My husband has it and it's bad. Oddly enough he isn't an alcoholic, in fact, he rarely drinks.
I have never seen someone in so much agony in all of my life. What makes it worse is that there aren't any painkillers for it. He takes Celebrex and has to wait for it to break up the crystals that have formed in the joint. Lately he's been getting flare ups every single week. The next thing is for him to try Alfurinol (sp?) which I take it controls the uric acid in the kidney's so that the crystals can't form.
Good luck and I hope that you find out that it isn't gout!