This sounds crazy, but my little finger on my left hand is killing me today! When I woke up this morning, I thought I had laid on it during the night and the hard pain would go away in a short time. It’s 12 hours later and it’s no less painful! This is way worse than my active PsA a few years ago—I’m just glad it’s only one finger. And, actually, it’s more the knuckle at the base than the finger itself, but the pain refers down my finger and it’s very uncomfortable!
I’ve searched info about gout, and still wondering if that’s what this is, except it’s not red, swollen or warm. I’ve been eating lots of green beans from our garden lately, but not sure if that could cause gout. I’ve had 2 kidney stones in the past 2 months…
The other concern I have is could it be an arthritis infection? I do have a small sore on top of my finger, near the joint that hurts…here’s a pic.
I saw an old discussion about this same thing, but other than the severe pain I don’t have any of the normal symptoms…
Could this just be a weird flare up of PsA?
I sure would never have thought one little joint could cause so much pain!
Is it red? Warm? If it’s not red or warm I would lean away from infection. Truthfully away from gout as well. Was it in that position prior to this incident? I’ve had flare’s in a single joint like that. It sucks but it does go away after some time.
Not red or warm…I don’t take many pain pills, but took 1 ibuprofen about 2 hours ago and it’s not helping. I have arthritis at the base of my thumbs and that has been extremely painful like a nail being driven into them, but this is different.
Red and warm doesn’t always come with gout. My dad’s first gout flare was in his ankle and it was so terrible he thought he broke it but couldn’t figure out how as he didn’t remember twisting it or falling or anything.
Nothing helped until he took Uloric (Rx only). One dose took care of the unmanagable pain. Allopurinal is another Rx for gout, as is Colchicine (Colcrys). There’s a simple blood test that will confirm gout, it checks the level of uric acid in your system. Uric acid levels are easily controlled by diet (ex: stop eating shell fish for one).
azurelle
Thank you, azurelle. The pain woke me several times during the night, even though I took a second ibuprofen at 10:00 pm.
This isn’t a really big deal since it only involves part of one hand—it’s just weird that I’d get such intense pain for no apparent reason. I’ve never had gout before, but I do think that’s what this is.
My only options today (Sunday) are the ER or urgent care. I definitely wouldn’t go to the ER for this—it’s not life threatening! 
And I’d sure rather have my usual doctor check it out than a doc in urgent care, so I’m going to hold off until tomorrow. Maybe it’ll go away on its own.
Hoping you have a better night and wake up to find it has all settled in the morning, my fingers are crossed for you.
I did the unthinkable and visited the urgent care clinic in hopes they could tell me what this is.
I was seen by a very young P.A., who made a bad impression on me. She’s SURE what I have isn’t gout—without a blood test. She made two uneducated comments: that gout ALWAYS starts in the big toe, and it isn’t typically seen in women.
Well, I read that 50% of gout starts in the big toe, but it can start in other joints: hands, fingers, elbows, shoulders, etc. and, yes, it is more common in men and obese people, but not limited to them.
I’m not saying she’s wrong in her diagnoses, but I’m disappointed I wasted my time going in today. I did convince her to do my blood level for uric acid, despite her arguing that an elevated uric acid doesn’t necessarily mean gout.
She ordered the antibiotic, Bactrim, for me, but I haven’t started it yet. I know it’s necessary to take antibiotics for cellulitis, so I’ll definitely take it if my lab results are negative for gout…
I don’t think this girl is going to do well as a P.A. unless she improves her bedside manner.
I’m sending a new pic. There’s a slight swelling now, but I don’t see any redness, do you?
I talked with the pharmacist. She convinced me to take the antibiotic. When she reminded me how quickly a small infection could turn into something serious, I decided not to take a chance. And I had found some info online about cellulitis vs joint infection. When in doubt, it’s recommended to prescribe antibiotics.
The pain is much less severe today, although both of my hands and wrists feel weird—almost like they felt before I went on Enbrel.
So I’m concerned that because the Enbrel I’m using got warm and then froze when our frig went on the blink, it’s not helping my PsA like it should…
Poor you @Grandma_J. I’m told the Benepali (a biosimilar to Enbrel) works fine being out of the fridge for up to 4 weeks. However I’m also told under no circumstances should it get frozen. So maybe the freezing has ruined your batch. Can you get another batch?
And I hope your finger and everything else improves.
Just a thought … dactylitis maybe?
Thanks, Poo and Sybil…it froze solid. I had 4 extra syringes (8 altogether) but I can’t bring myself to throwing any of them away. I’ve already used several that had been frozen, and I haven’t had any ill effects (yet). 
I’m expecting a shipment of 4 more syringes tomorrow. I think I’ll alternate using a new one and a formerly frozen one every other week…
I don’t think the finger is dactylitis. I believe the doctor was right in diagnosing it as infection in my joint. The Bactrim is already helping it feel better. My two nurse daughters told me joint infections are nothing to fool around with and antibiotics can actually start working really fast. It was extremely painful–that’s why I thought it was gout. I’ve never had anything like it before that came on so quickly for no apparent reason.
I’m glad you’re getting some relief so quickly.
Have you talked to your support line on actually using the ones that were frozen? I really would before you use another. It might be pointless as in it’s got nothing to offer you of any benefit.
But so glad the antibiotics are helping the finger.
Grandma_J –
DO NOT USE ENBEL THAT HAS BEEN FROZEN.
I did a search on what happens and there’s actually no info readily avail, only the repeated phrase that you are NOT to freeze enbrel. This leads me to believe you are not to use it after it’s been frozen. So much so that the literature doesn’t even address the remote possibility. You absolutely are not to use it unless it’s perfectly clear.
I can’t say officially what would happen if you use thawed enbrel but I can say freezing meds that are not supposed to be frozen typically negates the effectiveness completely so it’s not worth using anyway.
Many years ago enliven services had replacement program, I don’t know if they still do, it might be worth calling them.
azurelle
I second calling them. I had a problem with one of my auto injectors and lost the dose, and they replaced it (plus gave me extra as it came in a pack of two) without blinking. You may not be that lucky, but it is worth a phone call.
Thanks, azurelle and Jen…I’m not very optimistic about getting 8 free replacement Enbrels, but I’ll give them a call tomorrow to see what can be done.
I was thinking maybe my knuckle got so sore because my frozen Enbrel isn’t working, but I never had pain that severe when I had PsA in a lot of places! If I had had that much pain in a lot of places I would have been a total basket case.
Hope your phonecall is fruitful! But if it is not, and you are worried about what you already did take, there does not seem to be huge changes to the medication when rethawed… Usually. But it may contribute to it loosing it’s oomph in the longer run, if I understood the paper correctly.
On an anecdotal note, I’ve found ‘sudden onset’ joint swelling to be a pain on par with breaking a bone, albeit of a more burning or ripping feeling than a snapping one. I like to call it ‘the connective tissue burn’ which can have some pounding to it.
Each time this has happened it lasted full strength for 2-3 days, and tapered off with occasional 2-3 minute bursts of full strength sensation until the tissue found a new equilibrium after the joint or whatever was swelling stopped expanding.
The initial 3 days are always horrible, and if this is what happened to your finger, I’m so sorry and hope there will be stable barometric pressure where you are 
Thank you, @groenlof, for the article. It gave me a better understanding of what freezing can do to my biologic. (Most if it was over my head, but in summary it made sense.) It said something to the effect that products exposed to inadequate storage conditions could develop antidrug antibodies. To me, that says they won’t necessarily develop the antibodies, but they do develop subvisible particles after frozen. It also mentioned that heat and agitation were worse than freezing.
I’d rather not throw away over $2,000 worth of injections. I’ve already used 4 that got warmer than recommended—I don’t remember for sure if the temp in the frig was 59 or 69 F before they accidentally froze (I didn’t thaw them at room temperature, but in my son’s refrigerator. They thawed within a couple of days.) I still have 3 injectors that were affected.
I don’t think the sore knuckle resulted from the frozen Enbrel. The worst of it was 2 days, but I wouldn’t describe it as burning or ripping pain…I just hope it doesn’t come back anytime soon!
Doesn’t look like gout. If it is gout it will be VERY swollen, RED, hot, and hurt like the devil!! Must be in the water, my little finger on my right hand was the same way this week.
Doc had to finally put me on allopurinal for the gout I kept getting in my big toes. They would swell so much the skin would die and come off like a sunburn. If you think it is gout, drinks LOTS of water and don’t put ice on it. Gout docs said never put ice on gout. It make more crystal at the site. The reason you get gout in your big toes is because it is a cooler part of your body. Weird??? Oh, bing cherries are good for it, you eat them!!!