Another flare-up ?

[Ron Avery]

I’ve been feeling pretty good the past 1 1/2 months on 200mg Allopurinol that I started on Feb 18. The rotating flareups I was having stopped and even the wear and tear aches and pains in the joints seemed better.

So, 3 weeks ago I decided to go back to playing ball hockey which I do once a week and hadn’t done so for about 5 weeks. Was sore the day after but no big deal. I played this Wednesday no problem. Yesterday afternoon I started feeling a tenderness in my left ankle which has signalled trouble in the past. I quickly popped 750mg Naproxen and 2 extra strength Tylenols. More Tylenol before bed and another 750mg of Naproxen & Tylenols this morning.

The ankle felt worse this morning. I couldn’t put too much pressure on it but I could walk. As the day has progressed it has gotten better ! Not sure if it’s the Tylenol masking the pain, the Naproxen reducing the inflammation or both. I can walk on it at about 90% efficiency and do a very short gingerly sprint if I had to. It’s not swollen at all and hasn’t been. Just the pain in the centre of the joint.

My question is, is this one of those flareups that occurs in the initial phases when you start Allopurinol that doesn’t last as long and is not as severe or is it some other injury that may have occurred on Wednesday playing hockey ?

Any input from people who have experienced something similar would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Ron

[Keith Taylor]

Hi Ron, it’s great to see that you are making progress. Sometimes I get fixated on meeting uric acid lowering targets. But, of course, the true test of Gout Freedom is doing the activities you want to do without worrying.

My gut reaction to your experience is that it’s a short gout flare. Probably a clump of crystals dissolving that got encouraged to free themselves through your hockey sprints. That’s one more deposit that’s never going to bother you again.

I might be wrong, but that fast-onset pain is more typical of gout than a sporting injury. It fits with my experience of gout attacks passing quicker once I’d got uric acid down to a safe level. I still remember the first time I got a gout attack under control in less than half a day. Bliss.

[Ron Avery]

The ankle has been tender all week but manageable. I played hockey again last night and although it felt a little tender I was able to play through it. (I’m sure the 500mg of Naproxen and 2 extra strength Tylenol I took an hour before I played helped !)

Today it actually feels pretty good so if it was a flare up it was minor and manageable which is great ! Hopefully this is one of the last I experience as the old crystals dissolve and leave my body.

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