pain for 4 months

[chad115]

Dr.
    4 months ago symptoms started in the night with pain in right knee . Went to GP and he prescribed prednisone and a nsaids pain was better while taking meds but came back immediately , Went to a ortho he drew fluid and gave me a shot of cortisone then a week later pain came back, at first swelling and red, with heat ,but now no swelling or redness,, the tests on the fluid showed gout . I have had x rays shows minor wear on knee . I have took the nsaids on and off to tolerate the pain . But its still here ..This morning I started the allupurinal and trying to stop taking the nsaids . But pain is still pretty bad ..I have high uric acid levels ..The only thing that bothers me is the ortho only did a gram stain no culture he said i didn't need it. I also have started having sharp pains in the back and the left knee has had some joint pain not severe but its there . Do you think I am on the right track ?
Will the allupurinal help with the pain? and how quick? should i continue on the nsaids?

[Denz95]

Hi there,

I am 49 years old and having swollen toe joint for about 3 weeks, almost on regular basis.  I saw my GP and gave me colchine but it did not suite to my body.  I then took indomethacin, normally I take this.  I have never taken allupurinal before but started to take now (been 3 days).  The reason I did not take allupurinol was I had kidney problem before, 6mm kidney stone was removed by having medicine. And I was afraid it would make rather worst.

My question is, does it affect my kidney and bring the problem again since I have started to take allupurinol?  I have some mild pain around my left side of abdominal.

Thank you

[chad115]

Thank you for answering . I am 40 years old and moderate activity , The pain in the left knee is not severe but the pain in the right knee is . Actully pain in the left knee is almost gone .I can take 40 mg of indocin and the pain subsides but when it comes back its just as bad , I am trying to get into a orto again but its a waiting list over 2 months and this is really starting to affect me , Is it ok to keep taking the indocin like this till I can get someone to look at this ? And should I worry about infection after 4 months i figure if it was infection there would be some serious signs eh ? one other thing I can press on the knee and find the tender spots . And when I quit the indocin it seems to spread,, the pain that is .Have you ever heard of gout acting like this and for this long?

[smittygirl]

Welcome to the forum.  Allopurinol can take 2 weeks or longer to start to work so if you just started, give it some time.  It is used to treat to Gout and for people that produce high levels of uric acid.   You seem to have bilateral knee issues going on now.  Since I don't know anything about you, age, activity level etc it is difficult to get a true understanding of why this is happening to you.  I work for an Ortho and it may not hurt to get a second opinion since you now are having problems with the other knee, you say it is "not severe" but you don't want to wait until it is and becomes debilitating.  Please feel free to write again and keep me posted, I will help you as best I can.

Sue
Smittgirl