Gout flare up pain can be excruciation, and there are varying levels of pain based on severity. To give you an idea, here are some pain comparisons that people with gout have made:
- worse than or equal to a heart attack
- worse than or equal to a broken bone or fracture
- worse than or equal to being hit by a car
- worse than or equal to kidney stones
- worse than or equal to childbirth (per women)
- feeling like a sharp knife stabbing into their joint
- a gout sufferer asked his doctor to amputate his leg because pain was so bad
- a gout sufferer would rather have his fingernails pulled out
Thank God I never experienced any of the above, but I can describe to you how my gout attacks have felt. The pain can vary depending on how severe the flare up is.
My most painful experience was actually my first ever gout attack. I was afflicted in both of my feet. It felt like I had a severe sunburn (X5) on both feet and they were so swollen I thought they were going to pop. Because I had no idea what it was at first, I didn’t go to the doctor right away. I thought maybe it would go away on it’s own if I waited a little bit. Man was that a mistake because that would turn into the most painful nights of my life.
For starters, I couldn’t walk so I had to crawl to the bathroom, and I dreaded the thought of going to the bathroom. Secondly, I could not sleep at all. The pain is relentless and you feel every second of it. And third, if your flare up is bad enough, your bed sheets or the wind could actually elevate your pain level. This is no exaggeration.
Hopefully you never have to experience the extreme side of a gout flare up because it is terrible. Work on your health and diet to ensure you don’t have to deal with a gout flare up.