Sharing a Success Story
I see a lot of debate in this group about alloplurinol and thought I'd share my story.
I'm 62. Two years ago, I was running marathons and playing basketball. I woke up one morning and had a sharp pain in the joint of my right big toe. I attributed it to too much running. I also noticed that when I sit and work, I tend to tuck my foot under my chair with my big toes bent. My doctor suggested that it might be turf toe and prescribed rest, elevation, and ice. It didn't go away, and the pain spread to other parts of my foot and to the other foot. I have a very high pain tolerance level, but some days, I literally could not put any weight on my feet.
Thanks to this group, I started suspecting gout. I asked my doctor about it. He said it did sound like gout, but wouldn't give me anything preventative until he got lab results. Unfortunately, I was away from my home town for a couple of months and kept putting off the lab work until I got back home. I had a couple of really bad flares during that time. My doctor did send a 6-day prednisone treatment a couple of times which reduced the flare, but they always came back within a couple of days of finishing the treatments.
When I got back about a month ago, I had the lab work done, and my uric acid level was about a 9. The doctor immediately prescribed allo. The effects weren't immediate. However, after about a week, the pain, redness, and swelling all went away. My feet actually looked normal for the first time in a LONG time! Yesterday, the doorbell rang, and I was in another part of the house, so I ran to the front door to answer it. I realized that it was the first time I ran without pain in over a year.
To me, this is a miracle drug and I will continue to take it the rest of my life with no hesitation. I've seen several posts on here from people worried about the effects of allo and avoiding it because they don't want to be dependent on a daily pill the rest of their life. For me, the quality of life this drug has restored for me is worth any concerns. Thank you to everyone on here who helped me through the frustrating process of figuring out this painful condition, and who gave me the advice to not stop trying to find relief. If you're on the fence on the decision of whether to try allo or not, do it. Your body and your family will thank you!