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Viewing 30 posts - 121 through 150 (of 187 total)
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  • in reply to: On no! Pain is back! What the…?! #5877
    cjeezy
    Participant

    I'm still wondering if the antibiotic I took somehow caused my flare up last week.  I didnt have any issues for 2-3 weeks and then right as rain, the night I started my antibiotic I woke up to “the pain.” Anybody ever have a RX cause a flare up?

    in reply to: How much aggressive we need to be in lowering UA numbers? #5876
    cjeezy
    Participant

    It's definitely interesting.  My last 3 tests on 300mg of AP were 4.0 (lunch), 4.7 (dinner) and 3.8 (after fasting for 10 hrs). 

    in reply to: On no! Pain is back! What the…?! #5867
    cjeezy
    Participant

    zip2play said:

    Sounds like it's 300 mg./day forever and never another attack for you.


    That would be excellent but the part of this experience that I hate is not knowing how my body will react to things since I haven’t been dealing with this condition very long. While 4.0 is good, I’m still wondering if I’ll need to watch my lifestyle at all though?how many points do people see their UA typically fluctuate in a day? Not that I lead an unhealthy life or anything, but hypothetically what if (I know the dreaded “what if” questions :))I wanted to go to the gym, then go out and drink say 8+ beers and eat some seafood 2-3 nights in a row on my vacation. Would this be detrimental and take my 4.0 reading well above 6? I guess I’ll have to test it one of these weekends if I'm not too scared:)

    Also, roughly how long do you think it takes for crystals to dissolve at this UA level?  is it weeks? months? years?  my big toe joint is not hurting as bad, but is still very swollen and redish purple now! Again these past couple months have really been my first ever gout attack?but I'm thinking there could be quite a few crystals since the attack has been on and off for over 2 months.

    in reply to: On no! Pain is back! What the…?! #5865
    cjeezy
    Participant

    Just got new strips in the mail today. This morning afternoon ate banana, apple, rice crispy treat with choc drizzle and a fruit bar.  Measured UA at lunch and got 4.0.  Guess its not too low 🙂

    in reply to: On no! Pain is back! What the…?! #5859
    cjeezy
    Participant

    I used my last test strip after being on 300mg for 5 days and the result of my Home Test was “Lo.”  I hope it's not too low! I have more strips coming hopefully this week so I'll retest then.  Should I be concerned that mt SUA is too low right now?

    in reply to: Colchicine + Z- Pack = BAD??? HELP #5847
    cjeezy
    Participant

    …has no effect on cytochrome P450 metabolism and the P-glycoprotein transporter system.”


    I guess this is where the confusion comes in, as the print out my pharmacist gave me states the opposite.  Oh well, I'm feeling better these past couple days at least :). 

    in reply to: Colchicine + Z- Pack = BAD??? HELP #5842
    cjeezy
    Participant

    Kind of a random question, but is it possible that the Z-pack somehow triggered my gout flare up?  I'm only asking because up until that flare up (as shown in a previous post), my UA levels were consistently below 6.  Then one night, I take 500mg of the Z-pack for the first time, go to bed and bam another attack that same night…even though I had no soreness or warning signs whatsoever.

    Just a thought. I'll be curious as to what my UA levels will be on 300mg of AP.  Just ordered 50 more test strips.  I'll post results next week. 

    in reply to: Colchicine + Z- Pack = BAD??? HELP #5835
    cjeezy
    Participant

    Hi Zip,

    I stopped taking the Z pack (as recommended by my Dr). I only took that first 500mg. Yesterday I started the 10 day Rx of Keflex. Also, I’m hoping that the 4.2 was accurate for me last night. I’m thinking it was because I’ve started 300mg of AP whereas 200mg got my UA to around 5.

    As far as my chest, I’ve had breathing troubles since I stopped smoking about a month ago (the irony!). Finally last week Dr diagnosed me with Bronchitis and gave me Advair and the antibiotic. At least now I can inhale enough to try and cough everthing up. I think everything in my chest was impacted or something because it took damn near 3 weeks b4 I even developed a cough!

