Gout Pal Interactive

Reading the forum it seems that a lot of you are out of work. Are there ways to take temporary disability to help pay the bills while your laid up with gout? Or maybe get a handicap sticker to hang from the mirror while parking at the grocery store.

zip2play said:

I see no reason why gout should not be viewed like any other disabling condition.

For a handicapped sticker, all that's needed is a note from your doctor.

Some people with advanced chronic gouty arthritis can be as crippled as someone with rheumatoid arthritis. Thank god for allopurinol that prevents this from being an inevitable outcome with gout.

 I have been in bad shape since 11/12 of this yr and think that if this lasts any longer and I lose my job what can I do but to file for temporary disability

GoutPal said:

Post edited 1:20 am – December 24, 2009 by GoutPal

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There should be no reason with current medication for anyone to be disabled by gout.

Allopurinol or similar uric acid lowering treatment to get rid of crippling crystals, with short term pain relief as required.

It is one of the most easily treated of the rheumatic diseases, though it does require a competent medic and a co-operative patient. The common causes of treatment failure are inadequate medication either due to under-dosing by the doctor or failure of the patient to take the medicine as prescribed.

Of course, the doctor needs to recognize gout in the first place. Unbelievably, in 2006, the poor soul pictured here was reported in Mandell's Clinical Manifestations Of Hyperuricemia And Gout. He had been referred by his doctor with unrecognized gout!

That is a tough picture to look at. You are right in all that you said and yes I'm on allipurinol 300mgs since Oct and everything that I read say that when there is an adjustment to the mgs you can expect a flare. When I went from 100 to 200 mg I was laid up for a month and now the flare up from the 300mg adjustment has caused the worst flare up ever. I had mentioned before I'd been laid up since 11/12 of this yr. Playing hookie at my job can last only so long before I'm fired and that is why I asked if there was temporary disability because I know it won't last forever. I hope that all the adjustments and pain that I'm going through doesn't last much longer and that with the hopes of what I'm going through now will benefit me greatly by having a normal and gout free lifestyle in the future.

Post edited 2:29 pm – December 24, 2009 by zip2play

Johnny,

Do the BIG colchicine treatment:

2 pills to start, then one an hour until you reach 16, get remission of the joint pain, or start  a furious diahrrhea. The treatment can work wonders in a single day.

Go into your workplace and show your boss and maybe HIS boss what your joints look like, what drug you are taking, and explain that the disability is likely to be temporary. With a good deal of LUCK the colchicine treatment will be the end of it.

A parking sticker is childsplay but being declared disabled is another. Most states have temporary disability where you basically get the Unemployment Compensation rate but it's called Disability payments for 26 weeks and it is for almost any sickness. But trying for federal Social Security disability with gout will likely run into a brick wall. There is no such thing as temporary Social security disablement…it must be permanent or expected to end in a quick death.

JohnnyBrew – I'm in a very similar situation as you.  I have been off work for the past three weeks taking leave-without-pay with the paperwork for temp disability going through review.  My doctor wanted to put me on temp disability a lot earlier, but I refused until my condition became so bad that I could barely drive. 

I've been on allopurinol for over 4 months now and have been taking 600mg/day recently.  Two months ago I cut meat, except for the occassional fish, from my diet and haven't had an alcoholic drink during this span either.  Yet, here I sit, completely miserable and disabled, not even able to make it up the stairs in my house.  I have to bee back to work on the 4th of January, but I don't even now if I'll be able to put a shoe on by then.  My manager and her manager are totally supportive of me taking the time that I need.  It's my company that I work for that is putting up the roadblock.  I don't even know if my disability will be approved, but I'll let you know when I find out. 

Oh, and the colchicine has never worked for me and has only caused horrible bouts of diarrhea and gastrointestinal discomfort.  I tried it again a month ago at the bequest of my doctor and it did nothing to alleviate the attack in my knee.  Getting cortisone injections seems to work better but still doesn't do much.

Best of luck to you.

Nate 

Take heart guys,

Three or Four hundred mg./day of allopurinol will soon put your gout into remission. Make sure that you NEVER forget the old axiom: test uric acid frequently and keep it under, 6.0 mg/dL.

Johnny,

My big attack involved the inability to touch my toe with a FEATHER. In spite of this, I did the BIG colchicine treatment (22 pills) and when the runs hit, I had to get from bedroom to bathroom on my hands and knees with my sore foot held high behind me careful not to even touch the doorway with it. Believe me, it was all worth it when the pain went away over a 5 minute period…almost unbelievable. As the diahrrhea continued on a 5 minute basis I gave up trying to manage it and just kept jumping into the shower and hosing down for the next two hours….foot never hurt again. (Began allopurinol the next week…almost 20 years ago.)