Gout Pal Interactive

Hi Zip,

I am on AP300 a day from last 14 days (my Dr put me on 300 straight away.) work nights…  little sleep during day… 38 yrs old… run equivalent of a marathon a week from last about 22 years…(split in 2 parts in my 2 days off) suffer no other known illness..

effects of AP on me:

• drowsiness (Big time…..)
• mild burning sensation in my Tommy almost all the time….
• strange feeling in eyeballs….(like being swimming in strong clorined water without swimming glass for whole day…)

But i didn't/havn't give/n up….. and nowadays i feel like the effects are slowing down(weakening…)

MY MAIN CONCERN IS AP HASN'T TRIGGER ”FLEAR UP” YET… I wonder if it is working/normal….

sorry: English is not my first language.

Up @ 3am with Gout problems , wind and reflux from the Colgout.

Just checking the Site in case a miracle cure has been discovered this weekend.

As mentioned elsewhere last week I am attempting to lift my intake of Allopurinol to 300mg but I am stuck at 150mg, due to recurring nasty gout attacks and strong side effects that increase with the dosage.

Why do so many people avoid the taking of Allopurinol ?

There would appear to be fear and doubt about the drug, which has been around since the 1920's I believe.

Are my reactions, which are similar to @Utebelite and @funandsmile, so common?

I do have the added effect of the continuous gout attacks/flares, whilst on the drug.

Possibly it is suitable for new “Members of the Brotherhood of the Gout” and not really suited to dealing with long term complaints with a build up of old crystals.

It certainly is not a user friendly drug for me .

David

My experience so far:

Started allopurinol 4 months ago.  My doctor said we'd start with the 300mg dose immediately.  He said he'd seen no real advantage in starting with lower dosis and slowly increase, other than discard allergies, which by the way are rather unusual (in his own words).  He was very confident that the treatment will be just fine, he just said “nothing bad will happen to you, don't worry.  I bet you won't even have a new flare.”

Most visible results:

1. No flares.  UA levels down to 5 from 9.2.

2. For the first week I felt drowsiness but it eventually went away.  Guess my body was just adapting.

3. Sometimes I do feel like I've read an entire book in a badly illuminated room.  Maybe I'm just working too hard…, it's hard to tell whether this symptom is due to allopurinol or not.

4. Headaches every two to three days.  These too seemed to disappear after an adjustment period (1 month).

5. Less sleep hours.  This also improved on time.  Completely normal now.

Regards.

Utubelite said:

Initiated with AP 150 mg 4 months back and increased by 50 mg every 2-3 weeks to reach 300 mg in 2 months. Also took Colchicine 1 tab a day first 2 months and then tapered down to 1 tab every other day, followed by 1 tab every 3 days.

I did NOT have any flare up in last 4 months that I am taking AP.

Plus List:

1. SUA levels dropped to 4

2. Snoring stopped( I call it SnoreTerminate)

3. Improvement in Gout condition and foot pain

4. Ability to eat at will

Negative List:

1. Drowsiness that's not going away

2. Heavyness in eyeballs

3. Some dizziness at times with poor focus when I move my head sharply( It is like time and space gap)

4. Less active body, variable mood with nerveousness and sluggishness

I would like to clarify on the list of negatives. I was taking Colchcine with Allopurinol. I have reduced the dose of Colchicine to 1 tab in 3 days for last 10 days. Poor focus and heavyness in eyeballs have disappeared. It looks like these negatives were due to Colchicine not Allopurinol, though I am not sure.

I was on 1 tab of Colchcine for 2 months, then reduced it to 1 tab every other day for next 2 months and now I am taking 1 tab every 3 days. The dosage has been very small in last 2 and half months. I am almost on the verge of stopping Colchicine….plan is another week if everything goes as planned.