Arthritis Health Center

Gout usually develops after a number of years of buildup of uric acid crystals in the joints and surrounding tissues. Symptoms include:

• Warmth, pain, swelling, and extreme tenderness in a joint, usually a big toe joint . This symptom is called podagra. Symptoms sometimes start in a different joint, such as the ankle or knee.
• Pain that starts during the night and is so intense that even light pressure from a sheet is intolerable.
• Rapid increase in discomfort, lasting for some hours of the night and then easing during the next few days.
• As the gout attack subsides, the skin around the affected joint may peel and feel itchy.

Other symptoms may include:

• Very red or purplish skin around the affected joint, which may appear to be infected.
• Limited movement in the affected joint.

Symptoms of gout vary.

• Symptoms may occur after an illness or surgery.
• Some people may not experience gout as many painful attacks but rather develop chronic gout. Chronic gout in older adults may be less painful and can be confused with other forms of arthritis.
• Gout may first appear as nodules (tophi) on the hands, elbows, or ears. There may be no classic symptoms of a gout attack.

By the time you have the symptoms of a gout attack, uric acid has been building up in your blood, and uric acid deposits have been forming on one or more of your joints.

The big toe joint is most commonly affected. But the joints of the feet, ankles, knees, wrists, fingers, and elbows may also be involved. Inflammation of the fluid sacs (bursae) that cushion tissues may occur, particularly in the elbow (olecranon bursitis) and knee (prepatellar bursitis).

There are many other conditions with symptoms similar to gout.