    My plan is to take 200mg-800mg of Alleve as needed everyday. Hopefully the pain in my foot now is from crystals dissolving and with my low UA it will dissolve quickly. I just want to get back to my normal life as much as possible. Hopefully I’m making progress.

    in reply to: Colchicine + Z- Pack = BAD??? HELP #5833
    cjeezy
    Participant

    I woke up at 5am last night to take my new antibiotic and my foot still hurt pretty bad. I hobbled to the medicine cabinet and took 400mg more of Alleve. I also checked my UA level and it turned out to be 4.2. Now that I’m moving around this afternoon, it seems to hurt a little more than yesterday (but at least I can somewhat walk on it). I hope it doesn’t get worse before it gets better. When would be a safe time that I could restart Colchicine? The last dose I took was at 10am on Thursday.

    in reply to: Colchicine + Z- Pack = BAD??? HELP #5827
    cjeezy
    Participant

    No statins for me…luckily. I guess it will be a while b4 I can start Colchicine again. Should I have any worries about these two drugs still interacting in my system? I feel much better today, but as you said (also my pharmacist) these drugs have an extremely long half life.

    in reply to: Colchicine + Z- Pack = BAD??? HELP #5819
    cjeezy
    Participant

    Hi Zip,

    I took 6 or 7 .6mg Colchicine’s and 2 250mg of the Z pack the night b4. It just really pisses me off that the Dr didn’t see that the 2 could have a bad interaction. Luckily the 400mg of Alleve I took today is helping to somewhat keep my gout pain at bay. I started 300mg of AP today too. Next week Ill post me UA levels. Ill tell u, in the past month I have felt just horrible. I hope all this passes soon!

    in reply to: Colchicine + Z- Pack = BAD??? HELP #5814
    cjeezy
    Participant

    That was probably one of the worst days Ive had in a very long time! Dr never called me back yesterday.  This morning they left me a message saying to stop taking the Z pack and that they called me in another antibiotic called Keflex (or something like that).  Any ideas? How long does Colchicine stay in my system?  This is probably the worst situation for me now.  I cant breath and my foot is getting worse!

    in reply to: Foot pain question on Allop? #5779
    cjeezy
    Participant

    pagey57 said:

    Hi

    I get twinges and general soreness in my feet from time to time.

    Also get a twinge in my big toe but very rarely.

    I take Alopurinol 300.

    I always think an attack is imminent but it never develops any further.

    I think its where my feet have been damaged by the uric acid crystals.


    Do you take Colchicine when you experience these twinges?

    in reply to: On no! Pain is back! What the…?! #5776
    cjeezy
    Participant

    Hi Zip,

    Yes I'm hoping it will only take a few colchicines too as I'm working today and would hate to do a 12 dose cycle during my shift! I'm slightly confused why this happened though.  Would one night at 6.5 (or slightly above) cause an attack? Oh well, back to square one :(.  I'm going to order some more test strips today.  I'll posts some results in a week or so once I'm on 300mg.  I can walk today, but there is definitely pain and soreness when I touch it or my shoe rubs it.  Do you think it would be safe to start 300 mg now? or perhaps 250mg since its not a full blown attack?

    in reply to: After 4 months, are these pains Gout related? #5716
    cjeezy
    Participant

    Utubelite said:

    I suffered a big toe fracture in right foot  4 months back, which triggered a gout attack within couple of days of the injury. Since then, I have got it treated for Gout and Fracture both. The fracture has healed and I am on Allopurinol for last 7 weeks. My problem is that my right foot is not getting free and the soreness is not going away. I am not sure if it is due to gout or the fracture. Hence, I am requesting thoughts, opinions and experience of other members to help me in this. My current pain symptoms are –

    1. When I wear the shoes, I feel extra padding under the big toe ball of right foot, though visibly there is no swelling

    Yup.  Had that for about 2-3 weeks.  It feels very odd!

    2. The movement of right big toe is 70% of left toe. I do not know if it was like that even before the injury /gout attack

    Not sure in your case, but I had that at one point.

    3. When I walk, at times I feel pain in the right toe, more so when it gets bent a bit more

    Yup!

    4. My load on the righ foot is not balanced and when I walk, some of the body weight gets shifted towards middle to small toe. This makes me try to push my body weight on right toe and causes pain in the right toe

    Yup!

    5. The joint ( Bursa)  feels weak and tender in right foot. When I walk barefoot, I can feel the weakness and extra pressure.

    Yup!

    6. When I walk with shoes, I sometimes feel the whole right thumb painful for couple of seconds. The pain goes away as soon as I remove my shoes and wear them again.

    Yup!

    7. After I sit for some time like 30 minutes or so and stand up, the balls under the right toe are slightly painful and sore. The pain goes away after I have walked for about 10-20 steps.

    Yup. Probably due to circulation issues having an impact on your gout

    8. I do get twinges in the right big toe and nearby area everyday when I am walking and the foot feels more tired and achy.

    The more I walked the worse I felt!

    I am not sure if some or all of the above symptoms are gout related. Any experience on the residual gout pain symptoms would be helpful to clear doubts in my mind.

    Thanks.


