Your gout attack should go away within a week to 10 days, even if you don't have any treatment. A few people get only one attack of gout in their lives. But, for most people, gout is likely to come back eventually.

It's difficult to say what will happen after you've had an attack of gout because there's not much research on this.

You may get better without treatment. One study found almost 3 out of 10 people with an attack of gout in their big toejoint feel better after seven days without treatment.^[17] But because gout is so painful, most people do have treatment.

However, gout often comes back. In a study of more than 600 people who didn't have treatment to prevent another attack:^[18]

• Two-thirds had another attack of gout within a year

• More than three-quarters had another attack within two years

• More than 8 in 10 people had gout again within three years.

There are treatments you can take to lower the amount of urate in your blood. This may reduce your chances of getting another attack. But there's no good evidence that it works.

A few people who don't have treatment to reduce the amount of urate in their blood get repeated attacks of gout. This is sometimes called chronic gouty arthritis.^[19] It's quite rare. The symptoms are the same as for normal gout, but you get it more often. If you get regular attacks of gout, the urate crystals can damage your joints. This makes them feel stiff and painful to move.

If you have high levels of urate, you are also more likely to get kidney stones.^[19]Kidney stones are formed from waste products in your urine, including urate. They develop in your kidneys. They can cause pain when your body tries to flush them out in your urine. But not everyone who has high levels of urate, or gout, will get kidney stones.

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