I was just informed that I got gout from
Paxil. How can the drug Paxil cause gout?
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painfree
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 14 Nov 2004 Posts: 76 Location: ,
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Posted: 08-10-07 08:09am
Here's one theory. One of the known side
effects of paxil is somnolence, excessive
sleepiness. Any sleep-inducing preparation
can cause gout in an indirect way by
exacerbating sleep apnea, the condition
where muscles in the pharynx relax so much
during sleep that they allow the airway to
close up repeatedly for prolonged periods.
Sleep apnea causes gout by two effects
resulting from the lack of oxygen. First,
the oxygen-starved cells in the body begin
a process of disintegration (catabolism)
which culminates irreversibly in their
generation of excess uric acid fed into
the blood. Second, the percentage of
carbon dioxide in the blood is increased,
which makes the blood more acidic and
hence less able to hold uric acid in
solution. As a result, uric acid
precipitates from the blood in the form of
monosodium urate crystals. When these
crystals lodge in a joint, they cause a
gout attack.
I had a similar experience when I started
using melatonin before bed every night. It
took me a while to realize that it was
exacerbating my sleep apnea, resulting in
renewed attacks of my gout. When I cut out
the melatonin, my gout attacks ceased,
along with my wife's complaints about my
excessive snoring.
