Gout diagnosis & treatment in Bhubaneswar
Gout is a type of inflammatory arthritis caused by excess uric acid in the bloodstream — needle-like urate crystals deposit in the joints, causing sudden, severe pain, swelling and redness.
What is gout?
a crystal arthritis
Gout is a condition which affects the joints, causing severe pain, swelling and redness.
- The joint pain usually comes on very suddenly, causing difficulty in walking and doing day-to-day activities.
- The painful episode may last for five to ten days.
- To start with, it usually affects one joint — but sometimes a number of joints can be involved, which is known as polyarticular gout.
- Although it can affect any joint in the lower limb, the most common joints affected are the joint at the bottom of the big toe, the foot (small joints in the middle of the foot), the ankle, the knee etc.
Watch: OARC explains gout and uric acid (opens YouTube)
Signs & symptoms
what a gout attack feels like
- Gout usually occurs in attacks. The attacks may be compared with episodes of a tsunami — they come very suddenly, are very painful, and go away after one to two weeks very quietly. An attack typically develops quickly over a few hours.
- It usually causes severe pain in one of the joints of the lower limb, very often the great toe. The base of the big toe is the most commonly affected joint.
- The pain is so severe that even the weight of bedclothes can hurt, and walking can be very painful. Sometimes a doctor may mistakenly think this is a fracture or a sprain.
- Sometimes it can affect two or more joints. Affected joints usually swell and the nearby skin may look red and hot (inflamed).
- Untreated, a gout attack may last several days but usually goes away completely within 10 days.
- Less severe attacks can occur which may be mistaken at first for other forms of arthritis. Weeks, months or even years may go by between attacks.
Watch: more on gout from OARC (opens YouTube)
Watch in Odia / ଓଡ଼ିଆରେ ଦେଖନ୍ତୁ
Watch: How to cure gout — explained in Odia by Dr Jyoti Ranjan Parida (opens YouTube)
Sudden, severe pain at the base of your big toe? See a rheumatologist early — repeated attacks and long-lasting gout can progressively damage the joint.
Book AppointmentWhat causes
gout?
- Gout is a disease of disordered uric acid metabolism. When uric acid is produced in excess, or is unable to get excreted in urine, it gets deposited in the body — and needle-like urate crystals deposit in the joints. These urate crystals cause inflammation of the joints, causing joint pain.
- Certain non-vegetarian foods may raise uric acid levels and lead to gout attacks. Shellfish, gravies, red meat, soups and organ meats such as liver are high in purines.
- Taking alcohol in excess, or sugary drinks and foods that are high in fructose, may precipitate gout attacks.
- Some medications have the potential of increasing the uric acid level, so they have to be avoided in gout patients. They include certain diuretics (“water pills”) such as hydrochlorothiazide, which is also used in the treatment of blood pressure, and immunosuppressants used in organ transplants such as cyclosporine and tacrolimus.
- Uric acid can also deposit in the urinary tract, causing kidney stones, or in the kidney, causing renal failure.
Gout
at a glance
Gout very typically affects the joint at the base of the great toe, and the attacks often occur without warning in the middle of the night — the symptoms come from uric acid crystals forming in the joints and the body’s response to them.
Most gout cases are treated with specific medications.
How gout
is diagnosed
The attacks of joint pain are so typical in gout that it can be diagnosed correctly from the patient’s history in 95% of cases — tests are usually done in doubtful cases or to monitor treatment.
The attacks or episodes of joint pain are so typical in gout that it can be diagnosed from the patient’s history correctly in 95% of cases. Some tests are usually done in doubtful cases or to monitor treatment.
In doubtful cases, a needle may be put into the joint to take off some fluid, which is examined under a microscope for evidence of urate crystals in the fluid.
X-rays of the joints can sometimes show up changes that would suggest gout. Nowadays, ultrasound of the joints is used to detect these uric acid crystals before they cause damage and get picked up on the X-ray.
The blood level of uric acid usually helps to monitor treatment response. Blood tests are also done to find out associated conditions like kidney disease, heart disease, high cholesterol levels etc.
How gout
is treated
Easing an acute attack
During an acute attack, raise the affected limb (usually a leg) to help reduce the swelling — for example, by reclining on a sofa with your leg up on a cushion. An ice pack (or a pack of frozen peas) applied to the inflamed joint may ease the pain until the gout treatment medicines below start to work.
Anti-inflammatory medicines
The initial attack of gout can be controlled with painkillers or anti-inflammatory tablets like naproxen or indomethacin. These medicines have to be taken with a gastric-protection medicine, as they can cause gastritis.
