Unexplained Joint Pain – Is it Gout?

Gout more often than not first presents in the big toe joint, with the sufferer waking up in the middle of the night with a red, swollen, throbbing and incredibly painful joint. In cases like this a diagnosis of gout is usually quite simple. However this is not the only way gout affects the body and it’s important to be able to recognise other gout symptoms.

My first ever gout attack was indeed a typical attack, and I did have subsequent attacks that presented in exactly the same way.

However at other stages, even though I thought I was gout free, I was suffering other aches and pains that were unexplainable. I found that my ankles seemed to be getting tighter and less flexible. At times they would swell up and sometimes even get hot and red. The pain would usually subside after a week or so, and then they would be fine for weeks or months at a time.

I also experienced stiff and sore elbows, and occasionally bursitis. This was originally dismissed by my doctor as being caused by me having taken a knock on the elbow some time ago and it still being sensitive because of that injury. I also suffered from pain in my fingers, particularly at the top joint.

Because all of these issues seemed so completely unrelated, and the pain would usually go away within a few days, it never occurred to me to link them all together. It also didn’t occur to my doctor, until one day when I saw him with a particularly inflamed elbow. Finally he recognised the gout for what it was.

I guess the point of this article is to warn anyone who has ever had a gout attack to make changes, otherwise you may end up going down the same track I did. In particular you need to change your diet. There are foods that you should be adding to your diet, and there are definitely foods that you should be avoiding – in particular foods that are high in purines.

So, if you have ever had a gout attack, or even if you haven’t but you do have unusual joint pain, please don’t end up doing what I did which was suffering through years of undiagnosed pain, and eventually causing permanent damage.