taxlady

For prevention, mostly you're supposed to change your diet, which hasn't worked for me. I've had several doctors tell me, "Just don't eat red meat, and you'll be fine." I've cut out red meat entirely for long periods and then suddenly had a gout attack out of nowhere, and then at other times I've gone for months eating lots of hamburgers and had no problems. There are sites with lots of other dietary recommendations, but none of them have worked for me. (That is, I haven't been able to find a specific trigger. I'll have a gout attack and think, "The only thing odd about my diet is that I ate a lot of sushi last weekend, and fish is on the list - I'll try cutting out fish." And then eat no fish for a month and then have another gout attack.) Once I get over my current bout, I'm going to start keeping a food journal so I can keep track in a systematic manner instead of guessing.

Once you actually have an attack, they'll give you a prescription for anti-inflammatories, which for me clears it up in 2-3 days. I take Naproxen, and after having a history of several attacks per year for several years they gave me a refillable perscription so I don't have to drag myself to the doctor for every attack.

Did they take any blood while you were there? When I got diagnosed they needed to do a blood test to confirm it.