8th May 2007
I looked back a couple months and haven't found any discussion about GOUT so I thought I'd start one.
I have had Gout, aka gouty arthritis, for about 30 years. For me it was precipitated by the use of a thiazide diuretic in the '70's for hypertension. At first there were stange pains in my feet and ankle that came fro nowhere, were almost crippling for a couple days, and then disappeared. It was a mystery and THEN, the pain from Hell...big toe Podagra, the CLASSIC gout attack.
After 9 days of unbearable crippling pain I called my doctor for an Rx for colchicine and the pain was gone in 22 hours after hourly doses. That really confirmed GOUT. But my God, taking that much cochicine is something I'll never do again...diarrhea NOT to be believed. But it WORKS for gout and nothing else.
I started taking 400 mg. allopurinol to lower my uric acid (it was over 7) and the pain stayed away for year after year. I had an event where a tophus on my thumb joint worked its way slowly under the nail and pushed off the nail and eruped into a slippery crystalline effusion...weird and interesting.
I'm trying to reduce my allopurinol after all these years, but as I approach 100 mg./day, I am starting to feel some FAMILAIR pain in my right bunion after walking long or working the elliptical. So for safety, I think 200 is my lower limit.
Are there any other gout sufferers around? How are you dealing with yours?
I have had Gout, aka gouty arthritis, for about 30 years. For me it was precipitated by the use of a thiazide diuretic in the '70's for hypertension. At first there were stange pains in my feet and ankle that came fro nowhere, were almost crippling for a couple days, and then disappeared. It was a mystery and THEN, the pain from Hell...big toe Podagra, the CLASSIC gout attack.
After 9 days of unbearable crippling pain I called my doctor for an Rx for colchicine and the pain was gone in 22 hours after hourly doses. That really confirmed GOUT. But my God, taking that much cochicine is something I'll never do again...diarrhea NOT to be believed. But it WORKS for gout and nothing else.
I started taking 400 mg. allopurinol to lower my uric acid (it was over 7) and the pain stayed away for year after year. I had an event where a tophus on my thumb joint worked its way slowly under the nail and pushed off the nail and eruped into a slippery crystalline effusion...weird and interesting.
I'm trying to reduce my allopurinol after all these years, but as I approach 100 mg./day, I am starting to feel some FAMILAIR pain in my right bunion after walking long or working the elliptical. So for safety, I think 200 is my lower limit.
Are there any other gout sufferers around? How are you dealing with yours?