Suspected gout

Hi all,

I am new here and I have read a great deal about gout on this forum. I suspect I am suffering from gout, but my doctor has not as such diagnosed this as of yet. About a year ago I got a few little twinges in my right foot big toe. Although painful, they usually lasted about 1 second, with no after effects (ie redness or swelling or pain). This happened maybe about 5 or 6 times during 2009. In January last 2010, I was suffering from flu and chest infection, when I suddenly got these severe sudden pains in my toe again. On that occasion, the lenght of these attacks were about 5-10 seconds long, with intervals of about 10 minutes increasing to 30 minutes between attacks, for a period of 5 hours. This was the first time i had got a severe bout of this, and it was awful, but then again, I was left with no after effects (ie redness, swelling or pain). After this I decided to see my doctor, and he check my uric acid level, which turned out to be 0.356 or nearly 6 ml/dl. He told me that it was possible I got a gout attack from dehydration due to my high temperatures from the flu, and my chest infection would have decreased my oxegen level in the blood. He left it at that, and asked me to return if the symptoms of gout returned. 10 days ago, these attacks returned with vengeance, but not with the frequency of the previous time. I got 3 or 4 attacks each day for 3 days, then 3 days with no attack and then one more day with 3 attacks, with each attack lasting up to 30 seconds. This time I did have slight redness to my toe, but no swelling or pain between these attacks. I wne t back to the doctor, and he precribed me 120mg Arcoxia per day for 7 days. I am on day 3, and have had no attacks. When I finish this course of 7 days I will go back to doctor for uric acid test to see where it is then. I seem to get these attacks in the joint nearest the top of my big toe, and not in the big toe joint that meets the foot. Also, all my attacks come during the afternoon, and early evening, with the odd little twinge ouside of these times. All comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks