How To Tell The Difference Between Gout And Neuropathy

A viewer asks how to distinguish gout from neuropathy. Doctor Lacy Anderson explains the difference.

Gout is a painful type of inflammatory arthritis caused by high uric acid levels in the blood. The uric acid can form sharp crystals and cause pain in a joint. It usually only causes pain in one joint at a time and the great toe and knee joints are commonly affected. The pain can develop very quickly over a few hours to a day and be so severe that you don’t want anything touching that joint. 

People often sleep on top of their covers at night because they don’t want the sheets or comforter touching their toe. The affected joint may be bright red and swollen and might look infected because it’s so inflamed. 

Neuropathy pain often develops more slowly over weeks to months and may be described as a tingling sensation or burning sensation. It often affects the hands or feet on both sides of the body. There will be no visible problem in your hands or feet when looking at them and they aren’t usually red or swollen. 

For gout, we often treat with steroids to help with the pain and inflammation but for neuropathy we use nerve pain medications like gabapentin and pregabalin which often work very well.