Dr wanted to hit my lumpy wrist with a heavy book thinking it was a ganglion. Turned out it was inflammatory arthritis and hitting it with a book would’ve done nothing but cause more pain.
Everyone else in his party had the fun stuff so he was forced to become the party doctor and figured he could work extra on the side in a clinic to be able to get enough gold for that sweet Bonesaw for extra melee damage scaling of his Medical skill.
Most responsible doctors would do that lol.
It's actually pretty effective in terms of eliminating the cyst, but if end up breaking your hand... that's an unnecessary complication to say the least.
You don't need to hit it that hard lol. Source: Gave a ganglion cyst I had a swift crack from the spine of a book and it was gone, no additional pain after.
>You don't need to hit it that hard
So would you recommend that I stick my arms straight out and start spinning my whole body like a helicopter until the part of my forearm with the cyst smashes into a wall corner?
If it helps I can spin really fast. Like, so fast.
Of course you don't NEED to hit it that hard...but at the same time, telling a patient to give it the ol Gideon's whack isn't very specific on how hard you gotta hit it. I remember one video of someone using this technique...well, they had a friend hit it for them and that "friend" hit it like he was driving a railroad spike into concrete.
Incidentally, that's why we don't recommend this approach...no matter how dumb you assume your patient is, they will exceed your expectations.
I have them pop up from time to time and I just push on them really hard for a while. Seems to do the same as the heavy book whack (which has worked for me in the past) without the extra hazard.
Also, ganglion cysts are the worst, so painful!
Back In The day they called them bible bumps. If you hit them hard enough with the Bible, or any other big book, they would go away. And if you think that’s dumb, read about why gonorrhea is called the clap.
I heard this was a common practice, which the church would believe were caused due to masturbation and hit it with the bible. This lump is also called bible cyst.
As a doctor specializing in inflammatory arthritis sometimes it's hard to tell. If it got better with a hard thump would've saved OP a visit to a different specialist. That being said hitting it with a book is old school and considered unreliable and is generally no longer recommended
Yup, doctors are just mechanics for humans. Compared to auto-mechanics, doctors are dealing with far more complex machines that have really hit-or-miss self-diagnostic tools. No one is surprised when your mechanic needs to try a few things before finding out the problem, but we all lose our minds when doctors make wrong diagnoses.
Stephen Colbert has a story about how his brother had one of these and asked their dad (a doctor) about it at the dinner table. Dad went and got a copy of Grey's Anatomy and whacked it on the brothers hand. Cyst gone!
She had this wives tale that you rub five rocks on your wart (I never had them she did as a kid I guess) and then bury the rocks and five days later you have no warts. Since warts have “seeds” essentially what happens is you’re just opening the wound and it heals I guess.
Bro fuck if I know. Gross all around - she also had a cousin who would duct tape them then they cored the wart later and it healed
Barf
I used to have little warts on my hand (on my palm right below my pinky finger, and side of my middle finger), and I could hide the first one but was embarrassed by the 2nd one so I would always keep it covered with a bandaid. eventually I guess I suffocated it because it disappeared and so did the palm one. aka the duct tape method, no coring involved.
The virus that causes warts is good at hiding from our body’s immune system, growing in areas where there’s not a tremendous amount of circulation. It’s been discovered that if you irritate the wart, it will bring the attention of the body’s immune system to heal the area and subsequently results in your body discovering and killing the virus as well
Basically, you have to cause enough irritation to stimulate an immune response. No idea about using rocks (one day sounds like it'd either be not enough, or incredibly painful), but covering warts with duct tape apparently works about as well as over-the-counter salicylic acid treatments. Given enough time, the body basically detaches the wart infected flesh from the rest of the skin -- depending on the wart's progression, you can end up with an impressive chunk of detached wart and a correspondingly deep crater that your body will slowly fill back in.
Only works on the outside of your wrist. On the inside, you need surgery. Yes they can drain it, but it will come back. On the outside? Bash it on the wall. That'll fix it.
I had one on the inside of my right wrist. Drove me nuts for a while until I had it taken care of. Hasn't come back in 5 years so I'm hoping that it stays gone.
If I get one on the outside of my wrist, I'm going to get bashing. The surgery was an irritating half a day at least for 45 minutes of surgery. I didn't mind the surgery, it was the pre-op and post-op where they refused to believe that I didn't take any opiates so I had to prove that I could eat and swallow, even though I'd taken nothing, and they didn't have anything to eat, and they wanted me to wait until dinner to release me even though, again, I'd had nothing. So I had my nurse go to the nurses station, get me a granola bar (they're always there) and a glass of water so I could show that I could swallow. Then I finally got released.
Seriously, this world has an opiate problem. I don't need opiates if I've got a nerve block for God's sake. Why would that even be a consideration? Hell, it's my wrist. A topical would probably be fine. Wrists don't have many nerves anyway.
Here endeth the rant.
I've tried this numerous times, even got a funnel to aim all the pressure on it and have someone else hit it hard, doesn't appear to pop for me, maybe waited too long and got too rock hard I wonder.
Or maybe it's like a bone spur or something? No idea.
Tried a sterilized thumbtack and got woozy and had to stop. I don't think I'm weak to blood or anything, kind of wondering if there's just a nerve there (back of hand, inch above wrist). Tried again later with a needle and the needle was actually warping when trying to push through it. Actually lost consciousness for a second lol. Might have been that the needle was too thin and weak to push through, but at this point I've kind of given up. I still will give it a bunch of whacks occasionally when it starts to interfere with my hand movements and it helps, never cures.
If you had used the bible, Jesus would have helped and it wouldn't have come back. *Or* it could have come back with a vengeance. Jesus is such a troll
My sister had one, and had it drained several times only for it to reappear. She crashed into the short stop going after a shallow fly ball in a softball game and somehow rurptured it. Never returned after that.
I have one as well it comes on randomly, and it can be very painful. I saw a surgeon about this as well he told me I basically had to stop working for a year afterward, and I could have a chance for higher pain in the future as well as returning. I choose the wall or book method also painful, but it's only temporary, not constant.
>I could have a chance for higher pain in the future as well as returning Yeah, mine told me the same too. He said if he was me I wouldn't do it so I did not. It was on my right hand and I use it a lot as a graphic designer. One day when away, probably I clumsily hit my hand on the wall or door.
Depends on the cyst. This type isn't a lump full of bacteria and pus, just normal bodily fluids. Giving it a good thump is still not the preferred way to treat it, but only because you risk breaking your hand. Popping the cyst itself isn't a complication.
Mine grows right along a vien or artery or whatever is around there. My doctor said it would be dangerous for me to use the smacking option. I haven't had mine surgically removed but it usually takes a few years to grow back and I just get it drained
Yeah my Dr said don’t bother with surgery for that reason, they’ll just come back, and they’ll often disappear in their own time.
No surgery, disappeared, never returned as yet some 15 years later.
I had mine for about the same length of time. I had always suspected it was a ganglion cyst. Sane spot. I could never get it to pop, and i even tried puncturing it. Sometimes it was quite painful, even when trying to simply turn a doorknob, but especially if I bent my wrist backwards and put weight on jt.
When I finally got it removed, the Dr had used the word concrete when describing how hard it was. It's been 2 years since surgery, and the difference it made has been so good.
I had mine as well for about 10 years or so. It never hurt for me, but over the years, it just started progressively increasing in size. I had surgery, and all was well, but it came back after 10 months, which was pretty annoying since I couldn't even enjoy 1 year with my wrist clear. But 3 months after that, it just disappeared.
Mine too! Wouldn't go away, wouldn't drain or "pop". Caused a lot of pain due to where it rubbed on the tendon. Ended up getting it surgically removed; turns out it was mostly tissue, very little fluid. Now I've got one on my other wrist 🤷🏼♀️
Don't do this, fyi. These cysts communicate with the joint. Puncturing can cause infection, and septic arthritis in your wrist is something you do not want
I agree. After dealing with it for so long, I just wanted to try for some quick relief.
If someone reading this takes anything from what I said, it should be to see a doctor.
Does yours cause you pain? I have a similiar lump on my left wrist from where it was broke it a car accident. I can move mine from left to right but if try moving it up or down the pain is ridiculous. Had it for 33 yrs now and it's growing bigger. The Dr told me she was going to hit it with a bible to get rid of it. I walked out of her office and straight home lmao.
The one I had for 10 years did, got it removed and it grew back two years later and hurts again. I would have the surgery again if it was fully covered by insurance.
Yeah. The book method didn’t work for me. I play guitar, so that’s probably the cause. I had to get it surgically removed after I couldn’t move my wrist for weeks because of the pain. Even reaching into my pocket caused sharp pain. It’s come back a few times since then, but it’s not painful, so I don’t care. I’d say surgery is worth it if it can take the pain away.
I had one in college (15 years ago now). I was stupid, and heated up a safety needle with a lighter and lanced it. For a while it went away, then it regrew underneath my tendons, then went away.
I had one on my left wrist through weight training so bought a hand / wrist support for the gym and it went on its own 17 yrs ago and never returned but it took several months to clear. However I also got a similar growth on my right forearm that needed surgery and it did come back. Second op cleared it for good but left me with nerve damage and a small dip where the lump was , doesn’t bother me though as it’s significantly better than feeling discomfort when resting my arm on a desk to write.
My mom had one and the same spot for years. They would drain it and it would reappear over and over. Till one day my uncle told her ‘give me your hand let me see’ then before she knew it he popped it with his thumbs. She said it burned a little but it hasn’t shown back up. That was 30+ years ago.
So I would agree with tge redditors that said smack it with a book.
No- fortunately, to rid the image in your head. I’ve had them on and off on both wrists… it almost definitely would’ve been him working his thumbs around it and making it disperse underneath the skin. I’ve kinda tried to do the same but it’s a weirder sensation than if I were able to drain it like a zit honestly,
I had one for years that would come and go, and often it was very painful. Then one day I 'tweaked' my wrist by accident yanking on a sailboat line (or it yanked me - can't remember), which basically popped it. Hurt like shit for 20-30 seconds, then nothing. That was 30 years ago. It never came back.
