My surgery to remove a glomus tumor in my thumb is scheduled for August 2. I have been dealing with this pain for at least 10 years. Over the past year my nail has split and the pain has become unbearable. The MRI showed the tumor was 5 ml around. I am nervous about the procedure for sure.
I am 5 days post surgery!!! My incredible orthopedic surgeon identified my condition within seconds of hearing my symptoms (did the ball point pin test as well). Xray showed nothing but MRI showed a 5mm glomus tumor under my right middle finger.
I had no idea what to expect for surgery since there isn't much out there on the internet. I had both general and local anesthetic. My hand was numb for ~23 hours after surgery. I took pain meds around 8 hours after surgery and kept up with it to get ahead of the pain. To my incredible surprise, after the anesthetic wore off I have had very little pain. Sharp shooting pain that takes my breath away 5-10 times a day, lasts less than 5 seconds each time. I have taken no pain meds since day one.
I have no idea what is going on under the bandage (it's killing me, I want to know!) I do have some soreness near my knuckle at the local anesthetic injection site. Seems bruised almost.
One week until I get a new bandage and can look and see his amazing work!!! Best of luck to anyone dealing with the crippling condition.
Glomus tumor. I just had one removed and undiagnosed for 11 years.
WHERE DO I GO?
Misdiagnosed twice by GPs as arthritis and infection. I started seeing a purplish spot under my nail this past year and the pain starting being more frequent. About 2 weeks ago the pain was constant and severe so I went to an urgent care. That referred me to a hand surgeon. My appt with the hand surgeon was yesterday. He did an x-ray, no MRI, and you could clearly see the tumor.
He diagnosed it immediately as a glomus tumor. He said that they are fairly uncommon and that mine was the largest he had seen. Mine had grown so large that the bone in the tip of my finger now has a "dip" in it.
The surgery was scheduled for this morning and I am now tumor free. My finger is sore because of surgery , but nothing compared to
what it was.
It took an actual hand surgeon to diagnose.
If you are having the same issues go see a hand dr. I waited so long that he said my nail might grow back weird because of the bone "deformity"
Oh well, I'll take an ugly nail to get rid of that pain!
Thanks for the various descriptions of this condition here, a lot seems to match mine. I have lost count of when it all started, the pain is like Wicklow but it comes and goes, mine is most times sensitive to cold and I use to get small relieve from warm water especially when I mistakenly hit it on a hard object. Been having this trouble for more than 10 years now. Sometimes it woke me up in the middle of the night
Internet search leads me to glamous tumor but I find any correlation to the temperature and the pain. It's always physical pressure on the spot.
I have inquired about this from a few GPs but none have ne a diagnosis. One Doc said it could be an 'isolated nerve end ' and suggested I get botox done to avoid the pain as any surgery related to digital nerves have higher risk of nuroma. They also keep suggesting that I go to a specialist but unfortunately the recommended specialties vary from orthopedic surgeon to hand surgeons I am so lost as to whom to consult.
I would appreciate any and all information you (or anyone on this thread ) can provide