Aches And Pains

[Pink Mist]

specialist made the assumption based on uric acid levels in blood.

treatment, 50mg allopurinol (for 1 month, building to 300 over 3 month period), 0.5mg colchicine twice daily and celebrex 200mg twice daily.

Check blood in 3 months for acid levels.

I was on 300 mg allopurinol for a few years and somehow slipped off the medication since last november (thought I was bullet proof).

[ProThaiExpat]

Bronco: Your gout story is mine.

Pharmacist friend visiting two weeks ago suggested that 300mg of allopurinol was undesireable in older people due to liver or kidney damage.

I have unilaterally reduced my 300mg by half by cutting the pillls in half to see if I get an attack.

I have felt a few "phatom" aches in my big toe, so will see.

My neighbor just went through a major attack, has had them before, and started his colchicine immediately. A pilll every hour for 24 and he was fine. Followup at the hospital resulted in advice that his uric acid level of 7 was not too high so just go off the pills.

Many physicians feel that once you have an attack, you should be on allopurinol for the rest of your life to prevent other attacks.

I have been on 300 mg. for 30 years with no side effects. Am trying out the reduced dosage just to see if living in Thailand and not eating beef products or seafood has had a long term effect. Will have the blood tested in a few months.

There is a collateral benefit to taking Allopurinol, it has a stabilizing effect on other medications, that is it tends to suspend them in the blood stream for longer periods of time, thus if you ever take antibiotics or the like, they are more effective as the dosage level in the blood is maintained longer by the allopurinol, os I have been told by physicians.

[Pink Mist]

I have gone off red meat virtually completely for the last few years, I'm sure that helps.

Regarding attacks I havn't had one in the big toe for years, it normally comes into my right knee and the pain is excruciating, but as i said was on the progout for a few years and was really good, I had a few operations last year and lost my regime of the daily pill for various reasons ie ran out of script and getting pills in hospital etc and eventually got to the stage of feeling bullet proof.

This latest episode has brought me back to reality, gout is a lifetime disease

[ProThaiExpat]

[quote

ie ran out of script and getting pills in hospital etc

Bronco: I get generic allopurinol at the local pharmacy, no script needed and priced from over 20 Baht for imports to 3 Baht, which I pay per pill when I buy by the bottle of 300 or 500.

Just ask any pharmacy do they have any 3 Baht allopurinol 300 mg. and don't give them the option to price it and thereby create a bargaining situation.

[lopburi3]

[quote

ie ran out of script and getting pills in hospital etc

Bronco: I get generic allopurinol at the local pharmacy, no script needed and priced from over 20 Baht for imports to 3 Baht, which I pay per pill when I buy by the bottle of 300 or 500.

Just ask any pharmacy do they have any 3 Baht allopurinol 300 mg. and don't give them the option to price it and thereby create a bargaining situation.

Most pharmacies here in Bangkok do not recommend the local version; and from my experience it may be more than profit. I was also using the cheap 300mg pills but started to feel like was going to have attack again so switched to the Zyloric brand and have not had any more problems. My previous pharmacist stopped stocking the local version as nobody would buy it. So keep a close watch out.

The Zyloric is 14 baht each in 100 count bottles from the Save Drug chain in Carrefour malls. Much more expensive I admit but it works. In US always used generic but here it can be hit or miss.

[Pink Mist]

I am back in Oz at the moment, so need the script