A gout attack strikes when you least expected it, that is to say at night. When you are sleeping peacefully, you suddenly feel some tenderness in the large joint of your big toe. That is a gout flare. That area suddenly becomes swollen, red and extremely painful. You might also develop a fever when suffering from a gout flare. The next 24 hours will also be very painful when having a gout.

When suffering from a gout, there are more factors of risk involved. However, one of those factors is the head of the list when talking about a gout attack. Elevated uric acid levels in your blood, also know as hyperuricemia is the main risk in a gout. All people who suffer from this condition are predisposed to having a gout flare. As your levels of acid rise in your blood, so does the risk of having a gout attack. Furthermore, this gout flare is very unpredictable. No one can say for sure when you are likely to have a gout attack. However, there are some factors that are thought to trigger the gout flare. Certain medicines, alcohol, stress and some other medical problems that you might suffer from may trigger a gout. Even if such factors are thought to be the ones responsible for a gout attack, there are many times that neither you nor your doctor can say for sure what was the cause of your gout flare. To predict the time of the chances of you having a gout attack can be done. This is not quite certain,

but it may give you an idea. all you have to do is visit your doctor and have your levels of uric acid measured. This is the way to predict if you are likely to suffer from a gout attack in the future or not.

You can have your gout treated, but it does not make any difference when it come to symptoms. The gout symptoms will actually go away in about one week, even if you do not treat your gout signs. Furthermore, there is always the chance that you will not suffer from another gout flare again. However, if you do suffer from other gout flares, this do not look so good for you. As time passes, the gout attacks become more painful. There is also the risk that if suffering from more than one gout attack, the duration of the attacks increases with time.

Almost ninety percent of all gout patients, suffer from flares in the big toe. However, gout attacks may happen in other joints, like the knee, fingers, wrist. The gout signs are the same no matter the location of the attack.