Gout

For the last 2 years, i have had extreme gout, it is very painful, always in the top of my foot or in my ankle.  I am usually treated very effectively with colchicine, I stopped all of my gout drugs, with my family dr's blessing as soon as I started opti, the reasoning being that I would have no high purine foods in me to cause a flare up, well, didn't I wake up at 2 am this morning with a flare up.  I am now 8 days away from surgery, and I don't know if I can take the colchicine to bring everything back under control???? I did mention to the pharmacist at preop, that i had just come off this drug.  Colchicine has anti inflamitory meds in it, and I was advised that the anasethioligist would like me to stop my toradol(an anti inflamitory with anti coagulant in it) 7 days prior to surgery.  I could load myself up today and hope it is gone tomorrow.  Of course it is a Saturday, and clinic is closed, so I can't call for advice.  I just read that rapid weight loss can cause a gout flare up  :(   I have been on opti for 9 days, and have lost 20 lbs...... idk what to do

I have occasional bouts of gout as well and man it hurts!  (I hope you are not having a RnY but a Sleeve)

If you can not get ahold of your Dr, ask the  pharmacist but I'm thinking you already know the answer.  The pharmacist can be a huge huge asset to us when it comes to meds etc. Go in and have a chat with him.. he might be able to suggest OTC meds yoiu can take.. But be sure to explain to him what kind of surgery you are having

I understand the desire to just load yourself up and hope it's gone but I would strongly advise against doing that. You don't really know how the drugs are going to interact with the anaesthetic, especially being that he asked you to stop taking them. It takes a certain number of days for the anti-coagulant to clear out of your system.

 During surgery, if you should begin to bleed uncontrollably because of the anti-coagulant, they might have to open you up to stop the bleeding.. I'm not saying this to frighten you but to perhaps give you more insight as to why it's important you not take those meds

There are some home remedies you can try for gout. Try googling "Home made remedies for gout".. there are tons of ideas..

good luck!!

Call your surgeon on Monday, tell him you are having a gout flare up and ask if you can take colchicine for it.  

Drink lots of water ! You may be dehydrated.  My guess is that you are a bit dehydrated.  You will have to watch that.

Gout is both diet AND predisposition.  The good news is weight loss should help, and you already know how to control your diet for purines, so controlling for a few more things won't be that hard.

Yeah, I would ask your centre ASAP on Monday.  A pharmacist is good too, but I would worry that a pharmacist might not know what drugs your centre allows before surgery.  The pharmacist I went to, for instance, didn't realize that bariatric patients are given prescriptions for Vitamin K injections and asked to take them orally before surgery.  Not the pharmacist's fault, especially since my doctor didn't write it on the prescription. 

I would think that if they told you not to take anti-inflammatories 7 days before surgery, and it's 8 days before now, then you can probably take it today, hope it carries you over tomorrow, and then call the centre on Monday.  But I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on the internet, so this is just my guess.