What Are Common Gout Symptoms?
Gout is a type of arthritis that causes swelling and pain in your joints. You'll often have flares for a while that then go away. It happens when you have too much uric acid, or urate, in your blood. When you make too much urate or don't get rid of it fast enough, it can form sharp crystals in and around one or more of your joints.
Most gout cases happen in big toes. It usually affects only one joint at a time. But without treatment, you might end up getting it in your knees, ankles, feet, hands, wrists, or elbows. Flare-ups can last up to 10 days. They hurt the most during the first 36 hours.
Gout can affect many parts of your body, including:
- Joints
- Cushion-like sacs between your bones or soft tissues (bursae)
- Membranes around your tendons (tendon sheaths)
- Kidneys
Gout Stages and Their Symptoms
Gout has several stages. Your symptoms can vary a lot over time. Gout stages include:
Hyperuricemia. Your urate levels will be high. You may have crystals in your joints, too, but you won't notice any pain, swelling, or other symptoms. Not everyone with high urate levels will get gout symptoms.
Flares. You'll have episodes of intense joint pain and swelling that can last a few days.
Interval or intercritical gout. After a flare and before the next one, you'll have times when you don't notice gout symptoms.
Tophi. The crystals that cause your joint pain will have built up in your skin and other parts of your body. Depending on where they are, you may have lasting damage to your joints. You may also have damage to internal organs, including your kidneys.
Symptoms of a gout attack
The most common signs of a gout attack include:
- Sudden and severe pain, usually in the middle of the night or early morning
- Tenderness; the joint can also be warm to the touch and look red or purple
- Stiffness
- Swelling
How to control gout symptoms
If you have an attack of gout, call your doctor as soon as possible. Until your appointment, you can ice and elevate the joint, and take anti-inflammatory drugs such as naproxen and ibuprofen. Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Stay away from alcohol or sweet drinks.
Compared to other types of arthritis, gout and its symptoms are easily controlled. By seeing your doctor for treatment and making changes to your lifestyle, you may be able to keep your gout from flaring. Your habits can help you keep your symptoms from getting worse. You may even be able to get rid of gout.
Treatments to ease gout symptoms
One of the goals of gout treatment is to lower your pain and prevent you from having another flare. There's a lot you can do to help reduce flares and their symptoms. Your doctor may suggest taking over-the-counter pain relievers. You may also try prescription medicines to lower inflammation or colchicine to relieve your pain. Steroids can help with inflammation and pain, but you shouldn't take them more than you need to for relief. Treatments to help with your gout and its symptoms will work best if you take them right away when you start to notice symptoms.
Early-stage gout symptoms
Your gout symptoms are most likely to start in your big toe. They also could be in your lower leg or other joints. When your gout flares, don't be surprised if it happens all of a sudden at night. You may get pain that's so intense it wakes you up from sleeping. Your joint may feel swollen or warm to the touch. It may also look red.
Why flares happen
Usually, you'll have a flare in one joint. You may have triggered it by:
- Eating certain foods
- Drinking alcohol
- Taking certain medicines
Sometimes, your gout and its symptoms will flare after you've had some kind of physical trauma or injury. You also could have this happen if you've been sick.
Most of the time when your symptoms flare up, it will get better after a week or two. After it's over, you may not have any symptoms until the next flare. You may have flares often. Or, you could have a flare and then not have another one for years. Over time, if you don't treat the gout or make changes in your lifestyle to avoid triggers, you'll likely start to have symptoms more often. Your flares and related symptoms may also last longer.
Gout symptoms in the toe, foot, knee, or ankle
Gout pain often starts in one joint. Your toe, foot, knee, or ankle are the most common spots to feel it. You may feel like it's throbbing or crushing. People often describe the pain as excruciating. Your affected joint may be tender. It might even hurt to pull a sheet or blanket over it.
Gout symptoms in the spine
Gout doesn't usually affect the spine. Spinal gout is considered a rare form of gout. When gout affects the spine, you'll have back and neck pain. You may have other symptoms including:
- Weakness
- Numbness
- Inability to control your bladder or bowels
- Fever
Spinal gout can be hard to diagnose because it's rare. It also tends to come with back pain and neurological symptoms that aren't specific. If you think you may have spinal symptoms of gout, see your doctor.
Late-stage gout symptoms
If you go a long time without treatment, the crystals can form lumps under the skin around your joint. These lumps are called tophi. They don’t hurt at first, but they can affect the way your joint looks. Over time, tophi also can cause you pain. You could have damage in your bones and soft tissues. Your joints may take on an abnormal shape.
If the crystals collect in your urinary tract, they can form kidney stones. Symptoms of kidney stones include:
- Pain in your belly or side of your back
- Pain in your groin, testicles, or labia
- Changes in the color of your pee
- Blood in your pee
- Chills or fever
- Nausea
- Vomiting
Gout complications and related conditions
When you have gout, you're more likely to get other health conditions. You may have other complications that affect other parts of your body to cause symptoms. It's especially likely to have conditions affecting your heart or kidneys. Other conditions that may go along with gout include:
- High blood pressure
- Chronic kidney disease
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Kidney stones
- Heart attack
- Congestive heart failure
If you have gout and signs of other health problems, see your doctor for help. Ask if your other conditions may be related to your gout and what steps you can take to feel better.
Takeaways
Gout is a type of arthritis that causes pain in your joints from crystals that form in them. It happens when your urate levels are too high. You may have extreme pain at times and then periods without any symptoms. The good news is that there's a lot you can do to keep your gout and its symptoms from flaring or even make it go away for good. If you have gout pain, swelling, or other symptoms, see your doctor. Gout symptoms are easiest to treat early.
Gout Symptoms FAQ
What are the first signs of having gout?
Gout usually starts in the big toe, but it also can start in other joints, especially your lower legs or knee. You may first notice it at night.
Does walking on gout foot make things worse?
If you have an active flare, it's a good time to rest and raise the affected foot or joint. When you have a flare, walking can hurt a lot. You can take steps to put less pressure on your joints by using a cane or another walking aid. After a flare, it's a good idea to get back into walking and exercising. Exercise can help you maintain your health and keep your joints healthy, but start back gradually after a flare.
How long can gout symptoms last?
Gout flares don't usually last more than a couple of weeks. After a flare, you may have periods when you don't have any symptoms. You could go for months to years between attacks. But it's also possible for gout to become more chronic. If you don't treat your gout or take steps to prevent it from getting worse, you could have pain and other symptoms more often or even most of the time.
What are pseudogout symptoms?
Pseudogout, or "false gout", is another type of arthritis. Like gout, it can cause sudden pain and swelling or flares. Pseudogout gets its name because it can look like gout but isn't related to crystals from high urate levels. It happens from another type of crystal made of calcium pyrophosphate. While gout is usually in the big toe and other joints in your lower legs, pseudogout can happen anywhere in your body. It happens mostly in the knees, hands, wrists, shoulders, hips, elbows, and ankles. Pseudogout is also known by other names, including calcium pyrophosphate deposition (CPPD), calcium pyrophosphate arthritis, or chondrocalcinosis.
