dglevy

Hi all,

I noticed a slight bump in the palm of my hand on Thursday or Friday and didn't think anything of it. Yesterday, I noticed it again and pressed and palpated it, trying to feel whether it might be a bone spur. In a short while, the slight bump had become a much more prominent bump, so I decided to leave it alone. Today, it's better, although not as reduced in size as it was before I pressed on it.

My current problem is, I'm doing a ride with my buddies later today and I'm wondering:

1. What the heck is this?
2. Am I going to make it a whole lot worse by putting in 20 hard miles on the bike today?

I don't think it's a coincidence that the nodule--or lump or cyst or whatever you want to call it--appeared one or two days after my last ride, which was a very hard 34 mile ride. If anyone with direct experience or medical experience can give me some feedback right away, before I do today's ride, I would greatly appreciate it. Picture here below. The nodule is a little hard to see. It's almost right in the middle of the palm but a bit closer to the base of the middle finger.

--David

FBinNY 

Stuff happens, and it could be almost anything. However, if you still have full use of your fingers and thumb without pain or any other issues, you can take a wait and see approach and if it resolves on it's own. If so, chalk it up to "one of those things" and move on. If it doesn't resolve or recurs then you might look into it further.

berner

If you experience a sharp and very local pain, this may be due to a stress fracture in a bone or maybe a chipped bone. You might review what may have occurred to you over the recent past off the bike.

CliffordK

Is it attached to the skin, or is it below the skin?

If part of the skin, then a simple cyst or blister?

fthomas

It almost looks like a blood blister. Something I have had when I accidently got flesh in between the jaws of a pair of pliers while working on something requiring me to grip with one hand and hold the parts together with the other. The pliers slipped and bit me.

None of us can diagnose it for you and anytime a unusual nodule suddenly appears with no known external injury I would certainly have it checked out as soon as practical. I just watched a video on YouTube by Darren Alff on packing for bicycle touring and at the end he described how he jumped into the shower one day and discovered one testical was much larger than the other. Turned out to be cancer and they had him in the operating room within a day. After touring 10,000's of thousands of miles he was off the bike for a number of months to heal. Not trying to scare you, but don't wait around playing a guessing game. If it was a lump in a woman's breast it would be checked out immediately - biopsy!

Prayers for you that it isn't anything serious! It will be interesting to find out what you discover.

BigAura

My Medical Diagnosis: I don't know what it is

My Medical Prognosis: It'll either get better OR it'll get worse.

tg16

My direct medical experience is paying the $25.00 copy and if it does anything other than go away soon, so the same.

dglevy

thanks, that's very kind! and thanks to those who posted thoughtful replies.

i talked with a friend who's a pediatrician. she said it looked like a cyst.

just got back from a 23 mile ride. i kept the pressure off the palm most of the way. it looks like it hasn't changed, which is GREAT! that means i don't have to stay off the bike, in theory. but i will go to a walk-in clinic on tuesday and have them take a look too.

i'll post again once i've seen a doctor.

cheers!

freedomrider1

I have something just like that in the same place on my hand, not quite as big. I just figured it was from the handlebars. Mine does not hurt, just a soft lump. Keep us updated.

canklecat

I was thinking cyst. Happens to me occasionally with ergonomically incorrect repetitive stress or contact. Usually it's my feet which is why I'm so picky about footwear (I have long, narrow feet like ice skates and high arches -- not easy to find off the rack shoes that fit properly). Sometimes it's somewhere on the buttbones from sitting improperly at the PC -- I have a bad habit of sitting sidesaddle and favoring one side due to a back and hip injury from a car wreck.

I've gotten those on my forearms and elbows from spending too much time at the PCs writing and editing photos. So I'll take some time off, or sit in my rocker or recliner with the laptop.

Whenever I feel a twinge in my groin, crotch, hands, arms or neck that persists more than a day or so, I'll adjust the bike's saddle, handlebar height, reach and angle. Usually it takes only a small adjustment to relieve the discomfort, which tells me I was doing it wrong in the first place. I've been off the bike for most of the past week to allow some painful arthritis in my right wrist and base of the thumb to recover.

Next I'll get better ergo grips and padded or gel half-gloves. I've been wearing some thin Bontrager RXL Thermal long gloves since January and they're very comfortable even in warm weather, but they lack padding where I need it -- along the base of the palm and thumb, and web of the hand.

dglevy

That's very interesting! You might have exactly the same thing I do: same location, painless. I don't know about "soft", though. There's a bit of give in mine, but not a whole lot.

I got a more considered opinion from my pediatrician friend, by email:
"After looking at the photo, it does seem like the nodule originates in the underside of the joint... But I wonder why it is not painful: maybe it is a ganglion cyst?"

