Keith’s GoutPal Stories

In conjunction with my reorganization of my Allopurinol And Other Medicines pages, I have moved an old forum message here. Please join the discussion if you have any questions, opinions, or experiences of allopurinol with other medicines for high blood pressure. The earlier discussion started with sputnik from UK asking: After being diagnosed last year and having had three attacks of gout I bought a uric acid monitor and presented three months of tests to the Doctor today. (Average reading 8.9mg/dl). I said that I would like to be treated with medication that reduced the amount of uric acid rather than with anti inflammatories that I consider only mask the real problem. My father was not treated properly for years and now has kidney disease that prevents him taking allopurinol etc. The doc agreed to treat me but prescribed sulfinpyrazone rather than allopurinol as I am also taking 10mg Ramipril daily for high BP. Apparently there is a (low) risk of allopurinol...

Allopurinol is great for gout patients, but what if you have other diseases? Over the years, we have had several discussions about other diseases because many gout sufferers have other health problems. One significant is the use of allopurinol for kidney transplant patients. Azathioprine (commonly sold as Imuran, or Azasan) is commonly used to control rejection of transplanted organs. It has been said that allopurinol should be avoided for patients taking azathioprine, but there is no clear view. I have not researched this much, as it is very specialist, but perhaps gout patients who are affected by this may share experiences or have better information. Join the Allopurinol And Azathioprine Discussion...

I introduced the 2012 gout guidelines as a summary of the key points, with a promise to review the details. There have been various mentions of the new guidelines around the Internet. The best I've seen so far is an interview with one of the gout guidelines Task Force Panel, Dr Fitzgerald. The questions, and summary of the answers are: continue to read about the 2012 gout guidelines...

Hello fellow gouties! I'm pleased to say that after the "big attack (and only one)" and starting Allopurinol over 3 years ago,?I've been attack free and living a pretty normal lifestyle (SUA readings consitently betwenn 4.0-5.0). Anyway, I posted a thread about this awile back and wanted to give an update, but moreso get your opinions. I've been encountering this rash approx. 1X per year for about the last 2 years and it's now frustrating me because my Dr, allergist and even Pharmicist are stumped. The rash is maculopapular and consists of tiny pinhead-like red dots (sometimes a little itchy). Left untreated, it spreads all? over my body in 24-48hrs. It's not patchy or blistered and I have NO OTHER SYMPTOMS (if I can figure out how to post a pic to this thread, I will do so in the future). Continue reading Allopurinol Rash...

I've just spotted an interesting news item about colchicine and the risk of heart attack. The news reported in The Australian Hub describes a study in Perth Australia, that is being presented to the American Heart Association sessions in Los Angeles today. The doctors were struck by the same phenomenon that has spiked my interest from time to time. If heart attacks are associated with massive inflammation, would colchicine help. I've never had the resources to test such a theory, but the doctors who ran this investigation did. Very good of them to confirm my theory. I'm very interested to see exactly what dose is effective, and if they have revisited the known risks of long-term colchicine at gout doses. Nice to see they've dubbed low dose colchicine with a ripper Aussie LoDoCo label. I will summarize the original research in my colchicine guidelines, but in the meantime, here's some cool irony for Americans. The news article describes some of the study details, and...

Indomethacin is the most commonly prescribed anti-inflammatory treatment for gout. Until recently, "3 Indocin a day" has been a valid alternative to proper control of uric acid. No longer. Rheumatologists have made it clear that the best approach is Treat To Target, and target is safe uric acid levels, set on an individual case basis, and usually 5mg/dL. There are lots of other discussions about safe uric acid levels, and I do not want to get side-tracked with that issue. Here we focus on indomethacin. Indomethacin Gout Treatment The indomethacin dosage for gout guidelines are to take 50mg three times per day. No mention is made with respect to the maximum dose of 200mg per day for gout, but this is something you might discuss with your doctor. If sleeping with a gout flare is difficult, what is your doctor's response to doubling the third dose? Please share your experiences below if you have discussed this with your doctor. Discuss your personal Indomethacin Gout Treatment...