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I know I want to have 6 months of UA below 6, however do I need to wait 6 months before returning to normal activities? My last 5 or so readings over the past 2 weeks have all been below 6.
Hi GP,
I tested again this morning (week 2 at 200mg) and it measured 5.4. It seems that my readings are very consistent at this dosage. I think I have a little tophi in my right bunion area…but hard to tell. Will 5.4-6.0 get rid of crystals? What levels do crystals dissolve at? I really don't want to increase to 300mg due to the side effects 200mg is giving me. I've only learned of my gout on the dreadful day of 7/12/09! so I haven't had effects very long.
Yes it very well could be the tiredness effecting my vision. It's not blurry, it just takes a second or two longer for everything to focus (mainly small detailed things). Also, Allop is the only Rx I'm taking
Hi Pagey,
I didn’t really skip a dose I just took it at 7pm instead of 7am. Have you noticed a hard time focusing on things with your vision?
Utubelite said:
Now I am confused. Should I further increase my dose to 250 or 300 as I was planning to do? I took 200 mg in the morning and 50 mg in the night yesterday. Today, I have taken 200 mg in the morning and was planning to take 100 mg in the night. So, the question is do I stay with 200 or go to 250 /300? And should it be split or single dose? If I take 200 am and 50 pm, will that be OK?
Any suggestions?
Thanks for help!
I allso asked the same question in earlier post of mine today. Your last readings are nearly carbon copies of mine and I'm in the same dilemma with 200mg. My Dr. is ok if I am at 5.5 but is also ok if I go to 300mg. I might increase to 300 temporarily just to help flush crystals out quicker but I don't know yet. I'll probably end up sticking with 200mg while monitoring my levels every couple days over the course of a few weeks just to make sure UA stays at 5.5 or below. If it does I'm not going to increase my dosage UNLESS I start noticing twitches down the road.
pagey57 said:
I seem to sleep very heavy and dream a lot now.
I definately dont sleep as well as I didd before Alopurinol
That's interesting. I've also noticed that my dreams are just plain WILD lately! and I do sleep pretty heavily ?except for the fact I have to go to the bathroom about 2 times a night due to all the water I drink during the day!
I had a follow up with my Dr yesterday. He kept assuring me that the fatigue was not due to the drug because he's never had anyone complain of it (interesting). I skipped my dose yeserday morning and felt pretty good, I took 200mg before bed and feel a bit better today. I want to also ask everyone here because I forgot in my original post, but has anyone else noticed that their vision is just a bit off (like it takes a second longer for things to focus at time)? I hate to keep badgering my Dr and sounding like a hypochondriac, but not sure about this symptom.I want to stay on this drug and so does my Dr but how serious should side effects be b4 you stop taking it? I know Uloric will run me about $60/mo or $150 for 3 months but I don’t really want to test a newer drug. Any input?
Thanks for all of the responses everyone. Pagey, how long before the majority of your side effects went away? I had the palpitations at first, but they went away. I expected the aches, however the fatigue is just plain awful…Can't even go to the gym right now. Even standing up gets me a little light headed at times. Also, I'm starting to think its possible that my shortness of breath is caused by quitting smoking after 16+ years. I quit at the exact same time I started this Rx. Anyways I just wanted to see if anyone else had these symptoms because when I looked online the feelings I have all say “rare side effects” and to “contact your doctor…yadda yadda” I'll try and wait it out another week and see how I feel.
Just realized that I already had a similar post to this. Oh well, l feel so crappy now I just forgot. Maybe someone will come along and say their symptoms went away. Anyways, I’m still hoping this has something to do with me quitting smoking and not the drug because I want to take it! Last 3 home readings on 200mg were 5.1-5.7.
Hi Zip. Yes I’ll repeat the test again maybe next week.How long should I wait to test after drinking a couple glasses of wine? I have been avoiding high purine foods, but I still think it was a meter fluctuation too. I took a 3rd Allop dose b4 bed last night again. I woke up with a 4.7 reading! I’m gonna scale back to 2 doses again and monitor.
LOL! That's funny Zip. I don't do the sushi thing but once or twice a month, but when I do, I like to go all out with the saki and sushi if you know what I mean 🙂 BTW, since yesterday was the first day I started my 200 mg Allop dosage, I tested my UA at 5pm last nite and it was 6.5. I then had 2 glasses of wine and tested it a coulpe hours later and it was 8.4!! Not sure if the meter was off (does a 6.5- 8.4 jump seem right from 2 small glasses of wine?). Anyways, not sure if this was the smartest thing, but I took a 3rd dose of Allopurinol (100mg) before I went to bed. When I woke up this morning and tested, I was at 5.6 (lowest reading ever!). Is it ever a good idea to do this?
That makes sense. To bad they couldn't somehow modify Allopurinol so that it didnt get oxidized by mistake. Would 1 night every now and then of heavy seafood and alcohol cause an attack even if you are below 6? I don't eat that much seafood, but one of my favorite things to do everyone once in a while WAS to eat sushi, fried rice w/steak along with some saki and drink maybe 4-8 Saporo's (Japanese beer) 🙂 Man I miss those days!
Hi Zip,
I've tried all the natural methods such as:
BS and water, cherry pills, celery seed pills, limited diet, Indocin, Vocidin, cherries/strawberries, no alcohol, no strenuous activities. To be honest, none of that worked. I'm on 2 months of pain (not acute anymore), and am sore in about every joint now. Tired of it and just want to live a normal life. I know Allopurinol helps to acomplish this?so its a pill a day for me for happiness. Question, I know Allopurinol loses its effectiveness with alcohol, but does it lose effectiveness with diet? For example, if I ate a lot of seafood (if my UA levels were controlled). Also, how long should I wait to test my UA levels on this increased dose? Does allop immpediately lower UA the same day or does it happen gradually over a couple days?
I would think if your UA was below 6 consistently because of Allopurinol, then exercising and playing football should not bring on an attack.
Sounds (and looks) like you need a day of Colchicine (Zips method) to clear that up. Then you might be able to go on your trip. Did you have any warnings that this toe was starting to flare up?
Yikes $500! I was hoping that each test would be under $50. I guess I'll have to wait and see. Should be getting the 1st bill any day now 🙂 Time to go back to Dr again today anyways (UA 6.6-8.5 over the past 1.5 weeks).
Dr's office called me back (fastest return call I ever received from them :)). Anyways, they told me to just come in the office tomorrow morning. I'll post results later
I don't think everyone gets a severe attack all the time…but I'm no Dr. At this point I would try Colchicine. What do you have to lose?
pagey57 said:
I think about my gout constantly.
Every twinge I get in my foot sends fear throughout my body.
Wondering if it is going to build up to a full blown attack.
I guess the question is, how long have you had gout? and is your uric acid controlled?
Veg,
Its sounds like you have a similar situation to mine (read my post “lingering symptoms)…I had 5+ weeks with lingering paiin (although initially I had a severe attack for a couple days). I finally got a Rx of Colchicine last week and that seemed to really help. My pain is now down from a 6 to about a 2…and hopefully fading in the near future. Like Zip said in my thread. “If Colchicine doesn't work, then there's a good chance it AINT gout!”
Well that's reassuring. I'm kind of a worrier by nature so I'm glad to know it does not ruin your life. Do you ever worry about it after you eat or drink something? or exercise hard? etc Do you think it's a normal for a person to worry about it this much in the beggining (first few months)? I'm just trying to understand what I'm in for 🙂
lol. I had a feeling you'd respond to this one Zip! 🙂 So in your case, since you've been on Allop for 20+ years, if you had a full blown attack in the near future, do you think you think it would be debilitating or less severe since your UA levels have been controlled for decades (and I'm asssuming you've dissolved quite a bit of crystals in this time)?
Also, how have you been since your twinges the other day?
Just heard back from Arctic Medical. They said that they have had no claims about that particular batch being defective, but they would send me another box of test stripts to try…so at least they have very good customer service! Has anyone else had any issues with the control readings?
Yeah just test again this morning. Controled showed a 7.0 (which is about 1.5+ too high). My readining was 8.0…but who knows how bad that was skewed
Well I got my kit yesreday. I used up the 5 strips it came with pretty quick (within 2 hours). Results were as follows
Strip 1.- Used control solution (reading fell within the range on the wrapper)
Strip 2- Lo
Strip 3- 3.5
Strip 4- 6.5
Strip 5- A buddy of mine used it (6.0)
I purchesed an extra pack of test strips, however the control reading does NOT fall within the appropriate ranges (yes I've inserted the new chip too :)). I've tested 8-10 with the control solution an only 1 has fallen within range. The others are simply reading 5.7-7.0. I've contacted the manufacturer and am hoping they will send me another box. Anyways, just for fun tested myself with the strips and here are the readings:
Strip 1- 13.5
Strip 2- 8.0
Strip 3- 10.0
