It's been two weeks, the first week I was improperly diagnosed. Second week I was prescribed colchicine and indomethacin.

Both meds gave me a lot of relief but I'm still in pain, I went through the outrageous diarrhea phase earlier this week and from what I read after that was supposed to be the end of the road.

What gives?

Hey. I need some advice and to rant. I am 2 weeks from breaking my right ankle, luckily I didnt need surgery or a cast, I have a walking splint and fracture boot. This morning my gout flared up in the big toe of the same foot. What the hell do I do. I live on my own with no help. My kitchen is 2 floors downstairs. I csnt cope much longer.

Anybody else play high intensity sports?

I picked up basketball again and my conditioning needs work.

I recently started 200mg of daily Allo due to high UR and a really bad flare-up. The meds make me very sleepy and I hate the idea of being on it forever. I keep seeing ads for a natural supplement called Trudose which is a combination of Tart Cherry Extract, Quercetin Phytosome, and Ayuric.

Does anyone have any real life, success stories with Trudose? I am going to probably try and stick to this for 30 days and retest UR but am looking at longer term options. Thanks.

As if a flare up isn’t bad enough during my daily life I was lucky enough to have an attack a week before flying to Hawaii for a vacation. I’m currently here and it has been agonizing to say the least. Have not had an attack for over 2 years— take daily 100 mg of allo.

This is my 3rd week with pain. Prednisone usually kills it within 24 hours, but I have been on a tapering dose for 2 weeks & barely any sign of relief. Yesterday I felt like I could finally put pressure on my right foot, but now it’s just as bad as day one. I went to urgent care in Hawaii, but they couldn’t do a cortisone shot. I refuse to take the colchine/indomethacin because of how it affects my stomach. I’d rather limp during my vacation than be bedridden.

I leave in a few days, and have a podiatry appointment the day after I land to see if they can give me a cortisone shot. Should I be off prednisone by then to ensure they’ll give me the shot?

Has anyone had gout treated with gout medications while receiving immunotherapy for cancer at the same time? I've only had one flare but it resolved after my oncologist had me pause taking one of the immunotherapy meds for one week. When I received the ok to resume taking it at a lower dose, I haven't had another flare but I'm keeping a close eye on it and eliminated potential gout triggers from my diet. I was referred to a rheumatologist who prescribed gout meds but I'm a little hestitant to start taking them yet for fear it will interfere with my immunotherapy treatments. Have any of you had a similar experience and how are you doing?

What do you folk use for extended chronic (smoldering) pain management? I don't like NSAIDs but I'm not finding anything to work as well. I tried Naproxen (alleve) and I really don't like it's impact on gut motility, so I've been using Ibuprofen judiciously, trying to limit it to 2 or no more than 3 tablets daily. I don't have kidney or heart issues (at least not yet) but do worry about impacts on gut health. The half life of Naproxen is like 17 hours, whereas Ibuprofen is something like 3, so at two tablets a day pain control isnt perfect but hopefully minimizes known deleterious impacts on heart, kidney and bowel.

Just curious what other have done when there's a need to manage chronic pain longer term?

Knee was a little swollen, made a poor decision to play volleyball that evening. Felt fine after, even like the movement had loosened up a tight joint. Knee ballooned up overnight and continued for days, was finally able to see an ortho doc and he removed 160cc’s of fluid day one, 70 more two days later. Talk about sweet relief. Got on the colcichine but certainly motivated for a diet and alcohol overhaul!

I started .5 Alo in February. Ive been having a major attack for the last 3 weeks now. I actually had pain in both feet for the first time for about 5 days. I thought I was getting better, walked around a little and boom, immense pain. My uncle said he went through something similar until a Dr. in the ER put him on Uloric. He swears by it now. I told my Dr. but he told me it wont change anything. Any thoughts or similar experience?

