Is toe pain caused by gout?

Toes are very familiar to everyone. Feet bear the weight of our entire body. During our daily activities, feet are particularly hard-working, so it is very important to take care of feet. Many people experience toe pain in their lives. When this happens, some people immediately think that it may be caused by gout. In fact, there are many reasons for toe pain. Sometimes toe pain occurs due to trauma or shoes squeezing the feet.

Is toe pain gout?

There are many reasons for toe pain. It may be caused by an accidental bump or damage to the joints. In this case, you will be fine if you take proper rest. However, it is also possible that the toe pain is caused by gout. In this case, it must be treated and controlled in time, otherwise the gout will worsen and affect other parts of the body or aggravate the symptoms of pain.

Symptoms of toe pain

If a gout patient has pain in the toes, it means that the patient's uric acid level is high. This is judged based on the patient's condition. Gout is caused by high uric acid level, so the uric acid level will remain high during the patient's illness. If the patient has pain in the big toe, the first attack often occurs at night and is sudden. The patient wakes up because of the pain in the toe, and the symptoms develop very quickly. There will be redness and swelling of the joint, and the pain will be accompanied by fever. In the early stage, there is only pain in a single joint, which will then spread to all parts of the body. As the patient's condition worsens and recurs, it will cause joint deformities and tophi. In severe cases, it will affect the patient's liver and kidney functions or cause other diseases.

Symptoms of gout

Asymptomatic period:

As the name suggests, at this stage, patients can be said to have almost no physical discomfort, and the only indicator that can determine that they have gout is a continuous or fluctuating increase in uric acid levels in the blood.

Acute arthritis stage:

Patients are often awakened in the middle of the night by pain caused by redness, swelling, heat and pain in their toes, ankles, knees, wrists, knuckles, elbows, etc. And patients will find that the normal function of these joints is significantly impaired. When you measure your body temperature, you will find that it is elevated.

Gout and chronic arthritis stage:

The affected joints will appear swollen, stiff, and deformed, like stones, asymmetrical, and of inconsistent size. It is often seen in places such as ear contours, toes, and between fingers.

Kidney disease:

More than 90% of gout patients have kidney disease, which manifests as occasional proteinuria in the early stage. As the disease worsens, it will turn into persistent proteinuria, and the number of times they need to get up at night will increase. If it continues to develop, it will lead to renal insufficiency and even death from renal failure.

About 20% of gout patients will develop uric acid urinary stones. If not treated promptly, repeated damage caused by stones may lead to infection, nephritis and further damage to the kidneys.

It can be said that the damage caused by this disease to the human body is quite serious.

Hyperuricemia and metabolic syndrome:

Patients with hyperuricemia often also have metabolic syndromes such as diabetes and coronary heart disease. Gout can aggravate the degree of atherosclerosis, which greatly increases the risk of gout patients suffering from myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction and other diseases.