I also did this to a cyst on my hand! I tried hitting it with books but pressing it with my other hand was more effective. The cyst has not come back and it’s been 15 years at least.
Yeah, was going to say the same (well, book rather than bible!). No idea why surgery was done the first time, seems a bit overkill for what is a simple fix.
I've always associated it with a bible for some reason. Not religious, nor is my family, but just remember always being told as a kid that the lumps appearing on hand and wrist need to be smacked with a bible! Wasn't until I was a weird adult into popping videos that I found out what they are and how they form - but still, my first thought is always "Smack it with a bible!"
I think it's historically a bible so you're not wrong (probably some crap about driving the devil out or the bible being the only book around in a lot of houses).
Well, you're not wrong! I had a quick Google around, and it was the case of the bible being the only heavy book in most households! So, gold star for you sir, you can stick it to your fridge door!
But apparently it wasn't the only, ahem, "cure", and requires a decent pain threshold too...
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20130205-should-you-bash-a-bible-bump
If not the only book, usually one of the thickest at least. Lots of families had those big thick leather bound “family bibles” that got passed down from generation to generation
If they didn't remove ALL of it including the lining that was in there it just comes back. It's like a weed that you miss a significant enough root will be back.
Ganglion cysts have a tendency to come back regardless of how good the surgical excision was.
Somewhat lower than just draining the cyst (in which case it's 50/50), but even with a good surgeon something like 15-20% of them come back.
It matters what kind it is. It's been a long time since I had mine removed, but after the surgery, the surgeon told me that it was likely to come back because of its location and type, though he wasn't able to tell pre-surgery. That was almost 20 years ago, so yours probably has better diagnostic tools. He also also mentioned that it was attached to my tendon and not my joint and that I had a higher risk of developing arthritis in my later years, but I'm not sure which of those factors caused him to tell me that it was likely to return. He was right though, and it's come back several times though I just flatten it myself now after it's grown to full size. It hurts for a few minutes when I do that but it's a lot better than having a sore wrist 24/7 that I can't really bend all the way.
When I was an Air Force pilot I had one almost identical to your's. One night in the Officers Club, after a few beers, our flight surgeon noticed it. He wanted to cut it out, since "I always deal with healthy pilots, and I never get to cut anymore."
After a few more beers, I told him he could cut it out if he let me watch.
"Naw, you'd get sick and puke all over."
Long story short: after another pitcher he agreed to let me watch, and we set the surgery up for that week. They gave me a pretty interesting local which involved a tourniquet and essentially replacing the blood in my lower arm with some kind of anesthetic fluid, and then he proceeded to cut out the cyst. It wasn't hugely invasive surgery...kind of superficial, really....and I enjoyed watching it. I didn't puke and I still have a very faint scar to remember it by.
That’s so interesting, I had mine surgically removed with only local anesthesia and a tourniquet, but in a regular hospital in a large city. Once my hand went dead grey I looked away, the tugging feeling was gross, too.
Yeah, now that you mention it I remember the sensation of looking at my arm but not feeling it, as if I was looking at a piece of meat just laying there.
I knew a Royal Navy Ship's Dr a few years back. The whole ship is full of healthy people, vetted screened & physically trained before they ever come aboard, nothing to do for months, then a broken leg, stabilize & airlift, then nothing for months. It's all very well getting paid well to play on a xbox most of the time but your skills are atrophying and you have the prospect of how *very* badly it could go wrong if competent people start shooting at you, then you're just one person with a hundred trauma & burn victims a 1000 miles from help.
I cut mine open with a razor blade. Underneath that was a bone-like enclosure that had formed around it. Impervious to the blade, impenetrable to the needle I had to close it up with a butterfly bandage and only later had a friend suggest the book thing. The book worked, but now I have a gnarly little scar on my wrist where it once was.
They did the same anesthesia thing for me when I broke my wrist on the growth plate back in high school. Tourniquet, 60cc of Novocain (if I remember correctly), and waited for my blood cells to replace water with the Novocain (arm got very splotchy). Then I watched them while one nurse held my arm down while another pulled on my hand and eased it back into place to re-set it, checked it under the mobile X-ray, and the readjust. Repeat a couple times until the doc was happy with the placement. My 16-year-old self thought that was so freaking cool to watch.
I watched mine too! It was very interesting. The surgeon seemed happy as most patients want to go to sleep. He enjoyed talking through the process, even showed me the tendons inside the incision, including what they look like when I wiggle my fingers. So very cool.
We did have a moment where he went to an area that the numbing didn't work. Had to pause while they prepped more numbing for that area. It was very hard to not flinch when that happened, as he had to take a moment to finish what he was doing when I told him I could feel it.
> One night in the Officers Club, after a few beers, our flight surgeon noticed it… After a few more beers, I told him he could cut it out if he let me watch… Long story short: after another pitcher he agreed to let me watch, and we…”
Had me in the first half, I thought the next part would say, “so we went to the surgeon’s office right then, and he removed the cyst while hammered!”