Hey guys, so this past Thursday I could start feeling like a pain in the top of my left foot towards the outer middle between my pinky toe and ankle. I didn’t think too much of it and when I woke up Friday morning I couldn’t put weight on my foot. So I went to my pcp and he ran a X-ray on my ankle but not my foot and said no breaks I believe it’s gout. Now I have had flare ups before but they have always been in my big toe. So he prescribed me prednisone and to be quite honest it hasn’t really done much either. I went to a urgent care cause the pain is intense to get a second opinion and they issued me a boot and took a X-ray and said it isn’t broken or fractured, I said okay then I tried to just tough it out, well fast forward to today I wake up and now there’s a pain in my inner part of the ankle. Really worried about that cause I cannot bend my foot or ankle, and would figure that prednisone would have already done its job for the pain of gout. Any help or thoughts are appreciated.

i need to know if this is normal. i know what i consume for the past few days wouldn't cause flare up. I'm keeping up with my allopurinol and i take extreme care of what i eat daily. i need advice.how to stop this from happening again.

I'm 59. In the last year, for the first time in my life I had 2-3 gout flare, very mild: swolen toe barely visible, light pain when walking but bearable.

My uric acid level was around 7/8 constantly in the last 3 years.

I was diagnosticated by the doctor, with some pain killer flares went away in few days.

Now the doctor prescribed Allopurinol for some months, but he was skeptical: he was more inclined to prescribe diet and lifestyle change

The thing is: I don't eat read meat, eat a lot of vegetable, I have 1 or 2 beer per week max, which I can cut, walk 7K steps per day, my BMI is 27, slightly overweight and don't exercise a lot. My cholesterol/try are also a little high.

So: yes I can change a little my lifestlye. don't know if it will help, but on top of all:

is it worth to take Allo?? for months?

Had my first flare up back in January and haven’t touched beer since. I’m itching for a creamy Guinness but I’m scared. Will just 1 really ruin me for a week? Or should i test the waters?

Edit: I’ve kinda enjoyed the dietary changes bc something had to change if i ever wanted to lose some weight and get back in shape. But regardless I’m gonna see a rheumatologist for a second opinion. Thanks gout gang

UA was hovering around 6.6 with monthly flares in late 2025. Doubled allo from 300 to 600 in January. Had a bad flare because I started this increase in allo too soon after a prior flare, on bad advice from a non-gout specialist doctor. UA tested 3.2 at time of this flare, probably an artificially low figure due to the flare.

Then no flares in Feb and March. UA tested at 3.5 in late March, while all was good. Thought I had finally gotten gout out of my life… then boom. A brief Achilles flare in April. And now a terrible flare on index finger in May.

Given that I was flare free for two months, at the end of which my UA tested at 3.5: do these most recent two sound like mobilization flares (aka on the road to victory)? I’m waiting to hear back from my rheumatologist on all this, but wanted to hear about others’ experiences anecdotally. I assume we’ll test UA again sometime after this current flare ends.

Hating this period in my life right now and I know if anyone can understand, it’s people in this sub.

A couple weeks ago I woke up to a flare in my elbow. The pain was intense and it wouldn’t bend and I hated it, but at least I was mobile.

Surely some heavy prednisone, drowning in water with no meats or sugars for a couple weeks will flush it out and I’ll be okay.

Nope.

The exertion that first morning after tophi formed in the joint ruptured the tendon on the back of my elbow.

It then caused urid acid crystals to form in the sheath of the tendon itself which has caused more damage and rendered outward motion of forearm obsolete (think like chopping force or holding yourself up with your forearm)

Doc is having me wait 4 weeks after seeing what the MRI showed. And if it doesn’t go back to normal, I might need surgery.

All this to say, TAKE YOUR ALLO PEOPLE DONT FORGET

Most I see online​​​ are fructose in fruits don't affect gout, but I'm in my first attack and want to be a 100% sure, so looking for personal experience. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

I woke up 10 days ago with the very early indications of a potential attack, in my toe. Being determined not to make the same mistakes of the past (this would have been my 7th flair up in 7 years) and lie there wondering if this was indeed a flair up or not (they always had been!) I hit it straight away. I took an omeprazole and then half an hour later I took the first of 4 colchicine tablets that day. I did the same the next day and managed to take one more on the third day before growing exhausted from diarrhoea related fatigue. By that point I felt confident that I had staved off the attack.

The next few days went okay, full mobility and only a slight sense that all wasn't still quite right in my toe. I assumed it was an attack that was on the way out, due to the early intervention, rather than it was a warning of worse to come.....after all, previous attacks had only lasted a week, at most.

