Saturday 31 January 2009

Should I Be Worried?



I'm a little bit worried by my finger.

I think it may have a fair bit to do with the fact it's been an exceptionally cold winter here.
But also, I've always had quite poor circulation. I'm pretty anaemic, basically.

Smoking doesn't help. But this winter, I've noticed odd things happening with my fingers.
The little finger on my left hand has been the worst. The blood seems to be stopping flowing before the joint and welling up and the whole finger basically going numb. It's clearly that the blood is not flowing through the joints properly, because when I look underneath, the creases are pretty much purple.

But the one that's really causing concern, is my right hand ring finger, pictured above.
I can move it still, but I can't really feel it. And that particular joint is highly distended. I can feel the fluid in there. If you look closely, you'll see the crown of the ring is actually pressing into the flesh. You'll also see how much wider the finger above the ring looks than the ring itself. It's not usually like that. I usually have very fine, quite ladylike fingers. The diameter of the ring is under two centimetres.

It really is clasping the finger tightly like a vice, whereas normally it slips on and slips off with no real difficulty. Right now, it won't shift, in either direction. It's firmly wedged on. My finger seems literally about twice it's normal thickness.

To be honest, I'm not really sure what to do. I don't think it's particularly threatening, but then again, I don't particularly want to lose a finger.

But I don't want to damage the ring either. It's important to me.

Believe it or not, I don't actually have a doctor. I haven't been to a doctor in years, because I'm actually never ill. To be honest, I'm hoping they can do something to remove the swelling without damaging the ring. It's one of those things that actually feels like it's part of me, like my crucifix. I never remove them, except when I'm playing with them. To lose it, would feel like an amputation.

I sincerely hope the swelling goes down and I don't have to go to the Health Centre on Monday and see if I can see a GP.

Am I worrying over nothing?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You may not be worrying over nothing.. How long has it been like this now?

It happened to me last year when I had a craving for salt.. I ate far too much salty stuff and my hands and feet swelled a little.. It was temporary. Maybe a day or less.

Drink lots of fluid to flush whatever toxins are in your system and making your fingers swell. If that doesn't work. I reckon see a doctor.
x

Anonymous said...

I think you need to get the ring taken off, a jeweler can make a tidy slice from the back and it can easily be molded back together when your hand gets better.

Drink lots of water too, like kimba said. If it doesn't go down, you need to see the doc.

good luck!!xx

Anonymous said...

I'd probably see a doc to be on the safe side. Such things can happen but it wouldn't hurt to get it checked out. I agree, the ring should probably come off.

Anonymous said...

I'd be worried. A jeweler can fix the ring if need be, but I think finger reattachment would be messy.

Aside from the other suggestions of drinking more water, have you tried taking Benadryl or putting an anti inflammatory cream on it? I'm not sure either would do much, but if you're insistent on not seeing a doctor about it, I'd try those. Don't you have clinics or anything in the UK?

I like claddaugh rings, but I'm not sure they're worth losing a limb.

Anonymous said...

Hmm. Well Nicotine is a vasoconstrictor, so it cuts off blood circulation to and from the extremities, meaning that excess fluid can't drain back. I'd say cut down on the ciggies for a bit, and on salt (salt makes your body retain water), until the swelling in your finger goes down. And frink more water, like everyone else has said.

As for the ring, it may also be cutting off circulation, so you might want to get it removed before your finger starts turning purple right? Depending on what your ring is made of, you can probably get a jeweler to solder it back together with some more gold (They don't actually remold the ring, because that thins out the gold). If you can find a good one, the ring will come out pretty close to new.

If it's turning purple you should definitely be worried, and should go see a doctor.

Anonymous said...

Go to casualty - tell them it hurts (even if it doesn't) and get them to snip it off.

Enquire about a good time to visit. You don't want a six hour wait if you can avoid it.

You're a very silly boy for letting this drag on.

Anonymous said...

Update:

The finger is much the same, not gone purple yet.

I have no idea how long it's been like that, is the honest answer. I only noticed it of late. Could have been days, could have been a week or so.

I think I will pop down to the Health centre tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

You should not just leave stuff like this. You got some good advice from the comments.

The ring could be causing problems, a jeweller can cut it and either repair it or widen it, as needed.

I think you should get a Dr to look at it. I know some guys are like to ignore stuff and hope it goes away but try to overcome that. Register with a Dr.