Another attack ???

[Ron Avery]

So I’ve been sailing along the past couple of months on 200mg Allopurinol doing and eating as usual then last Thursday my knee started hurting. Thought I tweaked it playing hockey but it’s gotten worse with today being the most painful. It’s still not nearly as bad as my attacks before Allopurinol but bad enough.

I’ve started taking 500mg 2xday Naproxen and 2 extra Strenght Tylenol every 6 hrs but no relief yet. I’m hoping it’s old crystals dissolving and it will pass soon but it’s disappointing and it makes it tough to go to work.

I hope it passes soon. Keith, any words of encouragement would be appreciated !

Cheers,
Ron

[Keith Taylor]

Ron, it really does get better as the weeks pass by.

I want to be more encouraging, but I know how useless word are when you are suffering.

All I can suggest is a word with your doctor or pharmacist about your pain relief. I used max strength ibuprofen rather than naproxen as my NSAID, but both should do the job if the dose is right. I did NSAID (800mg ibuprofen) then after two hours, max dose Tylenol. Repeating 4 times a day.

The best approach is to agree the max dose of each pain-killer with your doctor, then divide that by 4. Then take your normal waking time – let’s say 16 hours for ease of calculation. Divide waking hours by 8 – that gives your dose interval of 2 hours. If you only sleep 6 hours, your dose interval is 2:15 (hh:mm).

When you wake, start with NSAID then after dose interval take Tylenol, and repeat through the day.

Be careful! Measure out your daily doses at the beginning of each day. If you don’t use them all, NEVER carry them forward to the next day.

If gout pain regularly wakes you, make your dose interval 3 hours. Then keep doses for use through the night if you need them.

My only other suggestion is to see your doctor about alternative pain relief. There’s lots to choose from. Don’t go for steroids though (in my humble opinion)!

As long as you keep uric acid down around 300, you won’t need to worry about this in a couple of months 🙂

[Ron Avery]

Thanks Keith !

The knee is still a little stiff but better. I’m happy with the fact that although it seemed like this was going to be the usual unable to move for a week flare up with pain at a solid 10 it turned out to be much milder and I was able to do most of my daily activities. (Albeit much slower).

I look forward to not having to worry about this in the near future as you state.

Thanks again,
Ron

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