I think I may have had a flare up in my thumb last night. I woke at 2 am from the pain in the pad of my left thumb. It was quite intense and was swollen. I thought I had read on here that heat helped. I held my thumb under water as hot as I could stand for a couple of minutes. It seemed to help some. I was off of my Humira from late September to mid November due to upcoming surgeries and just went through the roughest six weeks I have had since being diagnosed two years ago. My rheumy thinks the missed doses were just catching up with me. The last week my symptoms have greatly improved except for this possible flare in my thumb. Any thoughts or suggestions on what you think happened and how to treat flares in my thumb would be greatly appreciated.
Marie
As a general rule, people use ice when a joint is hot, and ice when a joint is stiff.
I'm a bit confused though, you said the pad of your thumb, which isn't near a joint. You're talking about the pad, like the part that would be rolled in ink to be finger printed? If it's that part, then I would be thinking infection. Or do you mean the base of the thumb?
You are correct in that it is the pad or fleshy part of the thumb where fingerprints are.
Hmm. That seems like an unusual place to have inflammation from PsA. I would think an infection might be more likely. Keep an eye on it for infection, especially spreading redness or warmth, or streaks of red running from there up your arm.
Thank you, Stoney. I’ll keep an eye on it. It’s not currently red… just is painful and feels like hundreds of pinpricks. I put Lidoderm on it but that didn’t help.
I have had swelling on the pads of my fingers and toes, especially my thumbs and big toes. Icing helps, as does moist heat.
Interesting how you were off 6 - 8 weeks and then the delay and then you're saying that early December until a week ago you had a 6-week flare. That makes sense, really, and maybe the sore thumb is just a little indicator that Humira isn't quite back up to its full potential and the thumb is just the last hoorah of PsA breaking through because of not taking Humira for so many weeks. I'm hoping the swelling goes down soon and you're back to feeling awesome now that you've been on Humira again! I agree with applying ice if it's swollen, and beware of infection.
Thank you. You could be right. PsA never wants you to forget it’s there. Lol. It could be just a gig to remind me it may be dormant but still very much alive.
Thank you for your input!
Hi Marie - I’m with stoney - keep a good eye on it as that is not a typical location for PsA swelling. I also agree that I find if I get a hot red joint, I tend to use ice (not often for me), and a stiff joint, then I go for heat.