Plain-language medical education
Gout Resource
Clear, calm answers about gout, for you and the people who help you.
Last reviewed
Get care now for a hot, swollen joint with fever, a joint you cannot bear weight on, or a flare unlike your usual ones. Infection can look like gout.
Right now
In the middle of a flare: six steps, in order
- Rule out an emergency
Fever, can’t bear weight, or unlike your usual flares? Get care now.
- Call your clinician
Or urgent care. Don’t start someone else’s prescription.
- Medicine is chosen with you
Clinicians commonly use colchicine, an NSAID, or a steroid.
- Ask before changing long-term medicine
A flare is a reason to call, not to decide alone.
- Rest, ice, elevate
Comfort measures with a real basis. Not a cure.
- Skip the “flush”
Vinegar, baking soda, or herbs are not treatment.
Read the full six steps
- If this might be an infection, or it is unlike your usual flares, get care now. That includes a hot, swollen joint with fever, a joint you cannot bear weight on, or any time you are unsure. Do not sit on this page.
- Call the clinician who knows you, or urgent care. Do not start someone else’s prescription.
- For a gout flare, clinicians commonly use colchicine, an NSAID (a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory), or a steroid, by mouth or sometimes as an injection. The 2020 ACR guideline strongly recommends those kinds of anti-inflammatories. Not everyone can take each one. Kidneys, stomach, bleeding risk, diabetes, other medicines, and pregnancy change the choice. The medicine is chosen with you. This site does not say which, or how much.
- Ask that clinician before changing a urate-lowering medicine you are already on, such as allopurinol. The 2020 ACR guideline conditionally recommends continuing urate-lowering medicine indefinitely over stopping it, as a long-term plan. A flare is a reason to call, not a reason to decide alone.
- Rest the joint, elevate it, and ice it. Those are comfort measures with a real basis. They are not a cure.
- Do not start a vinegar, baking-soda, or herbal flush and call it treatment.
Start here
From people who’ve been there
Some of our team live with gout too.
We know the pain and the frustration of a flare, and how confusing the advice online can be. We’re here to support you alongside your treatment, with reputable sources and plain words, while the treatment decisions stay with your own clinician.
Explore every topic
Basics
- What gout isCrystals, flares, tophi.
- Causes and triggersHow urate builds up.
- How it’s diagnosedStory, exam, joint fluid.
- Pseudogout and goutThe main look-alike.
- Gout in womenNot only men.
- Younger peopleEarlier onset, what to ask.
- Other conditionsKidneys, heart, joints.
- Kidney stonesWarning signs that need care.
Treatment
Daily life
Tools and gear
Buying guides that compare types, not brands. None of these treats gout. All gear guides
- Cold packs
- Shoes
- Elevation pillows
- Water bottles
- Pill organizers
- Mobility aids
- Kitchen tools
- Compression socks
Gear guides may carry affiliate links, with a disclosure above the first one. See the disclosure.
Free printable
Track your flares on one page
- Which joint, when, how long
- Notes to bring to appointments
- No dose or target fields
What’s new
- Buying guides that compare types of gear, not brands.
- Recipes for everyday meals in line with the food guidance.
- Printable flare tracker to bring to visits.
- Spanish pages, starting with the basics and the tracker.
- Image library of illustrations used across the site.
Get new guides and updates from our team, some of whom live with gout too
Our team includes people who live with gout. Sign up for new guides, plain-language updates on research and guidelines, and the printable flare tracker. Email only, never sold. See privacy.
Built on public guidance from
- American College of Rheumatology (ACR)
- NIAMS, National Institutes of Health
- Arthritis Foundation
See every source. Listing a source is not an endorsement by it.
Not a clinic
These pages do not diagnose you, choose a medicine, or sell a cure. A clinician who knows you outranks this site. Nothing here is a way to clear crystals on your own.
About this site says who writes it and that no named clinician has reviewed it yet. The editorial policy says what it will and will not print.
About product links
This site may later earn a commission from product links. A future commission never changes a medical claim. It is not a reason to call something a treatment, and it is not a reason to soften a warning. Gear guides may carry affiliate links, with a disclosure above the first one. The disclosure page explains how any future link would work.