Steroids & joint injections
If there is kidney failure, steroids such as prednisolone may be tried by your physician. An injection of a steroid preparation into the joint may be very relieving if there is fluid in the joint causing severe pain.
Preventing future attacks
Your doctor will start you on a tablet called colchicine to prevent future attacks of gout. A number of tablets are available to decrease the blood uric acid level, which are called hypouricaemic drugs — the commonly used drugs are allopurinol and febuxostat. These work by lowering the levels of urate in the blood. Once the urate falls beneath a certain level, the frequency of attacks should reduce or stop altogether. The treatment dose will be increased until a satisfactory level of blood urate is achieved.
Do not stop treatment on your own
Do NOT stop urate-lowering treatment unless you are told to by your doctor. If the treatment is stopped without doctor consultation, the urate levels are likely to rise and gout will come back. Side effects are rare but include rash, headache and nausea — if you get any of these, stop the tablet and seek advice from your doctor immediately.
How OARC Can Help?
At OARC, we offer holistic care to patients suffering from all kinds of arthritis and autoimmune diseases by our renowned rheumatologists. Because of the chronic nature of the disease, we spend time with the patient helping them to know about their disease, and demystify the myths regarding the disease and treatment. We have collaboration with an NABL accredited laboratory where all kinds of blood tests can be done at reasonable costs. We also have a patient support system which patients can approach in case of any emergency. We believe in a friendly relation with patients so that they can share all their sufferings and get the best possible treatment.
- Best doctors to treat
- State-of-the-art clinic
- All facilities available under one roof
- NABL accredited laboratory
- Same-day test results
- Convenient location
Learn about gout
from Dr Parida
What is Gout — Dr Jyoti Ranjan Parida
ଗାଉଟ ଭଲ କରିବା ଉପାୟ — Dr Parida (Odia)
How we keep gout
in remission
Modern gout care treats to a number, not just to symptoms: a blood uric acid level below 6 mg/dL for most patients, and below 5 mg/dL when tophi are present, because crystals only dissolve when levels stay reliably under these thresholds. Dr. Jyoti Ranjan Parida follows a steady process:
Urate-lowering therapy begins gently and is increased step by step to stay safe and well tolerated.
Uric acid is rechecked regularly, in collaboration with an NABL-accredited laboratory, until you reach target.
Short-term preventive treatment cushions the first months.
Reviews then stretch to every few months; stopping treatment lets uric acid rebound.
Because gout often travels with high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney and heart disease, every plan works around your other conditions and medicines. Explore the conditions we treat, or book an appointment to start your treat-to-target plan with Dr. Parida.
What happens if gout
is left untreated?
- In the initial stage, a sudden-onset attack of gout usually resolves within 3–10 days.
- About 60 per cent of patients who have one acute attack will have another acute attack within the following year.
- Repeated acute attacks and long-lasting (chronic) gout may lead to progressive damage of the joint, causing severe bone deformity and joint damage.
- Besides the joints, persistence of a high serum uric acid level in the body may cause kidney stones, kidney failure and a high risk of heart disease.
Questions to ask your doctor
- What is my target uric acid level, and how often will it be checked?
- Which urate-lowering drug is right for me — allopurinol or febuxostat?
- Do any of my current medicines raise my uric acid level?
- What should I do at the first sign of an attack?
- Which foods and drinks should I limit to help prevent attacks?
Gout FAQs
answered by our specialists
Dr. Jyoti Ranjan Parida, our lead rheumatologist and gout specialist at OARC, answers the questions patients ask most often.
Meet your gout specialist
Dr. Jyoti Ranjan Parida
Dr. Jyoti Ranjan Parida
Dr. Jyoti Ranjan Parida is a specialist rheumatologist at OARC (Odisha Arthritis & Rheumatology Centre), Bhubaneswar, with dedicated expertise in gout, hyperuricaemia and uric acid management. He provides personalised treatment plans — combining urate-lowering therapy, dietary counselling and long-term monitoring — to help patients achieve sustained remission from gout attacks. As an experienced uric acid specialist in Odisha, Dr. Parida uses evidence-based protocols to manage both acute gout flares and chronic tophaceous gout, ensuring comprehensive joint protection for every patient. He practises alongside founder Dr. Jyoti Ranjan Parida and the OARC rheumatology team; consultations run Monday to Saturday, 9:00 AM–2:00 PM and 4:30–9:00 PM.