Pain be damned.

[deadserious]

For those who didn't know, I suffer from Gout, a terribly painful attack where crystals form as needles in your joints.  For most people Gout forms usually in the big toe and, while intensely painful is generally a localized problem.  Gout for me is a much more widespread issue.  It affects my entire foot, ankles, knees and sometimes occurs in both feet at the same time.  When an attack is left untreated, the pain can persist for several weeks and during that time, I am unable to walk for a good portion of that time.  There are only a few medicines that can actually treat a Gout attack, and specifically for me, there is only one combination of two medicines (Colchicine and Indomethacin) that reliably works.  

And guess what...  The US government is taking away my pain relief and damning me to be bed ridden for weeks at a time.

Even though there have been generic forms Colchicine on the market for decades, the FDA has ordered a halt to all companies selling generics in order to give the exclusive right to sell to a single company (URL Pharma). That company, once granted the exclusivity, raised the price of a bottle from $9 to $485. As such, my insurance company now refuses to pay for the medicine.

Do you wonder, much as I did, how the FDA gets away with granting exclusivity over a drug to a company, even one who did not discover the medicine?  

Apparently a Bush era law permits the FDA to sell exclusive rights for a drug to the highest bidder in order to pay for further testing on that drug.

I hope I never have another Gout attack... or better yet, I hope the generics are still available in Belize!

-- A special thanks goes out to G.W. and his buddies at URL Pharma.  

[peterbj7]

I'm sure your gout is very nasty when it happens.  A friend has it about as badly as you, and he's grounded when an attack happens.  But think of people in the third world - not Belize, the REAL third world - who will be condemned to death because generic drugs they rely on to keep them alive will soon cease to be available.  Aren't there times when unrestricted capitalism is undesirable?

[deadserious]

I'm sure your gout is very nasty when it happens.  A friend has it about as badly as you, and he's grounded when an attack happens.  But think of people in the third world - not Belize, the REAL third world - who will be condemned to death because generic drugs they rely on to keep them alive will soon cease to be available.  Aren't there times when unrestricted capitalism is undesirable?

This is not capitalism.  This is corporatism.  Do not confuse the two.

Capitalism would not permit the government to hand pick monopolies.

[rykat]

ds, did you try Allipurinol? I blew out both knees trying to work and walk on gout infested ankles. Attacks were monthly until I started on this stuff and havent had an attack in 2 years. I think its generic but for what I dont know and costs about $15 a month.

[deadserious]

ds, did you try Allipurinol? I blew out both knees trying to work and walk on gout infested ankles. Attacks were monthly until I started on this stuff and havent had an attack in 2 years. I think its generic but for what I dont know and costs about $15 a month.

I also take Allopurinol (daily).  It's not for treating gout attacks though.  It simply lowers Uric Acid, the root cause of gout.  I get fewer attacks when taking Allopurinol, but when I get one, it's still a bad one, and that's when I take Colchicine and Indomethacin.

[rykat]

I know its not for attacks I had to wait 3 weeks till all of the pain was gone before I could take it but I guess I should consider myself lucky that so far it has kept the attacks at bay!
Must say the pain is ferocious. Never had a joint pain for 57 years then all of a sudden--whammo!

[deadserious]

I know its not for attacks I had to wait 3 weeks till all of the pain was gone before I could take it but I guess I should consider myself lucky that so far it has kept the attacks at bay!
Must say the pain is ferocious. Never had a joint pain for 57 years then all of a sudden--whammo!

It hit me suddenly too the first time.  I had previously had Kidney Stones which are also thought to be caused by Uric Acid.  I haven't had them since my first gout attack interestingly enough.  Both are extremely painful, but if I had to pick one, I'd have to pick the stones.

[dave bunk]

Try a Belizean pharmacy, many drugs here can be ordered at much cheaper prices. Also I have ordered drugs online from India while in Belize and had excellent results.