I think I am a gout sufferer.  I was never formally diagnosed.  But I
was prescribed traditional gout medicine (allopurinol, colchene) about
4 years ago, after suffering gout attacks.

I stopped taking them about 2 years ago because I came to believe that
they're unnecessary.  My gout attacks, I believe, are irregular enough
that I am not on any medicine to stop it from occurring.  I just take
some Naproxen when I feel the attack is coming.  

I can tell this when I feel pain and cannot recall any precipitating
event (a fall or a slip).   For the last 2-3 years, I get a gout
attack every 4-6 months.  That's about 2-3 times  a year.  My toes,
ankles, knees, wrists, fingers and hips have all been affected.

In the overall scheme of things, this is not very frequent.  And when
I take my Naproxen, the pain subsidies pretty much immediately and
goes away completely in 2-3 hours.  So I may be a sufferer but the
pain and anguish haven't been all that debilitating.

Plus I really don't watch my diet.  In fact, I've noticed that my gout
attacks aren't really precipitated by purine-laden foods or fatty
foods.  In fact, it really doesn't seem coorelated with anything I
eat.  If anything, it seems correlated with fatigue or lack of sleep.

My question now is this:  is this gout?  Or perhaps pseudo gout?  What
could this be if it isn't?   I haven't seen a doc in about 2 years now
because I feel that I can treat gout on my own with Naproxen.  But I
am beginning to wonder whether I indeed have gout.   And whether this
method of treatment, which has worked so far, will suffice
indefinitely.