I know that pain well....
Hi Matt,
I had a MAJOR Gout attack happening when I finally decided to quit drinking. It had been 3 months since I had been able to put a shoe on that foot. I was in COMPLETE denial that it was related to my beer consumption. Then I did some research online and found that beer is high in purines and purines cause Uric Acid to be produced at higher levels than normal. High Uric Acid levels cause Gout Attacks. Other things high in purines include, Prawns and Shellfish, Red Meat and even certain vegetables. Ice and Ibuprofen gave me some relief but it took time to reduce my Uric Acid levels.
That pain was enough to convince me to stop drinking and while it took a couple weeks for the attack to stop and my foot to return to normal, I have not had a single attack since then.
WebMD has a good page on Gout, check it out.
Good Luck to you!