Gout often causes the big toe joints to wake up in the middle of the night, red, swollen, throbbing, and incredibly painful. In such cases the diagnosis of gout is generally simple. However, this is not the only way gout affects the body and it is important to be able to recognize other symptoms of gout.
The first ever attack of gout became a typical attack, and subsequent attacks presented in exactly the same way.
However, at other times, even though I thought I was free from gout, at other times I suffered from pains that were inexplicable. I found my ankles seemed tighter and less flexible. Sometimes they swell, sometimes they get hot and red. The pain would usually stop after a week or so, and then it would be fine for weeks or months at a time.
I have also experienced hard and sore elbows, sometimes bursitis. This was the first time my doctor let me know that it had been done to me after I had been hit in the elbow a few times and was still sensitive because of that injury. I also suffered from pain in my fingers, especially in the knuckles.
Since all these things seemed so completely foreign, and the pain usually goes away within a few days, it never occurred to me to connect them all. This also did not occur to my doctor until one day I saw him with a singularly inflamed elbow. He finally recognized what gout was.
I guess the point of this article is to remind anyone who has ever had a gout attack to change, otherwise they will end up going down the same path I did. In particular, you should change your diet. There are vegetables to add to your diet, and there are certain foods to watch out for – especially foods high in purines.
So, if you’ve ever had a gout attack, or even if you haven’t, but you have an unusual joint pain, don’t do what I did, who suffered from undiagnosed pain for years, and eventually permanent damage. .