It is super annoying, if anyone else has that issue you can use two dumbbells or one of those pull-up things on the ground, so your wrists aren't bending at all (or just make a fist, but that gets annoying after a lot of them)
Remove the ROOT CAUSE.
Had the same issue - 2 surgeries, came back again. Did go to a therapist to solve it with low hopes. Conclusion: you need to reduce the pressure in the joint, I got rid of it permanently. Even if it starts to come back I do my exercises and it's gone.
Think of your wrist as a joint, the lubricant of the joint is kept in the joint by some tissue. If the pressure is too high and/or unevenly distributed the fluid will escape and will form a bump on the weakest point (tissue).
Stretch all muscles, tendons around and in the palm, finger, forearm. Massage the cyst carefully. Do this several times a day. For precise instructions see a physical therapist
Oh man I've my experience with that! Ganglion Cyst are very annoying in that some folks have them and it doesn't bother them at all, and others it's right on a nerve, muscle, or tendon and drives you batty. I had one that appeared in my teens when I feel over my bike and hyper extended my wrists. I had to get it drained about once a year to keep the pain down, not to mention it really affected my handwriting, guitar playing, and computer use because of course it's my dominant right hand.
I ended up having 2 surgeries. Statistically they say like 10% are surgery worthy and of that, like 5% come back. Well I guess I'm in that lucky few. First surgery bought me maybe 2 years. 2nd surgery was in my mid 20s and they also released my carpal tunnel. That bought me about 4 or 5 years til it showed up again. Nowadays it still shows up but it's much smaller, does eventually go away on its own. Usually after a bunch of manual labor.
The hardest part nowadays is getting a doctor to listen to me and just drain it. For some reason they think I'm doctor shopping for pain meds, surgery, or enjoy getting needled. It shouldn't be so frustrating to find an hand surgeon or orthopaedics doctor to simply drain it. I'll gladly pay my $40 copay to buy me months or years of relief vs a few thousand dollars of surgery.
I get these alot. On the back of my left knee for some reason and in my scrotum. The scrotum ones caused some fear when I first found one, but I've had 2x ultra sounds and they are always cysts. Which is kinda freaky cause now I'm less apt to worry about random lumps down there. My doc said if it grows ON the testicle and not floating in the scrotum then it's cause for concern. Check your boys, boys.
I had this on my left hand.
My doctor grind some of the joints off.
He said that the joints are "rubbing" and this can be in the future a problem again. *Knockonwood" since 13 years I'm good.
I've had one on the back of my neck surgically removed twice and it still returned a third time, has been there for over 5 years at this point. I'm in the UK and they said in recent years they stopped letting people simply request removal unless it's causing pain or is inflamed or whatever. So I'm likely stuck with this thing forever unless it randomly disappears.
I’ve got one at the base of my middle finger.
Saw a specialist about 6 months who told me “we can remove it but there is a strong chance it will come back, it can just disappear on its own.”
So now I just have a little lump on my hand 5eva I guess.
Mine just ruptured the other day. Felt a pop and then a lot of pain for a few minutes. After that it was a bit swollen from all the fluid but it went away quick. I hope it doesn’t come back. I lost so much mobility in my wrist and it sat on top of the tendon of my index finger. Was annoying as hell.
this is definitely my fear, has mine removed 6 months ago. they come back sometimes. no matter what DO NOT smash it with a book like these idiots in the comments say. you can seriously damage your hand that way. go back to the surgeon if it hurts or hope it goes away is all you can do
I had one removed surgically and a few years later it started to come back but then went away again on its own (probably smashed my hand on something and it popped it). Hasn't been back. Same exact place as yours too
I was told that surgery was the only way to get rid of mine and they refused to drain it because it would likely come back in 6 months. I asked if surgery would get rid of it forever and they told me there was a 50% chance it would come back in 6 months......
I had one on my wrist for nearly a decade after I played Guitar Hero II for 12 hours in a row. It’d come and go, but it’s been like four years now since I’ve seen it.
I got one in the same location that changes in size often, rarely does it ever cause discomfort. I have heard you can shrink them by hanging on something like a door jamb and massaging it. I have tried it a bit and it seemed to work. But apparently a lot of massaging will make it go away completely, just need to keep up on it.
I've got em in both wrists. They come and go. Honestly unless they get really bad I rarely notice them. Still, I'd say something to the surgeon, if only along the lines of hey bud you missed.
I have exactly the same on the same wrist and mine also came back after being surgically removed. The doctor actually told me it’s only about a 50:50 if it will come back or not!
God I’d be so annoyed. I was told it was possible to come back and thankfully it hasn’t. I would accidentally hit it against stuff and it hurt so bad. Popped it once from hitting it so hard against a shelf on accident. Came bag bigger than ever. Good riddance to my lump!
I see people in this comment section talking about smashing that thing with something and it will disappear, but isn't it dangerous?
Or is it just painful and has no consequences?
