Anyone have experience with growths on bone in the hand?
I noticed a bump at the base of my pointer finger on my left hand - on the palm side (if it was my foot it would be the ball of my foot). It is hard, painful, and definitely coming from my bone. My rheumy seems very concerned, but got called away for an emergency before we got to discuss it much - the last thing he said was for me NOT to google the possibilities! LOL I had x-rays on Thursday and my doctor was out of the office Friday and will be back on Tuesday. I have OCD, and it's driving me crazy not knowing.
I’m sorry, Nym, foot pain is just plain nasty. But bone proliferation is all part of the PsA picture. At the moment, I have it on top of my foot – worse on one than on the other. It’s so tender that I cannot wear lace up shoes or anything that puts pressure on top of the foot. The foot surgeon has offered to remove it, and I will take him up on that.
I’m OCD too, and I’d be driven crazy by being told not to look it up! I’m not sure I’d be able to resist …
I have some hard bumps or nodules on a few of my finger at the DIP joints (nearest the finger tips) but my rheumy has never made mention nor do I know if it is similar to what you are describing.
I know it can be difficult to wait for answers on such things and so easy to start to worry. From what you have said it appears that your rheumy is very observant and responsive. I would take comfort in the fact that whatever it is, he or she is on top of it. And from the sounds of it, your rheumy did not want you to be unduly concerned.
Part of having a chronic illness is that, by necessity, we need to be more vigilant about our health.
However, there really is no action you can take at this time to change whatever this is. As difficult as I know it can be, try to give yourself permission to take the weekend off from worry.
Hang in there! Tuesday is not as far off as it seems ;)
Thanks. :) The logical part of my brain knows I shouldn't stress about it - the OCD part of my brain is going nuts! Unfortunately it's not something I can just turn off. I'm trying to distract myself - and not be on the computer too much! LOL
not in my hand. I have a bone growth on my shin. my daughter had a bone cyst on her toe that was removed. Hope you find out something soon. This disease can be worrisome. Often, I find myself looking at my hands. I guess I'm inspecting them for signs of inflammation. My fingers burn and itch but no noticeable swelling or redness.
nym, I try to stay busy but it is hard not to worry about PsA. Wondering if its under control or not. I start thinking about how bad it's going to get. I feel guilty that I am hurting or sick (fatigued) all the time. It has only been diagnosed since October so I'm very new to all this.
nym, I try to stay busy but it is hard not to worry about PsA. Wondering if its under control or not. I start thinking about how bad it's going to get. I feel guilty that I am hurting or sick (fatigued) all the time. It has only been diagnosed since October so I'm very new to all this.
Hey all. The joints at the ends of the fingers dr drew circle on... Iaughed. I said they looked like boobs. He smiled and told me what they were... They are bone spurs ..I've had two taken off on one toe
Sorry, of course you said hand, Nym, and I said foot. #slaps forehead# HAND pain is nasty. There are days when I feel sorry for myself because of my feet, and then I remind myself that I can still type, sew, hold a book, knit and cook reasonably comfortably, even if my hands are somewhat achy and stiff.
You got me interested in bony proliferation, though …I’m OCD too. LOL
I may look into the ring splints. There are good days and bad with my hands. Fingertips get so sore. Typing on my pc is not so bad but if I use the tablet my fingertips are sore when pointing at the screen.
I had something like that at the base of my middle finger - just a knobby thing on the palm side of my hand, basically right on that side of the knuckle joint. Turned out to just be a really (and I mean really) inflamed joint/ligament. It eventually went away, but it drove me nuts not knowing what it was (and my rheum back then was kind of awful so he wasn't much help). So, while it could be something, it's possible it's inflammation too. Hope the x-rays give ya answers!
I get something like this, or at least I used to get them all the time. Mine usually appeared on my PIPs and DIPs. They are painful, hard, red, and oh so very tender. I would also get them on any bony prominence that had prolonged or repeated contact with a hard surface. For some reason, I have not had one in a while, and I am relieved! I asked my rheum about them and he called them "rheumatoid nodules". I haven't had one in several months, but I have been taking prednisone. I am thinking maybe the pred made them stop developing? We shall see, as I am tapering down now.
I hope it resolves on it's own for you, like mine did, and that it decides to not return. They are a real nuisance!
I have other hard red lumps that come and go, and they did lessen with my current daily pred dosage. Rheumy wasn't too concerned about those.
This is different - it's something protruding from my bone/ attached to my bone, is HARD (as in bony), unlike anything I've had before. It's painful. It has gotten bigger since I saw him. I left a message with my rheumy's office - still haven't heard back. It doesn't help that we're in the middle of a snowstorm and I'm having problems with my phone. Hopefully I'll hear from him tomorrow. If not, I'm calling his cell on Thursday! LOL
Yep. That's a good description of the growths I had. I even gotten them on my sacrum! Those were awful. They were hard as rocks, but mine felt sharp. Ouchie!
Anyway, I'm sorry that you are having these weird things, whatever they are. I hope your xray sheds some light on things and gives you some piece of mind. Try to keep it well padded until it resolves. I would imagine that whacking it against something would be pretty painful. You may find yourself thankful for a little insulation there!
I’ve had these, too. My rheumy, like Grumpy’s referred to them as nodules. He said that sometimes part of the individual fluid sac between the joints get pushed out when there is inflammation and then it sort of just stays there and can get hard. He said it is supposed to go away on its own but often it doesn’t. I have them on the sides of my third and fourth toes between the middle joint and where your toes meet your feet. Not particularly attractive. Mine don’t hurt unless I press on them. I can’t imagine having them on my hands. That must be tough.
My rheumatologist says I have swellings on all my DIP joints which are similar or could be Heberden’s nodes, although he did say he feels I’m a bit on the young side to have them and are more likely due to PsA. Some of them are painful but some of them aren’t but I do find that my hands are not generally as good as they were and I’m getting even more prone to dropping things. My OT told me that on no circumstances am I to wring anything out as the twisting of my finger joints should be avoided.
Nym, I have a similar sounding swelling on the little finger joint (pinkie) which was one of my original swelling sites that got my GP to refer me in 2011. It has also settled with treatment and doesn’t cause me much trouble nowadays.
dandlyons said:
Nym,
I have some hard bumps or nodules on a few of my finger at the DIP joints (nearest the finger tips) but my rheumy has never made mention nor do I know if it is similar to what you are describing.
I know it can be difficult to wait for answers on such things and so easy to start to worry. From what you have said it appears that your rheumy is very observant and responsive. I would take comfort in the fact that whatever it is, he or she is on top of it. And from the sounds of it, your rheumy did not want you to be unduly concerned.
Part of having a chronic illness is that, by necessity, we need to be more vigilant about our health.
However, there really is no action you can take at this time to change whatever this is. As difficult as I know it can be, try to give yourself permission to take the weekend off from worry.
Hang in there! Tuesday is not as far off as it seems
