It hurt all evening, until he took Nuprin for it. He hasn't had it since. Mrs. E. Several of your husband's signs point to gout. Age 50 is a prime time for gout. Gout usually does occur with an explosive onset of pain in a joint on one side of the body.
Alcohol can be a pain trigger for gout-prone people.
Actual diagnosis comes with finding of uric-acid crystals in the fluid of the painful joint. Also the blood shows a high level of uric acid. We usually mention the big toe joint as the classic gout target, but others, including the ankle, are often first to be affected. Pseudogout is another possibility. It has similar symptoms, but calcium pyrophosphate crystals are present, instead of the uric-acid kind.