Noticed Pain In Joint Of Ankle. Not Able To Walk. Swelling And Redness Appeared On Knees. Is This Gout?

Posted on Fri, 10 Aug 2012

Question: Last night I noticed a pain in the joint of my ankle that came on instantly. It felt like I just sprained it, but without actually doing it because I was lying down when it happened. I noticed it got worse by the minute as the pain amplified and expanded around the whole ankle and top of foot to the toes. The pain made my foot instantly feel stiff and hard to move, but no visible swelling. I was debilitated and could not step down to walk. The whole process took less than one hour. The next morning there was some slight relief, enough to limp to the bathroom and back to bed and progressively getting better as the day advanced. This same incident occurred 2 years ago but worse, the excruciating pain was in both ankles and knees with extreme swelling and it didn't lessen or go away for a month. The ankles also developed redness on top of the skin wherever the pain had afflicted. Is this gout?

Answered by Dr. Praveen Jadhav (16 hours later)

Hello,

From your description, this presentation is strongly suggestive of gout. It will be interesting to check if these attacks were precipitated by a binge of drinks or a heavy non-veg meal.

The best way to confirm is by checking your uric acid levels.

It will be very unlikely to have any other diagnosis.

Dr Jadhav

Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar