I don't know when my onset of gout was. I passed a uric acid kidney stone about 4 years ago. There was some excitement about my elevated uric acid levels then. I doubt my kidney stones formed overnight. In any case, my kidney stones were treated successfully by a urologist until they recurred after treatment was stopped.

My rheumatologist addressed my uric acid blood level with allopurinol initially. The comment at the time was "maybe" my uric acid level was contributing to my symptoms --- meaning my symptoms of the past. I didn't have any symptoms when the comment was made.

A year later, I still didn't have symptoms and didn't feel any different being treated with allopurinol. It was determined that I was "asymptomatic" so my uric acid level didn't need to be treated. Two years after stopping allopurinol... a random uric acid level was rechecked by my GP. I still wasn't symptomatic but my uric acid level was high again. My GP deferred to my rheumatologist to determine if it should be treated or not.

At my recent rheumatology visit, I was asked if I was sure I didn't have gout. I asked "How would I know but I didn't think so." My rheumatolgist said they could do a quick check by doing an ultrasound of my big toe. The ultrasound took a minute to do. It was conclusive for my rheumatologist to say, "definitely gout and very surprising that I never had a gout flare."

I did some Google research into "IL-6 levels and gout" and found the following:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27219123/
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Maybe the Actemra I take is preventing gout flares.