check diet and excercise. I decided against including water intake, because it is so boring, even if it is important. I do drink a great deal of water and coffee. And tea. And lemon water. And, at the moment, apple cider vinegar (ACV) in water.
The uric acid concentration during the day goes up and down, as I have shown before. But it goes up and down over long periods of time too, and the only reasonble explanation is the diet. If you look at my blog, you can see my daily UA reading, and you can check diet and excercise. I decided against including water intake, because it is so boring, even if it is important. I do drink a great deal of water and coffee. And tea. And lemon water. And, at the moment, apple cider vinegar (ACV) in water.
So what happened to my uric acid during these two months? Well, first let me stress that even though I am measuring my UA level and taking supplements like apple cider vinegar (ACV) and tart cherries, I am trying to live as normally as I can. That only means a shift of diet, no changes otherwise. And I tend to be less strict with the diet on weekends.
The week when I started measuring, the average reading for that week was
The week when I started measuring, the average reading for that week was