I'm definitely going to the walk-in clinic tomorrow...

FullGas

just heat up a nail to a cherry-red temp and pop that sucker...

Kroil

It is most likely Dupuytrens Contracture Dupuytren's contracture - Mayo Clinic

freedomrider1

Don't give us any ideas.

George

I get them as well. Go to the hand doctor and they will give it a shot. It will go away for a while and then if it comes back they will have to cut it out. I have one now, but I don't feel like getting cut yet. Kroil got it right in post 13.

HotLap

BINGO, this would be my guess. My dad and sister and I all have them. Mine is still small enough - looks like a small callous. They generally wait until it gets big enough to give a shot that will dissolve it. I have one on sole of one foot as well

dglevy

I went in today. The doc said it's most likely a "ganglion cyst"--as my pediatrician friend suspected. He said it could also be "Dupuytren's contracture" or "trigger finger" but it was unlikely. I agree. I looked up DC before I saw him and dismissed it b/c the symptoms are not the same. And I looked up trigger finger just now, and those symptoms are not the same either.

He said they used to aspirate* it but the risk of infection is too high and it sometimes (usually?) comes back. So, now, they just recommend watchful waiting.**

I'm pretty confident that's what it is. I don't think I'm even going to bother getting a second opinion. For the time being, at least, I'm going to keep riding and weight lifting and see what makes it worse and what makes it better.

Thanks, as always, for the thoughtful and well-informed comments. (As for the other ones, well, you know, that's Internet forums for ya ...)

--David

*"to remove (a fluid) from a body cavity by use of an aspirator or suction syringe"
**(GROSS-OUT ALERT!) He told me a little story about how they used to do it. They used a little syringe with a big, fat needle b/c the cyst was so thick and viscous that it wouldn't flow through a thinner needle.

fthomas

Awesome! Glad you got it checked out. Years ago I played on the college tennis team and had a ganglion cyst that was a problem. I can attest that surgical removal was a far better solution than aspirating it with a 22 gauge needle; though it did reduce the size the darn thing came back.

Dave Cutter

That is what it looked like to me as well (not that I'd know). I've had two or three... not a big deal. They can be dissolved with a shot, surgically removed.... or in less advanced cultures... bust with a sharp blow from a bible. (if that is what it is).

Wheever

I thought it looked like a ganglion cyst, but I've only seen them on more bony areas.

Dave Cutter, you reminded me of ganglion story to Make us all cringe and question our manhood: I had a crazy friend--I mean she was bonkers--who was 6'4" and more than little of a badass. (She worked as a dominatrix for a while, as a matter of fact, when she was flat broke and desperate.) anyway, she had a ganglion cyst on the back of her hand, and a guy she met in a bar who claimed to be a doctor--I'm not kidding--told her the best way to get rid of it was to get drunk, then smash it with a heavy book. Being the loony tune she was, she did this, with a piece of cloth clenched between her teeth. She said the contents splattered all over the room. She cleaned it up and put on a bandage, and a couple weeks later there was no trace of it.

So, Any time you're thinking you're a badass, you just remember my friend Linda, doctoring herself alone in her tenament apartment like it was 1885 Wyoming. (I often do when I stub my toe or burn my hand or whatever. )

freedomrider1

Thanks for update, i now know what mine is also.

freedomrider1

What is your friends phone number.

Dave Cutter

I was told of smashing it with a Bible by an Eastern European Dr. about 1973-74. I wasn't actually sure what the Doctor was telling me and sat there drop-jawed looking confused. The nurse explained that "any large book would work".... and I was sent home to fix it myself. No joke. I DO NOT recommend this procedure or any DIY treatment.

There was NO SPLATTER. It DID hurt. The rupture was totally self-contained under the skin (not even a bruise). The "cure" was instantaneous. Some months/years later another popped up. A different Doctor injected (what I believe was) a Cortisone shot (I vaguely remember a third such cyst at a much busier time in my life). I've had other cysts (of some sort) cut from (in office surgery) my back (they got huge).

The last one I had removed came out in one piece! It left a little bit of a divot in my back after it healed (that surprised me). I laid down a penny beside it (for scale) and got a picture. Keep in mind that this small cyst looked huge on my back yet isn't that big when seen out from under the skin.



These aren't big deals. In my experience they don't become uncomfortable while they are still new, soft, and pliable. But as they age and harden they become less comfortable or even painful.

Terex

That's it. Get it looked at. Can cause contracture. I have one in the bottom of my left little finger. If you've got one, it's fairly likely that you'll have others at some point. The first one I had years ago formed under my wedding band but went away after I took off the band.

GerryinHouston

WHO went away?