Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I made a follow-up appointment with my doctor right at the four week mark to schedule the bloodwork, which I will get done within a couple of days of the appointment, so I should have my first results by five weeks on the medication. Four weeks seems to be my doctors preference, and at this point works for available appointments compared to my work schedule anyway.
Fingers crossed for positive results, thanks again for your help!
Another question if I may: Is there any precedent for using higher doses to really lower UA and efficiently dissolve crystals more rapidly, and then lower to a maintenance dosage for long term prevention?
Thank you for your response! I’m going to call my doctors office to follow up very soon. I’m not even sure if the doctor meant to wait three months, it’s more that I was concerned there was no follow-up plan in place as of yet. I’m also not convinced my GP is any kind of gout expert, so I wanted some opinions from people who have been through this.
I have come to know now that the low carb thing is bad for a gout sufferer, it had just been so long since I had any symptom or problem that I pretty much forgot, and of course wham. I lost the initial 25 lbs in the first four-five months of last year, and 15 more in the eight months since. Pretty much at my target weight now, maybe another couple of pounds by summer just for good measure. The motivation to lose the weight was because I had hit an all time high over 2017, 10-20 lbs over my adult average, I’ve never been anywhere near morbidly obese but didn’t want to approach 50 years old being that heavy. Overall, still very glad I have taken the weight off.
I’d like to add, just to keep my history clear for informational purposes, that I am in excellent health otherwise. Blood sugar, liver and kidney function, etc are all spot on, prior to starting the Allopurinol anyway. Gout aside I feel fantastic, and I’m in better shape than I’ve been in years.
And I guess I’m not exactly clear on the definition of “Gout Hell”, I just feel like I was stuck at a volatile UA level or saturation point of some sort where I was flaring pretty much weekly, not full blown excruciating or debilitating attacks thankfully, but uncomfortable and worrisome nonetheless. Also thankfully, I respond to Colchicine well, and I only take it in response to a flare or attack, not regularly as a preventative.
I’m also still looking for some thoughts on how long a certain dosage of Allopurinol might take to establish a new baseline SUA and/or how long to wait to decide if dosage needs to be increased.
I’d also like to add that the flares over the past year have moved to other joints, my second toe in the same (right) foot and my right thumb joint.
I’ve also been taking 1000 mg Vitamin C daily as it’s been shown to decrease SUA by an average of 10%. Helpful possibly, but not enough to lower levels significantly for someone with typical gout numbers.