Ok so I have gone to the vet with my beardie Artemis since July 2020 with a strange lump on her arm. At first the vet thought it was signs of gout so we decreased her Dubias/superworms to once/twice a week. Greens daily. Her tank is a 120gal with basking around 98 F and cool side 75 F. Tube strip UV. She gets baths 4-5 times a week. So in July we had her on antibiotics and anti inflammatory which seemed to help her move but not bring down the swollen joint.
Brought her back to vet on Monday and she gave me a copy of the X-rays. The elbow looks broken or something. The vet said it was deteriorating but couldn’t tell for sure. We ran an aspiration of join and there are no uric acid crystals so it’s definitely not gout. Culture is sent out for bone infection or cancer but I won’t know til Friday. Wasn’t sure if anyone else had had this happen or seen anything like it???
That does look odd. Gout (based on my limited experience) shows up in x-ray as swollen tissue around the bone rather than directly affecting it as I see in this example. It does look damaged somehow, but I don't know what the cause is, unfortunately. It sounds like your vet is on the right track in terms of troubleshooting the issue, which is good. Hopefully it isn't bone cancer or anything as serious as that. I would keep surfaces soft and try to set things up to limit the need for climbing in order to reduce the pressure on the elbow.