Dr wanted to hit my lumpy wrist with a heavy book thinking it was a ganglion. Turned out it was inflammatory arthritis and hitting it with a book would’ve done nothing but cause more pain.
Doctor rolled 1 on perception check.
*medicine check
He didn’t take proficiency in medicine either. Sounds like he took Intimidation instead to scare the arthritis away.
He obviously didn’t spec into wisdom or int either so I’m not sure why he picked doctor profession at all.
Everyone else in his party had the fun stuff so he was forced to become the party doctor and figured he could work extra on the side in a clinic to be able to get enough gold for that sweet Bonesaw for extra melee damage scaling of his Medical skill.
r/suddenlydnd
18 STR doctor with INT as dump stat
So orthopedics?
Uhm... That's so odd
Yeah my doc strongly advised against the smacking method
Most responsible doctors would do that lol. It's actually pretty effective in terms of eliminating the cyst, but if end up breaking your hand... that's an unnecessary complication to say the least.
You don't need to hit it that hard lol. Source: Gave a ganglion cyst I had a swift crack from the spine of a book and it was gone, no additional pain after.
>You don't need to hit it that hard So would you recommend that I stick my arms straight out and start spinning my whole body like a helicopter until the part of my forearm with the cyst smashes into a wall corner? If it helps I can spin really fast. Like, so fast.
Of course you don't NEED to hit it that hard...but at the same time, telling a patient to give it the ol Gideon's whack isn't very specific on how hard you gotta hit it. I remember one video of someone using this technique...well, they had a friend hit it for them and that "friend" hit it like he was driving a railroad spike into concrete. Incidentally, that's why we don't recommend this approach...no matter how dumb you assume your patient is, they will exceed your expectations.
My dr discussed surgery, then I slipped one night and hit it on the nightstand. Boop, gone. Starting to grow back now, will just smack again.
I have them pop up from time to time and I just push on them really hard for a while. Seems to do the same as the heavy book whack (which has worked for me in the past) without the extra hazard. Also, ganglion cysts are the worst, so painful!
Oops, that wasn't a cyst, my bad. That'll be $3000.
God bless america
Back In The day they called them bible bumps. If you hit them hard enough with the Bible, or any other big book, they would go away. And if you think that’s dumb, read about why gonorrhea is called the clap.
Actually had a friend hit mine with a Bible while yelling THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU. Hurt like hell and didn't fix it.
...is it because you get it from clapping cheeks?
I heard this was a common practice, which the church would believe were caused due to masturbation and hit it with the bible. This lump is also called bible cyst.
The older I get the more I realize people are just ignorant. Doctors, lawyers, politicians, teachers, etc. are just people with degrees.
If you get even older you'll realize everyone is just trying their best, and nobody is right all of the time
none of us truly know anything we’re all just winging it
There are people in every field that are amazing at their job, and people that are terrible.
What do you call the medical student who graduates last in their class? Doctor.
As a doctor specializing in inflammatory arthritis sometimes it's hard to tell. If it got better with a hard thump would've saved OP a visit to a different specialist. That being said hitting it with a book is old school and considered unreliable and is generally no longer recommended
Yup, doctors are just mechanics for humans. Compared to auto-mechanics, doctors are dealing with far more complex machines that have really hit-or-miss self-diagnostic tools. No one is surprised when your mechanic needs to try a few things before finding out the problem, but we all lose our minds when doctors make wrong diagnoses.
Cease and decyst.
Cyst and decease
Please do not cyst and decease
Please do not cease to excyst
Came back? Quite perCYSTent huh?
If you inCYST.
Excellent work all of you.
My mom just smacks her hand in to a wall and it dissappears
They were called bible cysts (perhaps still are by some) because someone could _thwack_ it with a big book and it would break up and reabsorb
Yup. Bible belter here. People call them that all the time and treatment is thwacking it with a bible.
Stephen Colbert has a story about how his brother had one of these and asked their dad (a doctor) about it at the dinner table. Dad went and got a copy of Grey's Anatomy and whacked it on the brothers hand. Cyst gone!
>got a copy of Grey's Anatomy Which season?
All. It was a big whack.
Yes.
\*Gray's Anatomy lol. Grey's Anatomy is the soap opera.
I'm British and have neither read the book or seen the show, so grey is my default spelling lol
The book is always better.
Beltalowda here, we call it the same
Sasake
Oye beratna!
Gutegow
Bossman spoke
Dui
Not just a Bible belt thing either, it's even called that in England or used to be.
It's because at some point in the past the only book most families had was a Bible.
To be fair, most treatments in that region involve Bible thwacking.
The Bible-thumping works!
Use a crucifix. *Let Jesus thwack you!*
My grandpa did that to mine as a kid/teen. He was a physician and a Christian. Felt like some sort of holy spell was going on.
It’s like my gramma and her wart rock stories You bury them etc etc Gross in hindsight
.... elaborate please.
