[kipper]

Hi Mark, Keith

I could not remember my original password and my email account is playing up at the moment so cannot retrieve my temp password either.

Mark, I am unsure why I have not had any attacks for awhile now most likley because of the Allopurinol I suppose. Until last Monday I had not even had a twinge out of my toe. It has not been a problem since though, as I took some colgout tablets within about an hour of feeling the tightness and woke up nextmorning all good.

I have since the start of Febuary got back into crossfit, and looking after my diet abit better after a hernia operation back in December. I put on quite a few kilos! After reading some info on this site I think my red meat consumption maybe way to high, this maybe where the twinge in my toe came from? I may need to change this around abit. My drinking has decreased a fair bit as well, probably average 4-5 beers a week, some weeks none at all.

I think you are going through some of what I went through, trying to convince yourself it is not gout because there seems to always be some other reason for the pain to start. Every time I have had an attack I couldin my mind always point to some other reason why I thought it was not gout. Both times in my ankles it was because I had had some physio work done on them and this was the problem. But the pain was all out of proportion to the slight injury I had with them. In my left toe I always thought it was because I had stubbed it or knocked it, again the pain was all out of proportion to the injury as well as the time out of action. Remember gout can and does come on after injury or trauma for some people.

I twas not until the blood test at 5.6, that I could say with some certainty that it was gout. I was at this stage sick of the pain and discomfort gout attacks caused me, also as I am allergic to NSAIDs, I had to just take pain killers and wait the attacks out. I had also had Xrays, MRIs, and lots of different blood tests all negative, except for the above 5.6 reading.

In my case I was just sick of the attacks when they came as they got in the rode of life, sport, fishing and family. I was not looking foward to the thought of a tablet every day, but so far the allopurinol has not shown any down side. I will continue with the liver and kidney function tests for the next 12 months then if I show no signs of problems, drop it back to once a year.

Anyway hope this helps some in coming to a decision about doing something, as doing nothing will not help prevent another attack. Doing something may stop it!

Regards
Kipper.

[kipper]

Hi Mark, Keith

Just a bit of an up date.

I received my uric acid level results today, down to 5.0. I would have thought my result may have been lower as I have been on 100m/g per day of allopurinol for 4-5 months now.

I am not sure about this result, maybe the dose needs to go up? I will test again in about 3 months and see how we go. The liver and kidney? function test came back as good though.

Monday of last week I thought an attack was coming on as late in the afternoon out of now where I had the familiar stiffness / tightness feeling in my left big toe start. As soon as I could I started on my colgout tablets and it seemed to do the trick as when I woke next morning the feeling had gone. Nothing since then, but prompted me to go and have another blood test.

How are you getting on Mark? Has everything settled down?

Regards
Kipper

[kipper]

Mark

Just a quick one have you tried elevating your foot on a couple of pillows at night?

[kipper]

Hi Mark and Keith

Sorry about the confusion the uric acid readings are in mg/dl. The first two readings should of read 4.2 & 4.9 mg/dl.

I have only been on the allopurinol for about 1 month so I have not shown any sideffects so far. I have had a liver function test done though as I beleive the allopurinol can affect your liver if your unlucky. I am hopeful this is not the case for me as I am already allergic to NSAIDs and do not like taking the steroidal ones as they are not real good for you, so when I get an attack I just have to take a few pain killers and ride it out. I have not had an attack for about 4 months now.

My circulation is pretty good to my knowledge as I do not suffer from cold hands or feet.

The more I think about it the more I am convinced it is gout as over the years the intervals between attacks has slowly decreased. A family history as well with my mother and brother also suffering. Though I would like very much to get a positive diagnosis just so I can get on with dealing with it.

I will let you know how I go after my next lot of blood tests which will be in about 2 months.

Hope everything goes well for you Mark and sorry about the confusion Keith.

Regards
Kipper

[kipper]

Hi Keith / Mark

I have not logged on here for sometime, though I do drop in every now and then and read some of the stories.

Marks story is the first time I have read anywhere that most closely reflects my still to a point dubious gout diagnosis. I have had attacks in both ankles once either side that came on within a few hours and was extremly painful lasting a few days. Both times I had had a small injury / strain of some sort before the attacks.

I have also had about half a dozen attacks in the left big toe, with the same sort of symptoms as Mark, with a few days of the joint feeling a bit stiff and then going from stiff to very sore within a couple of hours with each attack lasting a week or more. Again same as Mark I have an almost pin like sore point on the outside of the joint, if I push anywhere else the pain is very much less.

In all cases I had played touch football, rugby or had some minor injury before attacks.

This has all happened over about a 6 year period with visits to a few different doctors. I have had alot of blood tests done for auto immune diseases, high iron and a few xrays the list goes on, until recently my uric acid levels where always within “range” mostly between 0.42 and 0.49 ( I live in Australia) these where always taken during attacks. Under my own steam I had a set of bloods taken when I was not having an attack (about 2 months ago) with a reading of 5.6 I took this as good enough evidence that it was or is gout and I am now taking Allupurinol at 100mg/ day and to go back in another 2 months for another set of blood tests.

Hopefully this is the end of my gout diagnosis, but after reading your comments Keith in regards to uric acid levels and looking at the chart on the page I am not so sure. I was under the impression that 5.0 was sort of the cut off point for the ability of uric acid crystals to form? I will wait and see after my next blood test.

Any way long story thanks for reading and hope everything works out for you Mark.

Cheers for your work on the web page Keith.

Regards
Kipper

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