I have developed a largish lump or growth on the anterior side of my right wrist. It is around 1/2" across, and 1/4" in height at the center. It appears to be just over the median nerve and flexor tendon area a forefinger’s breadth behind the opponens pollicis. Occasionally my thumb and index finger go numb, and sometimes the entire hand.
Carpal Tunnel? If so, I have never heard of a tumor like growth associated with it. It feels like a lump of cartilege that is anchored, but has a bit of play in it. And it is hurting me today, so I thought I would ask you and the SDMB in general for any thoughts…
Ganglion cyst is the first entity that enters my mind, completely benign, if an occasional nuisance. But keep in mind there’s no substitute for a trained professional taking an actual look at it. Given the symptoms of pain and numbness you experience, that sort of evaluation would be in order.
In your experience, are men perhaps not likely to share all their symptoms for fear for appearing to be “wimps”? My esteemed spouse will complain to me about pains and malfunctioning bodily functions, then claim the doctor found nothing wrong… I suspect he doesn’t tell the whole story to the medical professional. Along the same lines, would it be too much to have a 45 y/o man show up in your office with his mom?? Not that I’d ask her to take him, mind you…
I swear, sometimes he’s worse than a baby…
I have a ganglion cyst that sounds precisely like what you describe. My orthopedist told me that the old-fashioned way to treat it when he was first in practice (about 40-50 years ago) was to whack it hard to break the cyst. :eek: He said they stopped doing that because it almost always grew back, and besides, there was absolutely no harm it could do.
Which isn’t to say that that’s what you have, or that you might not have carpal tunnel syndrome in addition to the cyst. Your GP should probably look at it first, but he may well send you to an orthopedist.
Yeah, men complain a lot less in the office. And women complain a lot more. I don’t mean to stereotype, and there are tons of exceptions to this, but as a whole, it’s true. Perhaps there’s a cultural stoicism imbued in western men that says they can’t really open up to another guy, while women are allowed to give more vent to their fears and concerns to someone like me. I dunno. I tend to be pragmatic about it and just deal with what there is to deal with in each situation.
BTW, I’ve got a 45 year old man who shows up with his mom and his dad at the office. It’s not a happy situation.
Overall, I’ve generally found ways to listen that get people to talk (sometimes) and ways to talk that get them to listen (a little more than sometimes). So how come it goes out the window with my own kids? Don’t bother answering that last, it’s rhetorical.
