I began taking indocin for swelling and vicodin for pain. After the 3rd week I was put on allopurinol. Several nights later, I began to get a severe headache which lasted about 12 hrs. I stopped the vicodin, but the pain in my joint has lessened but is still present. Gout is caused by the formation of uric acid crystals in joints and body parts.
Uric acid is accumulated by the breakdown of DNA in the diet and normal breakdown of body cells.
The pain and inflammation of gout are caused by the body's own white cells attacking these crystals as if they were foreign bodies. Conseqently, turning off this attack or inflammatory response is critical to treating gout once it starts. Gout is best treated at the early stages before the inflammatory response gets really turned on. Once white blood cells get turned on, turning them off is very difficult and pain for several weeks is common. This seeks to decrease the DNA in one's diet to reduce the uric acid.