Uloric (febuxostat)

Pain and Swelling Management. Andrew's Story

Andrew’s Gout Treatment Plan:

Andrew’s treatment plan is focused on managing the pain and swelling of gout attacks as they occur. Each time he has a gout attack, Andrew takes colchicine, a medicine prescribed by his healthcare professional. Although the pain and swelling would usually pass in a few days, Andrew always dreaded the next attack.

What Andrew Doesn’t Know:

When you’re in the middle of a gout attack, stopping the pain and swelling is probably the only treatment plan you want to hear about. But, it’s only half the story. There are 2 important parts to your gout treatment plan. Your healthcare professional may give you medicine to treat your symptoms (the pain

and swelling of a gout attack) and medicine to treat the root cause of gout (high uric acid).

Here’s how the 2 parts work together for long-term management of gout:

Treating Your Symptoms – The Pain and Swelling of a Gout Attack

The first part of treatment is to get immediate relief for a gout attack. Medications that address the pain and swelling of a current gout attack include common pain relievers and anti-inflammatories, such as:

• NSAIDs (Examples: indomethacin and naproxen)
• Colchicine
• Steroids (Example: prednisone)

Key considerations:

• Pain medication can help relieve your immediate pain, reduce swelling, and may shorten the duration of the attack. They don’t treat the root cause of gout.
• Some medications work best when they’re taken early…so you’ll need to keep a supply on hand.
• While they provide short-term relief, you may need different medication for long-term treatment of high uric acid.

Treating the Root Cause – High Uric Acid

Relief from gout pain and swelling is important, but to manage the condition over time, you’ll need a treatment that helps lower your uric acid to a healthy level. This form of long-term treatment uses medicine to help bring your uric acid level down to a healthy level and keep it there. Over time, this can help reduce future gout attacks. Individual results may vary.

ULORIC has been proven to help adults with gout by stopping the body from turning purines into uric acid to help you reach a healthy level (less than 6 mg/dL).

Key considerations:

• For long-term management of gout, your uric acid level should be less than 6 mg/dL.
• In clinical studies, ULORIC was proven effective in lowering uric acid to healthy levels (less than 6 mg/dL).
• Your gout may flare up when you start taking ULORIC. If you have a flare while taking ULORIC, do not stop taking your medicine. Your healthcare professional may tell you to take other medicines to help prevent or manage gout flares during initial treatment.

Talk to your healthcare professional about medicines to help manage symptoms and how ULORIC may fit into your treatment plan. Learn more about ULORIC.

During a Gout Attack

If you’re in the middle of a gout attack, you may want to contact your healthcare professional to discuss pain-management options. He or she can prescribe medicines to help reduce gout pain and swelling and manage the attack, but some of them work best when they’re taken at the beginning of the attack. Here are a few tips for coping while you wait for your medication to work:

• Follow instructions. If your healthcare professional gives you a prescription (or recommends a nonprescription) medication for gout pain and/or inflammation, take it exactly as directed.
• Give your healthcare professional the whole story. Make sure your healthcare professional knows about all the medicines you take, including prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. This information may be very important to your treatment.
• Rest is important. Your healthcare professional may recommend bed rest during your flare and for a day afterward. Too much activity too soon may make another flare more likely.

This immediate pain management is an important part of treatment, but it does not address the root cause of gout.

Questions for Your Doctor

If your gout treatment plan is focused on pain management like Andrew’s, you may have accepted the fact that you’ll probably have a certain number of gout attacks each year. But, there are other options.

The following questions will help you and your healthcare professional talk about your experience with gout and decide on a treatment plan that’s right for you.

About Gout:

• What role does uric acid play in causing my gout?
• Is there more I can do to help manage my gout?

About My Gout Treatment Options:

• Aside from taking medications for gout pain, what else should I do to help manage my gout over time?
• What treatment options are available that can help lower my uric acid to a healthy level?
• Is prescription ULORIC an appropriate option to help me lower my uric acid to a healthy level?

Print these questions and bring them to your next appointment. Print our complete Prescribing Information

Next: Mike’s Story: Healthy Lifestyle & Diet >