The formation and excretion of uric acid : considered with reference to gout and allied diseases / by A. Haig.

  • Alexander Haig
Date:
1888
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The formation and excretion of uric acid : considered with reference to gout and allied diseases / by A. Haig. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    above form of headache at any tune, and I beh'eve the same applies to some cases of epilepsy ; but I cannot cause the headache without also causing plus excretion of uric acid, or cure the headache without at the same time diminishing or stopping the plus excretion ; and I argue from this that the uric acid is in excess in the blood at the time it is passing in excess in the urine, and that its excess in the blood is the cause of the headache, the epileptic fit, and the arthritic pains, and I have shown in the papers previously mentioned that uric acid is in excess in the urine at the time of the headache and of the epileptic fit. And now bearing in mind that it has been shown (see Journal of Physiology, vol viii. p. 211) that acids probably by diminishing the solubility of uric acid cause it to be retained in the body, while alkalies, by increasing its solubility, prevent retention and sweep out any of it that has been previously retained; we will pass on to examine the action of other drugs. Iodide of Potassitim.—This is a drug which is of much value in uric acid disease, but my experiments with it fail to prove that it has any action on the excretion of uric acid, other than that of an alkali; thus taken in five grain doses three times a day it has little or no effect on the excretion of uric acid, though this tends to run up in the alkaline tide parts of the day, and to cause slight headache; in larger doses (as ten grains three times a day, and upwards) it distinctly diminishes acidity, and uric acid runs up in excess of urea as it would under any other alkali. It is interesting here to remember that in chronic gout or rheumatism, it is often necessary to give doses of ten grains and upwards to get any appreciable results, and that other salts of potash are often given with the iodide. A recent article^ on the treatment of psoriasis by very large doses of
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