I'm new here, but have been reading this for about a month now. For starters, I'm 25 years old. I was told at age 18 that I had gout after going through pain for 4 days and didn't understand what was going on. I usually only get 1 attack a year. I've been known to have 2, but it's rare. On Jan. 11th I started feeling the dreadful pain from an oncoming attack. I went to the doc on Monday and they said the same ol' same ol'. "Here take the colchicine, and while your at it take this allopurinol." Keep in mind I was already having an attack. So after some reading I learned that allopurinol is NOT to be taken (if not already on it) when an attack is going on. I called the doc to confirm and she told me to stop taking it. I was getting better while on the colchicine and 600mg of ibuprofen. So last week, Jan 21st-25th I noticed I wasn't getting better nor worse. Last week I could wear a shoe with light complications. I wasn't limping anymore, but if I turned the wrong way, or bumped it the wrong way I would notice pain, but it would quickly go away. So being the hardheaded person that I am, I decided to quit taking the meds and see what would happen. Low and behold, it started getting worse by Sunday. Yesterday was an "okay" day, until last night. Soon as I get into bed it got worse. 3a.m. rolls around an I'm fully awake in pain. I started my meds when I woke up with the attack and things are a little better this morning. Before this attack I could usually take 1 or 2 pills and be done for another year. But this attack has lasted me almost a month and I'm really wondering if this really is gout or a possibility of something else. Is there any other conditions that could cause this? BTW, it's in the left foot, joint behind the big toe. Something else to consider..After an attack, weather it be weeks or months, if I bend my affected toe a great deal, it feels like the tendons are really tight. Is this a side effect of the gout or possible damage from gout?