Does anyone know why...

[dickey]

I'm still getting gout attacks,even though I've been on Allopurinol for 4 months now & My uric acid is only 5.1? The attacks are less frequent (about every 2 weeks) & nowhere near as severe (more like a slight nuisance than a debilatating pain)) as they were before I started on Allo, but they still occur. Also, does anyone experience the tickling & shooting sensations inside their leg when they're NOT having an attack, and what causes them? They feel like ants crawling inside my leg or foot.

[donnarob]

Hi there,

I'm on this because my husband has just been started on Allopurinol. Do you find that you tolerate it quite well? I'm worried as he has to drive 75lm and back each day to work and I'd heard it causes drowsiness?

I've also heard that the gout attacks get worse before they get better as the Alluprinol decreased the uric acid levels.

Donna :)

[dickey]

There shouldn't be any problem with Allo & driving--has not affected me in any way except to relieve the acute,crippling attacks. Yes, Allo WILL make gout much worse when you first start it;that's the medicine breaking up the uric crystals,and until they are dissolved, they have no where to go, so they stab you from the inside for a few weeks. Alot of people stop taking it because it makes the attacks much worse, but if he can get through a few weeks of even worse pain, the Allo should bring total,or almost total (as in my case) relief. Allo has given me back my quality of life, and lifted the depression that came from being almost crippled. After the initial Allo pain, he may experience the tingling & shooting zinging pain from the crystals being broken up;kind of like a real bad case of restless leg syndrome. Only affected me in bed, then went away totally after a few weeks.

[tiger2118]

My rheumatologist told me that any doctor that knew what they were doing when treating gout. They would first put you on colchicine to stop the flare ups and rid the crystals from your body. He said it is easy to get the blood to good levels but very hard to remove the crystals from your joints etc. He said it can take 1 to 2 years on colchicine before you can just take alenpurinol. Alenpurinol is just to keep you from adding uric acid to your joints. Once it is there it is hard to get out of your body. Hope this explains a little. He also said just taking alenpuinol by itself would increase gout attacks. You have to start with colchicine first for about 2 weeks then ad maintenance meds.

[donnarob]

Thanks for the replies Guys.

We're based in Norway and sometimes the doctor's don't understand our Scottish accents!

I've heard of taking the pain relief along with the alloprunol but my husband wasn't prescribed anything other than the alloprunol. He broke his leg 8 weeks ago and it's just healing now and he's finally getting about with no crutches. He also was unfortunate to get a DVT in the other leg 4 years ago. As you can imagine, any little twinge puts me on red alert re the DVT and wondered what sort of leg cramps he can expect to get?

How crippling and debilitating were the gout attacks? The reason I'm asking is that we've just bought a house (one day after he broke his leg, which wasn't the greatest of timing)! We've put off moving to allow his leg time to heal but I think we should put off taking the Allupronol until after the move as we can't cope with him having a bad gout attack.

My husband wonders why I get stressed??

[tiger2118]

I started with colchicine 2 weeks before taking alenpurinal and I have not had one gout attack. I take take both together every day. I was having 3 or 4 gout attacks a month and now I have none...... It has been 4 months now and I have zero pain for the first time in years. My doctor told me that without colchicine the alenpurinal would trigger more gout attacks. I finally went to a rheumatoligist to get treated after years of dealing regular doctors that did not know how to treat gout correctly. I was getting very expensive shots in my knees for the last 5 years to stop the pain. My rheumatoligist fixed me in a week.

[dickey]

Amazing how many different ways people have for spelling ALLOPURINOL!

[podagra]

Hi dickey,
Never measure uric acid during an attack, it drops because it is precipitating out in painful crystals in your joints. Anyway, here is what causes an attack and how to avoid it:
http://www.goutonline.net/showthread.php?t=10782

http://www.goutonline.net/showthread.php?t=10755

Tale care