Colchicine Breathing Difficulties

Colchicine Can Cause Breathing Difficulties

A report in Respiratory Care by Tanios and colleagues describes a 54 year old female patient who developed breathing difficulties after long-term use of this particular drug.

The patient was taking 0.6mg colchicine twice daily, along with other medications. She developed breathing problems which made exercise difficult. During the four months she was being examined, her condition deteriorated giving her difficulties with lifting objects and rising from a sitting position. Tests ruled out heart and lung problems.

Further tests revealed acute widespread muscle spasms. In this condition, myotonia, muscles become tense, and this had affected the patient’s respiratory muscles.

Colchicine was discontinued immediately, but other medications continued. Within 3 days the patient started to recover, and she was able to resume normal daily activities in 3 weeks.

The doctors conclude that breathing difficulties are associated with long-term use. In particular they note that:

chronic colchicine toxicity is related to prolonged use rather than drug serum level (in contrast to acute colchicine intoxication).

For gout sufferers, this should never really be an issue. This gout pain relief is prescribed either to relieve the pain from a gout flare, or as a six-month preventative measure (prophylactic) to minimize the effects of allopurinol to lower uric acid. However, this is another colchicine side effect that gout sufferers need to be aware of.