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Originally Posted by wehateporn
Thanks for sharing your story RandyRandy, lots of useful information, this is having a huge impact on your life clearly.
First place I've got gout is where I used to kick a football regularly, often very hard, do you think that's related i.e. made the area more vulnerable?
Couple of questions, is gout something that always gets worse with age? Do the flare-ups leave some damage each time?
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Let me first say I'm not a doctor. That being said, I've done tons of research on gout and can only comment on how it's effected me.
I do believe that when you overuse a particular joint, it becomes more susceptible to getting a flare-up. I've seen this in the last decade more in my hands than anywhere else. I mentioned the throttle on the motorbike and I'm in the pizza business and now and then I'll get behind the counter and work some dough and sure enough, several days later I'll get a minor flare-up. And the only way it will go away is by the combination of colchicine and indomethacine, both of which are non-prescription and literally pennies for a pill. When I first started, Colchicine was cheap in the U.S., then something happened and it's now about $10 a pill in NY with no insurance. Indomethacine is maybe $2 a capsule with no insurance in NY. Both are prescription in the States. In Malaysia it's 25 cents US for 10 pills of either drug, over the counter.
I don't know if it gets worse with age for me. Even though right now I'm a fat fuck, I've eliminated almost everything that I know sets it off. I very rarely drink alcohol, no nitrates and no crustaceans. That seems to help. I have read that the more gout attacks you have, the more damage is done to the joint and it can cause permanent damage. In Thailand they are starting to do stem cell surgery to eliminate gout, but real info is hard to come by.
But the minute I feel the "twinge" and heat (physical heat in the effected joint, I take both pills and that almost always works. I never take more than three doses. Sometimes one or two is enough. I'm 51 and the one change is while the effected joint gets swollen, it doesn't get red like it did in my 30s and 40s. But the pain hurts like hell. Any many times it comes on in the middle of the night. Maybe I bang something as I'm a very restless sleeper. If I feel the onset at 4am, I take my pills and usually by 8am I'm ok. You have to knock it out before it sets in.