Indomethacin for Gout
An effective treatment for gout includes management of pain during acute gout attacks and prevention of future attacks. One of the most commonly prescribed medications for gout pain is non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAID’s. They include common pain medicines such as ibuprofen, aspirin and naproxen. Another commonly prescribed NSAID is Indomethacin for gout pain.
Indomethacin is used to treat fever, stiffness, pain and swelling in such arthritis-like conditions as gout, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and many others. It works by inhibiting the hormones that produce swelling and pain in the body. Indomethacin is sold under different brand names and formulations. Common brand names include Indocin, Indocid, Indochron E-R and Indocin S-R. It is available as 25 to 500mg tablets or capsules, 50 to 100mg suppositories, 75mg modified-release capsules, 25mg/5ml syrup and even as 1% topical gel.
Gout patients that are not hypersensitive to NSAID’s use Indomethacin for gout pain as a first-line of defense. They claim that it relieves pain fast, at the average of within 2 to 7 days. This anti-inflammatory and analgesic property of Indomethacin proven in clinical trials is in fact similar to that of Colchicine, another commonly prescribed gout medication.
Indomethacin for Gout – Recommended Dosage
The recommended dosage for treatment of gout symptoms is usually 3 times daily, 50 mg each until the pain is bearable. Gout patients often experience relief from pain in as early as 2 to 4 hours after taking Indomethacin. Joint tenderness and heat usually eases after two days while swelling slowly disappears in 3 to 5 days.
Indomethacin – Side effects
Like other NSAID’s, Indomethacin can have adverse side-effects to the stomach. Its most reported side-effect is upset stomach but other prolonged stomach-related side-effects such as constipation, diarrhea, stomach pain and vomiting have been known to occur. It can also cause peptic ulcers such that people taking Indomethacin in large doses and for prolonged periods of time are often prescribed ulcer protective drugs. Other serious contraindications include history of liver and kidney disease, heart disease, bleeding or clotting disorder, nose polyps and many more.
These serious side-effects make it imperative not to adjust dosage (especially to higher dose) without specific instructions from the doctor. A known allergy to any NSAID should also preclude Indomethacin as a pain medication for gout. As with any gout pain medication, Indomethacin does not solve the underlying cause of gout which is high uric acid. Getting rid of the pain with NSAID or any other gout pain medication is just one part of an effective gout treatment. At the height of an acute and debilitating gout attack, pain treatment can seem like the sole focus of treating gout but the more important thing should to be to lower uric acid and prevent gout attacks.