    Utubelite,

    As you see I too had most of your symptoms.  That is not to say that yours are from gout only and not the fracture, however I'm leaning on the gout.  To be perfectly honest with you, I had pain for a straight 2 months.  I found that it would start to go away, however as soon as I went back to the gym or the park to resume exercising (walking) the next day I was damn near back to square one.  Finally I gave in to staying off it and taking colchicine.  My advice (just my opinion), would be to do a 12-16 colchicine cycle for a day.  If that doesn't take care of the issue then the pain is probably fracture related.

    in reply to: Allopurinol side effects go away? #5668
    cjeezy
    Participant

    That makes sense Zip. Any thoughts on my current numbers which I listed in another post yesterday?

    in reply to: Allopurinol side effects go away? #5660
    cjeezy
    Participant

    Hi Utubelite,

    I'm in the same boat as you.  I started a new post with my updated numbers

    in reply to: Transition #5651
    cjeezy
    Participant

    Yes as Trev said everyone is different. It’s been 2 1/2 months since my first gout attack and I still feel slight pain at times…although I’ve been on Allopurinol for the past 3 weeks which could be causing this.

    in reply to: Allopurinol side effects go away? #5650
    cjeezy
    Participant

    I too just had another lab test today. Hopefully I will have results by tomorrow. Did you say that your lab tests matched your home test numbers? If you’re at 5.1 on 250mg, while low numbers are good to rapidly dissolve crystals, I wonder if you could eventually cut back to 200mg??? If you did I would of course monitor it closely. Maybe other expercienced gouters will have an opinion. I know my Dr said he would be happy if I was at 5.5. Just my 2 cents.

    in reply to: colchicine #5644
    cjeezy
    Participant

    In an hour? a day? a week? a month?a lifetime?

    in reply to: Allopurinol side effects go away? #5643
    cjeezy
    Participant

    zip2play said:

    Anyone with vision disturbances remember that after age 40 presbyopia is “normal” condition and the effect is on the ability to focus on small close stuff.


     I'm only 31 🙁

    in reply to: Damn do I have gout? Will see doc need some input please :-( #5637
    cjeezy
    Participant

    Hi Veg,

    Any updates on your status/treatment?

    cjeezy
    Participant

    Thanks Zip,

    That's what I was thinking

    in reply to: Does exercise need limited on Allop? #5617
    cjeezy
    Participant

    Any recommendations for gout sufferers for a good exercise that will raise the heart rate without causing an attack as easily? Also, hypothetically, say my UA was around 5 and had a hard workout (spinning, whatever), and it raised levels above 6 or 7, how long “on average” would you think it would take to trigger an attack? That night, 12 hrs, 24hrs, 48hrs Wouldn’t taking your next Allop dose stabalize these levels and help prevent an attack? Just things I’m wondering while I’m trying to get back into shape 🙂

    Thanks as always

    in reply to: Does exercise need limited on Allop? #5612
    cjeezy
    Participant

    Its very brutal, but I love it. I try to drink about 20 oz of water before the class, 12 oz during and another 12 oz afterwards. Will this exercise limit Allop’s effectiveness? I thought dehydration didn’t matter as much when a person was on this Rx.

    in reply to: Gout won’t leave! #5610
    cjeezy
    Participant

    I’m glad that you have started to take more concern about uric acic. Please don’t take offense to this, but I guess the million dollar question is “how do you know you’re treating it appropriately (today) with your current dosage?” If 300mg isn’t getting you below UA readings of 6 consistently then you’re almost beating a dead horse. If you’re on the correct dosage of Allop, one “bad/high purine meal” shoulnt trigger a gout attack. I’m sure someone else will chime in on this one too.

    in reply to: Gout won’t leave! #5608
    cjeezy
    Participant

    I would do a search on this site for the UASure Home test kit by Arctic Medical. I think its what most use and is recommended on this board. I’ve been using it for a few weeks. I think it is really good to use to detect trends, but I don’t think its 100% accurate all the time. What were your UA level goals in the past? My thinking is that you might now be producing more UA and your dosage may need increased. Just my two cents though. Also, you mentioned that you “went off the diet…” Did you go off the diet for a while or just for one meal?

    in reply to: Gout won’t leave! #5606
    cjeezy
    Participant

    Hi ruff, just curious what were your uric acid readings from your last 2 Dr visits? I this the first attack you’ve had in 15 yrs?

    in reply to: How long taking Rx before one can return to normal lifestyle? #5605
    cjeezy
    Participant

    I’m going to start testing next week in the afternoon just to compare. Ill post results

    in reply to: How long taking Rx before one can return to normal lifestyle? #5601
    cjeezy
    Participant

    Hi GP I have a very normal “healthy-balanced” lifestyle (when I eat sushi I also eat vegetables and rice, etc), but I guess my question is, can I start returning to normal activities now since my levels have been below 6 over the past 2 weeks (in ther morning after fasting)?…or do I need to wait longer to make sure there is more consistency?

Viewing 30 posts - 121 through 150 (of 187 total)