could a swollen big toe be anything but Gout?

Not all gout is so painful, esp. the early attacks when no damage has been done to the joint.

The pain down the leg is of course probably sciatica. 

I dont know anybody thats had a flair up of  gout without knowing it especially when shep has had that much swelling around his toe. Like you keep saying only a blood test will determine. Gout is hereditory, my grandad had it, my dad had it, my brother have it, and they were all crippled with it through pain. Early attacks as i am aware of do not show anything up and you can have high uric acid in bloodstream for a decade before showing any flair ups and with sheps swelling i would say thats not a early flair up. Thats my opinion and i think every symptom does not refer to gout.

I didn’t say that patients can have a gout flare without pain. What I said was that not all gout flares are so painful that you cannot put a sheet on it. Most gout flares are not agony.

It is true that gout is hereditary, although that doesn’t mean that all members of a family will get it - especially in a family with lots of women, or where the men died young. 

What else can cause a sudden swelling of the big toe? As they teach them in med school : “the commonest things are the commonest.” In the case of a man in middle age - the commonest thing by far would be gout (or recent injury). If thry’d had the foot stamped on in a rugby match at the w/e they would have mentioned it. Other things which cause it are obvious - bunion or ingrowing toe-nail for example. 

You are correct.. If there is no unbearable pain,,,,it's Not Gout. Uric acid in the blood is the cause 

Prescription drugs are the norm, but I prefer the alternatives, which will clear the damned thing in a few days. As a newbie , Years ago... I was woken in the night with  a hot very painful .swollen big toe. 2-30 am I thought I had broken my toe I phoned for a taxi, Hobbled big time to the A&E ,,taxi driver actually found a wheelchair , and took me in. a nurse took one look, and said "It's Gout, " Gave me a pair of crutches, told me to take Paracetamol/ and off I hobbled  .Searched for a cure ,and found that 

Bromelain, and Cherry Effect was the natural way to go, and it is ,so I am never without these two health products, and take at the first twinge. Google was a great help when I had my first ,never to be forgotten attack Catching it at the first twinge is important,   

Jaqualine

While some people have terrible pain with gout, that is not always the case. I do not regard myself as stoic and only twice did I have attacks which were agony.

As for not taking prescription drugs, that’s great, but you are not addressing the underlying disease  - the high blood urate. Stopping gout pain is important, but long term (especially for men), is the aim is avoiding the artieral damage which leads to heart attacks etc. To do that blood urate must be pushed down to relatively low levels (below3 recommendation of NICE). 

A woman can probably afford to be more relaxed about blood urate therapy as they have been given heart protection until menopause, a luxury men don’t have. 

Right... Gout is the given name for BIG TOE trauma. No doubt there is another name, for another cause of no pain enlarged big toe. .How does Gout know the gender of the sufferer ??

Gout is not the name of big toe trauma. Podagra is the name of the swollen big  toe joint. Gout is a form of arthritis which can effect any of the smaller joints.

Gout is mainly a male disease (from memory 8:1 difference), and women rarely get gout before menopause. The following quote sums it up:

<<It is believed that estrogen may help the kidneys remove uric acid, so after menopause, a woman's blood uric acid levels begin to increase. For most menopausal women, gout symptoms usually begin in the large toe and then affect the ankles, knees and wrists.>>

 Furthermore the normal maximum level of blood urate is 14% higher in women than men all through their lives. 

As for the reason for the sex difference - genetics. 

You are engaging your findings to the wrong person Shep is the gout sufferer

You replied to me, not Shep, so I replied to you. Shep gets a copy.

I have osteoarthris and have swelling om my joints, fingers, toes etc, which is not gout. . Similar to gout but not gout, another form of arthrits. So the commonest things are not always gout. I am a middle aged man ?.  Not taught in med school and dont pretend to be, just basic facts from my own experiences. 

Read what I said. Dont setup straw man arguments.

I did not say that all forms of joint problems are gout.

I said that podagra - specifically *swollen big toe* is the classic gout symptom.  There are other causes, but the first thing to check for would be gout (excluding injury). 

Quite aware what you said. I said it does not sound like gout because he had no pain. You said not all pain is so painful, no pain he said, not a little pain. straw man. 

Your quite obviously obsessed with gout.

”Your (sic) quite obviously obsessed with gout.”

I have wondered at the low level of educational attainment one must have achieved to make grammatical mistakes usually corrected by the age of 7. 

You need to get out more, . I got 3 A levels mate so dont you feel silly you moron. I bet mommy did not buy you that doll.