unexplained sudden brusing/redness at base of finger with swelling & numbness

I am so sorry everyone but by the time I finished reading all the posts I started laughing. I think it was partly out of relief because I have the exact same thing. I think I have had it my whole life but it comes so infrequently that I always forget about it and like someone else said, I never go to the dr even though it scares me because it is always gone before I have a chance to make an appt. I am a 51 year old woman in excellent health with low blood pressure and thin. I eat very well, lots of fruits and veggies and tons of water and lots of protein. Recently the sudden stinging, Swelling and pulsating in a small area in the fingers, toes, feet or hands followed by a disgusting purple bruise has been occurring more frequently. When it happens I,m not doing anything very strenuous, maybe holding scissors or something so it makes me think I have some dreadful cancer but I guess since this has been going on for years it's not cancer. But it does seem to be more frequent. Whats going on?

yep i have the exact same thing happen.. sometimes a hard ball like lump comes up first then spontaneous bruising.. its weird!

Did you ever find out what it is?

Your going to die no use denying it Sarah!!!!! I went to the doctor and he said everyone that has this has a rainbow stuck in the cuticle!

Oh well I love rainbows!

I came on here looking for why index right hand finger where it joins at the hand is all of the sudden swelled and purple. why why why?

Its called  Achenbach syndrome. Its basically just burst blood vessels or capilleries under the skin. It can happen without even realising, but i have found hanging onto round, or hard edged things affects it more. Like a hard handle, shopping bags ect. Usually on the middle finger at the base and underside of finger. Once it swells up you notice it bruises and it develops into a darker shade or sometimes a deeper purple. Its weird when you cant even remember injuring it lol

 

Once you do it once, it will reccur for ages until it heals properly, because they are weakened and it is much easier for it to happen the next time and the next time. Obvoiously if you work a lot with your hands its going to take a lot longer, but we cant wrap our hands in cotton wool if we have bills to pay.

 

Apparently it is not all that common, but the amount of stuff i have read on internet forums suggests it is more common than reported.

 

Ice on the onset can help initial swelling, and then warm packs later to help the circullation to remove the blood inside the finger which causes the swelling/pain.

 

It will eventually stop. It can get quiet itchy too from my experience. Just try to minimise the activity that brings it on and hopefully you dont burst any more of the little suckers in the mean time. Thankfully mine is on my less dominant hand. I have also heard people who apply pressure as soon as it happens to reduce swelling, with tape or something. I usually just let it swell, try not to use it and accept the bruise.

 

And dont stress, it is regarded as completely harmless

well thanks Allan thats good to know and thank you for sharing your information with us fellow finger bruisers :)

hehe yeah we have our own club now

Its winter where i am now, im interested to see if i get finger bruises in summer too lol

I have something similiar.  It has happened to me three times in the past 6 months.  One time I picked up a bathroom rug and the base of my pinky finger started having a sharp burning feeling.  I looked down and the inside all the way to the back is a bruise the size of a large pea, bigger than a pea, but it is round like that.  Felt like I broke my finger, but impossible.  I just picked up a small rug.  Tonight I picked up a tin with a few spools of thread and it happened again.  The third time, again it was something light weight I picked up.  I told my doctor the first time it happened and she said it was part of Fibromyalgia, but I never heard bruising was a symptom.  I also have this weird place on my other had in between two knuckles.  It always looks and feels bruised.  If I put that hand in a pocket brings the pain on.  Curious if anyone has something similiar and a diagnosis. 

I have the same problem, just as you did robe, weird !

Careful, readers. Vitamin K is not the same as potassium (K+). The vitamin is found in dark green leafy vegetables and used to help clotting in the blood. That's probably what the writer above is talking about.

I had a similiar experience over 15 years ago (several times , a few months apart ).Did not think much about them but the fingers were permanently damaged( a little knobbly and bent). No doctor could explain this but in the past ten years I have developed high blood presure, type 2 diabetes, psoriasis, arthritis, hashimotos thyroiditis. Since all these are related and of autoimmune origin, I think what happened then was just a signal. Now my otherwise healthy 18 year old son has the same symptoms but more often and more severe. I have consulted even a rheumatologist but all the tests were OK and even the Xray of the hand( to detect psoriaic arthritis ) was fine.After every episode the fingers are less efficient and my son is so worried that if this continues it may make even writing difficult. As a last resort we have started looking for information on the internet .Recently I read "Wheat Belly" by Dr William Davis and even gave up wheat - even my kidshave followed.

Chris, do you have Raynaud's syndrome? This seems to be a problem exclusively found in patients with Raynaud's.

As a medical professional I can tell you it is almost exclusively found in patients with Raynaud's and that it is wise to take a baby aspirin daily to help with potential micro blood clots. Also, from what I know of this syndrome, heat is actually the best first course of action as it dilates the vessels and returns blood supply to the digit.