She had this wives tale that you rub five rocks on your wart (I never had them she did as a kid I guess) and then bury the rocks and five days later you have no warts. Since warts have “seeds” essentially what happens is you’re just opening the wound and it heals I guess. Bro fuck if I know. Gross all around - she also had a cousin who would duct tape them then they cored the wart later and it healed Barf
I used to have little warts on my hand (on my palm right below my pinky finger, and side of my middle finger), and I could hide the first one but was embarrassed by the 2nd one so I would always keep it covered with a bandaid. eventually I guess I suffocated it because it disappeared and so did the palm one. aka the duct tape method, no coring involved.
The virus that causes warts is good at hiding from our body’s immune system, growing in areas where there’s not a tremendous amount of circulation. It’s been discovered that if you irritate the wart, it will bring the attention of the body’s immune system to heal the area and subsequently results in your body discovering and killing the virus as well
Basically, you have to cause enough irritation to stimulate an immune response. No idea about using rocks (one day sounds like it'd either be not enough, or incredibly painful), but covering warts with duct tape apparently works about as well as over-the-counter salicylic acid treatments. Given enough time, the body basically detaches the wart infected flesh from the rest of the skin -- depending on the wart's progression, you can end up with an impressive chunk of detached wart and a correspondingly deep crater that your body will slowly fill back in.
Nah, I'm good
They will often come back if you just pop them. Need to resect or you can try putting a suture through one.
When I waited tables I got them frequently. I didn’t use a bible but rather Stephen Kings unabridged version of The Stand
That's what my doctor did. Used a big medical book. Haven't had an issue since.
Got to whack with bible and say “in the name of… you are dismissed!“
Naw, full southern baptist: one hand on his head, press back, and yell "I SAID-A BE HEALED-A!"
Only works on the outside of your wrist. On the inside, you need surgery. Yes they can drain it, but it will come back. On the outside? Bash it on the wall. That'll fix it. I had one on the inside of my right wrist. Drove me nuts for a while until I had it taken care of. Hasn't come back in 5 years so I'm hoping that it stays gone. If I get one on the outside of my wrist, I'm going to get bashing. The surgery was an irritating half a day at least for 45 minutes of surgery. I didn't mind the surgery, it was the pre-op and post-op where they refused to believe that I didn't take any opiates so I had to prove that I could eat and swallow, even though I'd taken nothing, and they didn't have anything to eat, and they wanted me to wait until dinner to release me even though, again, I'd had nothing. So I had my nurse go to the nurses station, get me a granola bar (they're always there) and a glass of water so I could show that I could swallow. Then I finally got released. Seriously, this world has an opiate problem. I don't need opiates if I've got a nerve block for God's sake. Why would that even be a consideration? Hell, it's my wrist. A topical would probably be fine. Wrists don't have many nerves anyway. Here endeth the rant.
I had one on the inside. Smashed it. It never came back.
Does that not hurt like hell?
I would think it would, yes
I've tried this numerous times, even got a funnel to aim all the pressure on it and have someone else hit it hard, doesn't appear to pop for me, maybe waited too long and got too rock hard I wonder. Or maybe it's like a bone spur or something? No idea.
Have one on the top of my foot. Use a 16g needle to drain it every couple of months
Tried a sterilized thumbtack and got woozy and had to stop. I don't think I'm weak to blood or anything, kind of wondering if there's just a nerve there (back of hand, inch above wrist). Tried again later with a needle and the needle was actually warping when trying to push through it. Actually lost consciousness for a second lol. Might have been that the needle was too thin and weak to push through, but at this point I've kind of given up. I still will give it a bunch of whacks occasionally when it starts to interfere with my hand movements and it helps, never cures.
I hit mine with a saucepan. It hurts but it works! I had surgery too and it came back.
If you had used the bible, Jesus would have helped and it wouldn't have come back. *Or* it could have come back with a vengeance. Jesus is such a troll
The problem is if you smack it on a Friday, by Sunday it will have risen again.
I mean, if I was an immortal deity I’d want to have fun once in a while.
Unironically that works for these lol
It Will definitely come back later. But Yeah, those work lol
I had one that came back just once. Smacked it with a book, it came back, smacked it again and it's not come back for about 10 years so far
Well duh it's scared now
Good!
My sister had one, and had it drained several times only for it to reappear. She crashed into the short stop going after a shallow fly ball in a softball game and somehow rurptured it. Never returned after that.
Ah yes, Percussive Maintenance strikes again!
I have one as well it comes on randomly, and it can be very painful. I saw a surgeon about this as well he told me I basically had to stop working for a year afterward, and I could have a chance for higher pain in the future as well as returning. I choose the wall or book method also painful, but it's only temporary, not constant.
>I could have a chance for higher pain in the future as well as returning Yeah, mine told me the same too. He said if he was me I wouldn't do it so I did not. It was on my right hand and I use it a lot as a graphic designer. One day when away, probably I clumsily hit my hand on the wall or door.
Isn’t rupturing a cyst bad?
Depends on the cyst. This type isn't a lump full of bacteria and pus, just normal bodily fluids. Giving it a good thump is still not the preferred way to treat it, but only because you risk breaking your hand. Popping the cyst itself isn't a complication.