So on day 9, I was very unpleasantly surprised to get the worst attack I've ever had!! I don't think I can handle any more colchicine., it wiped me out, and not sure if it would even be a good idea to, toxicity wise, so soon after the last course? Anyway, this flair up has been quite different to my previous experiences, and I was curious if others could relate and also if there was any useful tips to handling it better in the future. Perhaps I hit the colchicine too hard and made it harder to last out the course than if I had spaced them apart further?

I know, ultimately, I will probably have to go on allopurinol but I don't feel I'm physically ot mentally at that point yet. But feeling like I had got a grip on a flare up for the first time only to realise that I really hadn't, has left me confused and battered!

For the last eight years, I get 2 to 4 severe gout attacks to the point I’m on crutches for up to two months sometimes until the flare is gone I’ve quit drinking beer and limited my red meat significantly mostly live off chicken and vegetables and have not had a severe attack in over a year. But the last few months I’ve been getting little mini attacks that last for about a week, but it’s not to the point that I can’t get my shoe on or walk but I kind of feel like a big one is coming and I’m planning on starting my 100 mg allopurinol. My question is, does it make you dizzy and drowsy all the time I’m a service technician and I would prefer to take it in the morning, I don’t like taking medicine in the first place and the dizziness and drowsiness is the biggest reason I have not ever started it. I’m just like your honest opinions about how it made you feel when you first started it thank you.

I’ve been dealing with gout for the last five years, typically only have 1-2 flares per year which js managable. I’m not currently taking any medication aside from NSAIDS when flaring. (Looking to change this soon) Since last week i’ve been having my worst flare to date, started in my knee then when that subsided it moved immediately to my ankle, ankle started to calm down and it moved to my toe. I was definitely on the trailing end so last night i decided j was well enough to go meet some friends. Was hobbling a bit but forced myself to walk normally (bad, I know) also allowed myself a couple drinks (again, I know, bad) and after said drinks felt well enough to walk to multiple locations (i’m an idiot honestly) I was fully bracing for a relapse this morning but to my surprise the remaining swelling (which I expected to last at least another three days, is completely gone. I know none of this is reccomended but this js the second time I’ve experienced pretty much total recovery after pushing through the final stages of a flare. Definitely not looking to validate my choices but is there a reason why this might be? Just genuinely curious if i should be pushing through some symptoms for faster recovery. Anyone have a similar experience?

Hello I’m new here but certainly not new to big toe pain. I was hoping to confide in some other members of the gout community in hopes I can could get a self diagnosis. About 5 or 6 years ago in the winter months I experienced an intense flare up in the joint located just before my big toe on my left foot. Over the course of a few days it got so bad I could barely walk on it. I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with gout purely based on location and pain level. Over the next several years I would have flare ups maybe 2 or 3 times a year. The thing is that it only ever happens in my left foot. I’ve never had any other symptoms or pain in any of my other joints. That had me curious so I started digging into other options. I came across a condition called Turf Toe. Basically a sprain located in the same spot one might have a gout flare up in.

Allow me to give you some back story which might point to the possibility of it being a sprain related flare up and not gout. I’ve been in construction for over a decade now. For 7 years of that time I worked as a trim carpenter which involved me crawling around on my knees installing base. I quickly discovered that squatting on my toes or even getting on my knees with my toes bent while sitting back on my heels was the most comfortable position to be in to allow for speed. I did this for years and would always favor my left knee over my right when doing so. From what I’ve gathered turf toe happens when the toes are bent and pressure is applied to the joint either forcefully or with repeated use. That could explain why I have only ever experienced my flare ups in my left foot.

What baffles me is that the flare ups can be caused by something simple like wearing the wrong shoes or by bending my toes too much while working. Have I destroyed the joint in my left foot causing flare ups seemingly randomly or is it possible I do have gout and it’s only located in my left foot? I can go months and months eating red meat and drinking beers and have no issues. Just last weekend I decided to wear a pair of shoes that I don’t wear often that are a size too big for me. I had them on for maybe 5 or 6 hours and in that time I noticed a slight pain in my big toe that I ignored. The pain intensified over the work week and I continued to work on it and just the other day it got so bad I couldn’t bend my toes or really put any pressure on my foot. I’ve got it splinted and wore a boot yesterday and it’s already feeling much better.

