If you feel that you are affected by gout then you should go and visit your physician immediately. He will examine you by asking you various questions and also may ask you to undergo various tests. Diagnosing gout can be difficult for the doctors as the symptoms are really unclear and often pose as some other condition. The doctor will check the level of urate in your body by taking your blood test. Or the doctor might insert a needle into the affected area and take out a sample of synovial fluid. It is the material that helps in lubrication of the joints. If the liquid taken contains urate crystals when seen under the microscope then you have gout.

At the same time if there are no crystal deposits found it doesn’t mean that you are suffering from gout. There are chances that you might have gout still. The doctor can also diagnose gout by checking the sodium urate deposits that may be present around the joints. He will also check for any bacteria in the joint infection too as their symptoms are similar to many other diseases. In order to confirm the diagnosis you can get an x-ray of the affected joint.