The uric acid crystals that cause gout will have been building up in your joints for years before they cause your first actual attack of gout. You may not even realize that the aches and pains are not just normal aging pains until you have a full blown gout attack.

If people suffer with one or more of these then they usually find they have gout:-

1.When someone touches your joint (usually your big toe) it will feel warm and very tender to the touch. The toe joint will normally be inflamed and painful.

2. No one who hasn't had a gout attack start at bedtime can believe how much pain can come just from the brushing of your partners foot against the infected joint, normally your big toe.

3. If your toe joint feels like it is on fire and that pain goes on for several hours then the chances are you have gout. The pain should start to disperse over the following 2 days although it can take as long as a week to go totally.

4. When the gout attack actually begins to subside then the person finds that the skin around the joint, which is affected, may feel itchy and starts to peel.

Like any illness, gout affects different people in different ways. Some people will recognize all the symptoms mentioned here while others won't recognize any of them, you may only get pain in your elbows for example and none in the big toe joint which we mentioned.

The most common part of the human body where a person is likely to experience gout is the big toe joint. However, some people may develop gout in other joints in their bodies including their feet, ankles, knees, wrists, fingers as well as their elbows.

In a large number of cases a person often suffers from gout symptoms following an illness or after undergoing surgery and these attacks although painful are short lived. However for those who suffer from chronic gout the attacks are far less painful and in some cases may be diagnosed incorrectly. In some cases especially in older people the gout can actually be confused as being some form or arthritis instead. In fact a chronic gout sufferer is unlikely to suffer from the symptoms very closely associated with acute gout.

If you or someone you know starts to have any of the symptoms we have mentioned here it is vital that they go to see a DR. While the initial pain may dissipate after a few days it will come back , and may be much worse the next time, unless they take proper medication.

Tags: time management, personal Development, leadership