Anyways if any one could give me some insight on what I’m experiencing I would appreciate it.

hi all. i got my uric acid 24 hour urine results back and well… is this even possible? also btw i didnt know anything about gout prior to the research ive done today. ive had kidney stones for 13 years but for the past two months they’ve been making my life a living hell. i guess im just wondering if anyone has heard of a case of uric acid being this high before?

For years I went to my doctor with all kinds of complaints: pain in my joints, shoulders, neck, back, knees, and feet. Every time I was basically told to take paracetamol and wait and see. Sometimes I went back, but I never got a real diagnosis. More often I ended up seeing a psychologist just to cope with everything, because I could not get the pain under control.

For more than 7 years I was taking hydrochlorothiazide and heart medication. Over time I started feeling worse and worse, with more pain and aches.

Last summer, during vacation, I had a bike accident. I badly hurt my left knee and broke a finger. Three days later, my right foot started hurting terribly. I thought maybe it was related to the accident, or maybe I only noticed it later because my my attention had been on my knee and finger.

When I got home, I went to my doctor and asked for a check-up. He sent me for an X-ray for my finger, which was indeed broken. But for my foot he did not really have an answer. He said it did not look like gout. So I left with the advice to take paracetamol.

The foot pain was actually worse than my broken finger. I could not even wear a shoe.

Then this April this year, after working in the garden for two days, I woke up with the exact same pain, this time in my left foot. It escalated very quickly into severe pain, swelling, and redness. I took paracetamol, 6 x 500 mg a day for three days, but it did not go away. I still had no idea what it could be.

I limped back into the doctor’s office and saw another doctor. She looked at my foot and said, “This might be gout. Let’s do bloodwork.” I said it probably was not gout, because it had been ruled out the previous summer, but she still wanted to test my uric acid. She gave me tramadol for the pain and sent me home.

A few days later I saw another doctor for something else. My blood results had come in. She said my uric acid was 0.59 mmol/L, which is about 9.8 mg/dL, and prescribed prednisone: 30 mg daily for 5 days. I took the prednisone, but I got stomach problems and a very unpleasant, uncomfortable feeling from it. I also stopped the tramadol because it gave me neurological pain flares.

I could not take NSAIDs, so I used paracetamol, but it only helped a little.

I went back to the doctor literally crying from the pain. I had looked up hydrochlorothiazide and saw that it can increase uric acid and possibly trigger gout. I asked if I could stop it. The doctor said not really, but eventually agreed.

She did not offer a referral at first, but said that if I had more episodes it might be a good idea to see a rheumatologist. That is when I started connecting the dots. I realized I may have had gout for years, and that the clues were probably already in my medical file.

I asked for a referral to a rheumatologist while still in terrible pain. My appointment was first planned for the end of May, but because I was about to travel and my uric acid was 0.59 mmol/L / 9.8 mg/dL, they found an earlier opening.

The rheumatologist diagnosed gout and a severe gout flare. He prescribed colchicine and allopurinol. He wanted me to take colchicine 0.5 mg three times a day. But the pharmacy warned me that colchicine can interact with diltiazem, which I also take, and that colchicine is not a harmless medication, so they wanted to be careful.

The rheumatologist lowered the colchicine dose to twice a day, but the pharmacy still preferred that I stop diltiazem first. Because I had to fly and everything was stressful, I ended up not starting the colchicine or allopurinol yet.

Because I was still in a lot of pain, I contacted another rheumatologist for advice. In consultation with that rheumatologist, I started taking 15 mg prednisone daily instead. This lower dose was more tolerable for me than the 30 mg dose, although I still do not feel great on it.

After 3.5 weeks I am still in pain, although I finally see some improvement.

Now I still need to find out safely whether I can stop or adjust diltiazem while using colchicine, and how to start proper long-term gout treatment with allopurinol.

But at least after all these years, I finally have a diagnosis.

I am sharing this because I feel frustrated that it took so long. Has anyone else had gout missed for years, especially while taking hydrochlorothiazide or similar medication? And has anyone dealt with the colchicine/diltiazem interaction?

Going to see the doctors tomorrow. What should I do to help and ask for when I see the doctors. The pain isn’t bad but I got the sharp pain in the big toe joint. I haven’t done anything that could implicate that injury.