Im a 45 year old Male with gout, my father (past away last year, 72) had one of the worst cases that any of the doctors had ever seen (toes, feet, ankles, knees, fingers, wrists, hands, elbows -many at the same time). About 8 years ago a got the gout in my knee (some of the worst pain I have ever felt), they prescribed indocine and the flare was gone in about 2 days. After that I didnt have any problems for about 3 years, then I started to get flares in my feet and ankels, I would take indocine when I first started to feel pain and this worked well. Since I didnt have a GP (used walk in clinic), all they ever did was treat the symptoms with Indocine and not the cause. So all I did was take the indocine every time I had a flare- and it did work well for me. I have just recently started seeing my fathers doctor (UA level 9.75), and he has perscribed 300mg Allapurinol once a day, I have been on the allapurninol for about 2 weeks, a few days ago I got a pretty good flair in my left wrist/thumb area (never had it here before), and this morning I started feeling that familiar pain in my left knee (have only had it once in the knee- not fun)- This is not at all good because it can put me out of action and unable to work.
I have a few questions:
-I know that when starting Allapurinol there is a chance of flares, Do I stop taking the Allapurinol and wait to restart after I am better? (I ask because this is what a ‘specialist’ told my father to do)
-From what I understand when the Allapurinol lowers the UA level, and causes the built up crystals to melt, and this causes the UA levels to rise back up and partially cause the problem I am having now, If this is the case is there any way to estimate how long it will take for this roller coaster to level out?
-I have seen a post on here describing Coltracine and a NSAID? My impression is that Coltracine works because it lowers your white cell count making it harder for the white cells to attack all of the crystals, is this what NSAID’s do also?
-When I have a bad attack I take Coltracine,2X .6mg twice a day until the diareaha starts, then I stop the Coltracine and switch to Indocine (2X 50mg twice a day- yes it is a large dose, but seems to be the only way to stop a flare semi-quickly). Can I take both at the same time?
Thank you for any replies,
Neil