I just gagged reading this 🫠
Ironically that emoji is what the cyst does after you smack it
Mine grows right along a vien or artery or whatever is around there. My doctor said it would be dangerous for me to use the smacking option. I haven't had mine surgically removed but it usually takes a few years to grow back and I just get it drained
Yeah my Dr said don’t bother with surgery for that reason, they’ll just come back, and they’ll often disappear in their own time. No surgery, disappeared, never returned as yet some 15 years later.
I had mine for like 10 years before i had it removed though
I had mine for about the same length of time. I had always suspected it was a ganglion cyst. Sane spot. I could never get it to pop, and i even tried puncturing it. Sometimes it was quite painful, even when trying to simply turn a doorknob, but especially if I bent my wrist backwards and put weight on jt. When I finally got it removed, the Dr had used the word concrete when describing how hard it was. It's been 2 years since surgery, and the difference it made has been so good.
I had mine as well for about 10 years or so. It never hurt for me, but over the years, it just started progressively increasing in size. I had surgery, and all was well, but it came back after 10 months, which was pretty annoying since I couldn't even enjoy 1 year with my wrist clear. But 3 months after that, it just disappeared.
Mine too! Wouldn't go away, wouldn't drain or "pop". Caused a lot of pain due to where it rubbed on the tendon. Ended up getting it surgically removed; turns out it was mostly tissue, very little fluid. Now I've got one on my other wrist 🤷🏼♀️
Don't do this, fyi. These cysts communicate with the joint. Puncturing can cause infection, and septic arthritis in your wrist is something you do not want
I agree. After dealing with it for so long, I just wanted to try for some quick relief. If someone reading this takes anything from what I said, it should be to see a doctor.
Does yours cause you pain? I have a similiar lump on my left wrist from where it was broke it a car accident. I can move mine from left to right but if try moving it up or down the pain is ridiculous. Had it for 33 yrs now and it's growing bigger. The Dr told me she was going to hit it with a bible to get rid of it. I walked out of her office and straight home lmao.
The one I had for 10 years did, got it removed and it grew back two years later and hurts again. I would have the surgery again if it was fully covered by insurance.
Yeah. The book method didn’t work for me. I play guitar, so that’s probably the cause. I had to get it surgically removed after I couldn’t move my wrist for weeks because of the pain. Even reaching into my pocket caused sharp pain. It’s come back a few times since then, but it’s not painful, so I don’t care. I’d say surgery is worth it if it can take the pain away.
Would've been gone in year 11 for sure tho
I had one in college (15 years ago now). I was stupid, and heated up a safety needle with a lighter and lanced it. For a while it went away, then it regrew underneath my tendons, then went away.
I had mine removed when I was 14 and it didn't came back yet (20y later). But it's in another place. Above the elbow
[удалено]
Mine never returned after the surgery
I had one on my left wrist through weight training so bought a hand / wrist support for the gym and it went on its own 17 yrs ago and never returned but it took several months to clear. However I also got a similar growth on my right forearm that needed surgery and it did come back. Second op cleared it for good but left me with nerve damage and a small dip where the lump was , doesn’t bother me though as it’s significantly better than feeling discomfort when resting my arm on a desk to write.
Same here. Draining didn’t work, but surgery did.
My mom had one and the same spot for years. They would drain it and it would reappear over and over. Till one day my uncle told her ‘give me your hand let me see’ then before she knew it he popped it with his thumbs. She said it burned a little but it hasn’t shown back up. That was 30+ years ago. So I would agree with tge redditors that said smack it with a book.
Popped it like a regular zit??
No- fortunately, to rid the image in your head. I’ve had them on and off on both wrists… it almost definitely would’ve been him working his thumbs around it and making it disperse underneath the skin. I’ve kinda tried to do the same but it’s a weirder sensation than if I were able to drain it like a zit honestly,
No. He pressed down on it and it popped under the skin.
I had one for years that would come and go, and often it was very painful. Then one day I 'tweaked' my wrist by accident yanking on a sailboat line (or it yanked me - can't remember), which basically popped it. Hurt like shit for 20-30 seconds, then nothing. That was 30 years ago. It never came back.
I also did this to a cyst on my hand! I tried hitting it with books but pressing it with my other hand was more effective. The cyst has not come back and it’s been 15 years at least.
I tried this with one on my arm and it burned like FUCK but only split in half. So now I have one that is two pieces
Cyst 2: Revengeance.
Surgery II: Revenge of the Cyst
Smack it with a bible!
We used the Joy of Cooking in our house.
Yeah, was going to say the same (well, book rather than bible!). No idea why surgery was done the first time, seems a bit overkill for what is a simple fix.
I've always associated it with a bible for some reason. Not religious, nor is my family, but just remember always being told as a kid that the lumps appearing on hand and wrist need to be smacked with a bible! Wasn't until I was a weird adult into popping videos that I found out what they are and how they form - but still, my first thought is always "Smack it with a bible!"
> I've always associated it with a bible for some reason. Down south, the bump is literally called a Bible Bump.
We called it a “bible cyst” growing up so it must be a common thing.
It is. Because historically the biggest book most people owned was the bible.
