Gout!



My gout flare–up was so bad that I woke up this morning at 6:20 AM in serious pain and unable to get back to sleep. Wife got me some aspirin, which I took, and then I checked WebMD — and found out that aspirin is exactly the wrong painkiller to take for gout! I soothed my foot in hot water in the bathtub for a few minutes before the pain eased enough for me to go back to sleep, at which point Son woke up and came to our bed. Took 600 mg ibuprofen at 8:20 AM or so, which helped.

Brought Son to daycare, then came to work to check on thermal vac.

Went to see Dr. Loanne T. (my primary physician) at my 11 AM appointment. Discussed a couple of options. Motrin/Ibuprofen is good for killing the pain. Considered allopurinol, which is a long–term treatment for reducing uric acid which I'd have to take every day, and colchicine, which I can use in combination with ibuprofen for the attacks. I decided on the colchicine, since it seemed more practical for what I consider to be infrequent attacks.

Dropped off prescription at Walgreens in San Dimas, where I found out that the 1 mg dosage doesn't exist — colchicine comes in 0.5 mg and 0.6 mg tablets/pills/whatever. They'd have to check with my doctor. Oh, well.

Went home for lunch and waited for the pharmacy to call back.

Posted: Fri - January 16, 2004 at 04:09 PM          


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