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What Are the Symptoms?

Symptoms usually strike unexpectedly. They typically do not last more than a week, but may recur. Symptoms may include:

• Sudden, intense pain in a joint, typically the big toe or ankle, sometimes the knee, hand or wrist.
• Swelling, inflammation, and a feeling that the joint is very hot.
• Red or purple skin around the joint.
• In extreme cases, alternating chills and fever.
• With recurring attacks, soft fleshy growths may appear — called tophi — which are accumulations of uric acid crystals.

Over time, gout attacks may occur more frequently, involve more joints, have more severe symptoms, and last longer.

Call Your Doctor If:

• Severe pain in a joint recurs or lasts more than a few days, especially if chills or fever accompany the pain. These may be early signs of rheumatoid arthritis or, in rare cases, lead poisoning.
• Symptoms of gout increase or other side effects occur while you are taking allopurinol to reduce uric acid production or colchicine to relieve pain. You may be having a dangerous drug interaction with other medicines.

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