On par with gout?

Last month I (23M) had debilitating pain in my first MTP joint. I woke up in the middle of the night to the pain and even the sheet lightly touching my toe made me feel like I was going to pass out. Tried ice and heat, but neither worked.

I went to the doctor that morning who tested my uric acid and performed an X-ray. Nothing showed on my x-ray, however my uric acid level was at 8.1 mg/dL so she believes it was gout.

I decided to also go to my podiatrist, who was surprised by the gout diagnosis and did another set of x-rays. That too showed nothing. I was given a boot and told to come back. Fast forward a month to my follow-up with my podiatrist, and the pain has gone down but has not stopped. He orders an MRI.

I have very flat feet and the weekend before I was on a boat without no shoes, so I figured I may have broken or irritated something from crashing hard on the rough waters. Both doctors were dismissive of that and said it wouldn’t be that.

I just got the report back and the findings state "Mild hallux valgus with bunion deformity and mild reactive marrow edema within the first metatarsal head. Mild degenerative changes at the first MTP joint with small joint effusion. Mild ill-defined subcutaneous edema at the dorsum of the first toe overlying the MTP joint which could be due to inflammation versus less likely, cellulitis. No focal fluid collection.”

Now, I’ve brought this to both my podiatrist and my PCP, and once again they have conflicting opinions and I’m not sure what to do. When I move my toe, it makes a clicking noise now. Do the MRI results sound consistent with gout? Is there a way to find out for sure if it actually is gout? Is there anything I could look for in the MRI or x-ray to see for myself?

Any help is appreciated because I have no clue why this is happening.