I have peripheral neuropathy and severe spinal stenosis. If gout is supposed to make my big toes hurt, I don't have much feeling in my feet. My joints of my big toes have some significant deformity and rather large uric acid crystals deposited there.

I think asymptomatic hyperuricemia exists and probably caused a lot of inflammation in addition to PMR inflammation. It does seem to add to my clinical picture and helps to explain the systemic inflammation that my rheumatologist says I have.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7075706/
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There is a good chance that prednisone prevented gout flares too. As usual, prednisone doesn't treat the root cause of gout. The same is true for PMR.
https://summitrheumatology.com/patient-lifestyle/prednisone-for-gout/#:~:text=In%20the%20short%20term%2C%20cortisol,sufficient%20to%20combat%20gout%20pain.