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

What you describe may be a harmless but uncomfortable condition, more commomn in women than in men, named after the physician who first described it - Achenbach Syndrome (paroxysmal finger haematoma)

 

Hi:  Within the last 6 or 7 months my right middle finger all of a sudden will get swollen right in the middle joint of the finger and then will begin to get black and blue within minutes.    It hurts a bit but it isn't an intolerable pain.  I have not been to the doctor's to check it out but have any of you experienced this?

Thanks

hi .. so this is the 4th time my finger has swelled and turned black and blue for no apparent reason. I first went to my family dr who had no idea and said i probably bruised it. It then happened a week later so i returned to my dr again showing him the finger. He then sent me to a vascualr guy who checked circulation in my hand and said to take a baby aspirin daily. He too really had no idea mentioned soemthing about Raynauds, but didnt think it was that being that this was not affeted by temperature changes.  He had mentioned soemthing about exploring some other testing if this happenend again and possibly seeing a rheumatologist!!!

this is nuts!  Any thoughts on this!??

 

I have had this happen now too, and am also a low blood pressure sufferer...

Today it happened as I was washing the coffee plunger in the sink, nothing arduous at all... then pain, and I look down and a bruise starts appearing, my flatmate and I watched it continue to spread and now my whole palm-side of my middle finger from the middle joint down is purple on the whole underside, and around the inside too between my fingers too.. the tip is a bit numb.

I've been studying most of the day, but up and down a lot so not anything to worry about...

It's weird, the last time it happened was a different finger, and not as big, while I was just sitting doing nothing!

From another Poster: "as anyone considered Vitamin K deficiency? - or overuse of NSAIDS? My doctor told me that even a very small dose can be too much if taken consistently. I take a fairly high dose of vitamin D (which thins the blood) and I have episodes where a vein will itch painfully and then bleed into the tissues (a dark purple, itchy bump), and it usually starts where there has been a slight bump or pressure on my hands. It seems to get worse when I have to take NSAIDs for headache, although extremely small doses. When I started using chia seed (which also thins blood), it got much worse and I even had excessive bleeding from such things as hangnails. If I take Vitamin K3 it improves considerably."

 

From Me-

I have read through all the posts about this and I see a couple of common threads so, I would like anyone that reads this to please

answer the following questions:

1) do you suffer from migraines?

2) do you take ibuprofen on a regular basis?

3) do you take any thing else that might thin your blood? (fish oil, daily aspirin etc.)

4) does or has your digit (finger/toe) returned 100% normal in between episodes?

 

Here is my experience; I have had the stinging sensation and the irritating bruise/sensitivity for a few days, I would guess...6-8 times

over the years. Usually while using a broom or shovel (or similar). In these cases is have ignored it and moved on.

However, recently I had a new experience that many of you have described. I was sitting in a car doing nothing with my right hand

when my pointing finger started to feel stiff with a sense of pressure, I pulled over I was so taken back. I started massaging a bit and

the blood vessel broke with a relaxed sense of pressure.

HERE's the Kicker- my finger has NOT recovered to it's non swollen state. It gets 70% better and then I will wake up one day with it very swollen and stiff. I have traced this to 2 things and am still sorting out the cause/effect:

1) use of ibuprofen- I do not have migraines but I had been taking higher doses of ibuprofen the day before it happened. Also, it seems

as though when I take ibuprofen, the swelling gets WORSE.

2) Heavy usage. I am a musician by trade and use that finger every day but sometimes more than others.

 

I do believe that most of us are describing Achenbach's Syndrome. However, there does not seem to be much helpful information

out there. (like prevention or causes etc)

So: Please copy/Paste the above questions and answer them the best you can. I think it might help all of us get closer to

some common issues that may be related.

 

Thank You and I wish everyone good health!

 

BTW, I am joining this site and following this thread-will be posting as Erehwon as soon as the confirmation email comes back.

 

Does anyone that is posting have a cat?  This has happened to me twice while at my sister-in-law's house and she has a cat. 

