Gout symptoms

In brief

• Pain often peaks quickly — within hours.
• One joint is most common at first; later attacks can involve more joints.
• The skin over the joint may look shiny, red, or purple and feel very tender to touch.

A typical attack

• Sudden severe pain in a joint, often the big toe
• Swelling, redness, and warmth over the joint
• Pain that makes walking, shoes, or light touch difficult
• Symptoms that improve over days to weeks, sometimes faster with medicine

Other signs

Some people develop tophi: firm, chalky nodules under the skin from long-standing high uric acid. They can appear on fingers, toes, elbows, ears, or heels.

Kidney stones can also occur in people with high uric acid. Tell your clinician if you have flank pain, blood in urine, or known stone disease.