I get this as well, but then within 5 minutes it goes away. I can't find anything on the internet either.  It usually happens on my hands, usually around a knuckle.  Thing is, I'm healthy and 29 years old, but it has gone on since I can remember, and only once in a great while, maybe twice a year.  

So I realise that this is a VERY old thread, but I have been experiencing this every now and again for a while but didn't really think anything of it until this week when I had one where I knew for absolute certain it was not caused by trauma (I was sitting watching tv) so I decide to hit Google.

At first all I got was lots of threads like this one where people were describing exactly the same symptoms as me but no one seemed to have an answer.  I noticed that when putting in 'sudden swelling and bruising of finger' that other suggested links were things like 'burst blood vessels'.  When I followed one of these links I came to a page describing Achenbachs Syndrome and every symptom described what I had experienced.  I believe this is what I am suffering with and post in the hopes that so may help others puzzling over the same problem!

I have this happen and I feel it may be related to heavy doses of fish oil. Anyone else?

I get this too about 5 times a year it seems but it seems to be coming more frequent as I get older.   Sometimes is happens on all my fingers on one hand and other times it happens just on one finger and sometimes it even does it on both hands at the same time.   It is usually the fatty area at the bottom of my finger and I immediately am in excruciating pain.  It happened yesterday when I was putting my pool cover on and I still feel the pain in my hand today.  It is not as bad but it is still there.   Does anyone else know what this is?  I can not find anything out about it.  

I have had some unexplained bruising in my right thumb joint for about a month. Nothing happend to bruise the thumb, it would just be mysteriously bruised. But, last night I noticed some numbing and swelling of my thumb so I watched as the joint area expanded almost in a rolling motion over the joint. At that moment the thumb was sort of yellow. This went on for about 1 or 2 minutes then my thumb was bruised. This bruise was the largest one since this all began and whatever happened it was internal not external. It's pretty upsetting and I would like any help with identifying what might be causing this.

I am new to this experience and this thread. My finger swellling quickly and turning very dark blue and looking bruised has so far happened twice-- in my right ring finger both times. Neither time could be explained by overuse or bumping it. It had almost completely cleared up when it happened again. The second time I was running and it was pretty cool out so I wondered if it was a temperature reaction.  (I will be tracking that in the future as I also came upon other threads that suggested it was a possible new symptom of Raynaud's which I do get in the freezer section of the grocery store and other times as well. Until now that had only resulted in bright white fingers--not purple ones. And not swollen ones.) I am female, over 55, do not take migraine medication or fish oil, do take thyroid medication but am otherwise healthy. I just found the report at the ScienceDirect website called: "A Painful Blue Thumb: A Case of Achenbach's Syndrome" very reassuring. Their conclusion: "As the acute phase of the syndrome can be very alarming to both the patient and the physician, they should both be aware of the existence and benignity of this condition and not undergo unnecessary invasive investigations." I liked the sound of "benignity" though I can't pronounce it...

I have had this happen several times but think it coincides with taking ibuprofen. I had it happen twice the day after I took 600 mg of ibuprofen for a severe headache.

Do a search on "trigger finger"... this might apply to some of the cases that apply to the index finger. The NHS site has a good explanation of this. Doesn't seem like anything life threatening but might require treatment of it gets worse.

LastLasts Monday I was reading a book outside and all of a sudden it felt like something bit the palm of my hand just below flip middle finger. Then it started developing a dark bruise.  Hurt like hell for two days and the bruise and pain gone. Three days later I was transplanting vegetable starts in beds and once again it was a sharp pain like a bite and I was thinking spider or centipede but no wound just the bruise in almost the same place. Last night watering with hose and bam - my finger.  So called dad who is a doctor. He said Achenbach syndrome.  My mom had it too.  I have shitty veins. 56 yo. Female.  So he said 2,000 mg vitamin c twice a day. Plus vitamin k and Diosmin-HMC which is for varicose veins and flavonoids.