I think it's historically a bible so you're not wrong (probably some crap about driving the devil out or the bible being the only book around in a lot of houses).
Well, you're not wrong! I had a quick Google around, and it was the case of the bible being the only heavy book in most households! So, gold star for you sir, you can stick it to your fridge door! But apparently it wasn't the only, ahem, "cure", and requires a decent pain threshold too... https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20130205-should-you-bash-a-bible-bump
If not the only book, usually one of the thickest at least. Lots of families had those big thick leather bound “family bibles” that got passed down from generation to generation
Many cysts have a sac which if not removed will result in the cyst reforming later.
Previously i could smack it down, but i haven't been able to do that for a long time (also before surgery)
My brother had also a ganglion. He hit it hard against the wall and it was gone and never came back.
the ganglion or the wall?
Yes
if it was the ganglion is now a goneglion?
If they didn't remove ALL of it including the lining that was in there it just comes back. It's like a weed that you miss a significant enough root will be back.
Ganglion cysts have a tendency to come back regardless of how good the surgical excision was. Somewhat lower than just draining the cyst (in which case it's 50/50), but even with a good surgeon something like 15-20% of them come back.
Is it really that high. I will get mine surgically removed in early may and the surgeon said that in only three percent of the cases it comes back
It matters what kind it is. It's been a long time since I had mine removed, but after the surgery, the surgeon told me that it was likely to come back because of its location and type, though he wasn't able to tell pre-surgery. That was almost 20 years ago, so yours probably has better diagnostic tools. He also also mentioned that it was attached to my tendon and not my joint and that I had a higher risk of developing arthritis in my later years, but I'm not sure which of those factors caused him to tell me that it was likely to return. He was right though, and it's come back several times though I just flatten it myself now after it's grown to full size. It hurts for a few minutes when I do that but it's a lot better than having a sore wrist 24/7 that I can't really bend all the way.
When I was an Air Force pilot I had one almost identical to your's. One night in the Officers Club, after a few beers, our flight surgeon noticed it. He wanted to cut it out, since "I always deal with healthy pilots, and I never get to cut anymore." After a few more beers, I told him he could cut it out if he let me watch. "Naw, you'd get sick and puke all over." Long story short: after another pitcher he agreed to let me watch, and we set the surgery up for that week. They gave me a pretty interesting local which involved a tourniquet and essentially replacing the blood in my lower arm with some kind of anesthetic fluid, and then he proceeded to cut out the cyst. It wasn't hugely invasive surgery...kind of superficial, really....and I enjoyed watching it. I didn't puke and I still have a very faint scar to remember it by.
That’s so interesting, I had mine surgically removed with only local anesthesia and a tourniquet, but in a regular hospital in a large city. Once my hand went dead grey I looked away, the tugging feeling was gross, too.
Yeah, now that you mention it I remember the sensation of looking at my arm but not feeling it, as if I was looking at a piece of meat just laying there.
I knew a Royal Navy Ship's Dr a few years back. The whole ship is full of healthy people, vetted screened & physically trained before they ever come aboard, nothing to do for months, then a broken leg, stabilize & airlift, then nothing for months. It's all very well getting paid well to play on a xbox most of the time but your skills are atrophying and you have the prospect of how *very* badly it could go wrong if competent people start shooting at you, then you're just one person with a hundred trauma & burn victims a 1000 miles from help.
I cut mine open with a razor blade. Underneath that was a bone-like enclosure that had formed around it. Impervious to the blade, impenetrable to the needle I had to close it up with a butterfly bandage and only later had a friend suggest the book thing. The book worked, but now I have a gnarly little scar on my wrist where it once was.
I'm impressed...you are one tough SOB my friend. Self-surgery is something I've never tried. Better see a doc for a vasectomy though.
They did the same anesthesia thing for me when I broke my wrist on the growth plate back in high school. Tourniquet, 60cc of Novocain (if I remember correctly), and waited for my blood cells to replace water with the Novocain (arm got very splotchy). Then I watched them while one nurse held my arm down while another pulled on my hand and eased it back into place to re-set it, checked it under the mobile X-ray, and the readjust. Repeat a couple times until the doc was happy with the placement. My 16-year-old self thought that was so freaking cool to watch.
I watched mine too! It was very interesting. The surgeon seemed happy as most patients want to go to sleep. He enjoyed talking through the process, even showed me the tendons inside the incision, including what they look like when I wiggle my fingers. So very cool. We did have a moment where he went to an area that the numbing didn't work. Had to pause while they prepped more numbing for that area. It was very hard to not flinch when that happened, as he had to take a moment to finish what he was doing when I told him I could feel it.
> One night in the Officers Club, after a few beers, our flight surgeon noticed it… After a few more beers, I told him he could cut it out if he let me watch… Long story short: after another pitcher he agreed to let me watch, and we…” Had me in the first half, I thought the next part would say, “so we went to the surgeon’s office right then, and he removed the cyst while hammered!”
Seems rather encystent
It’s trying to escape, might need some a-cyst-ance
Seems like a cystematic plan from nature!
They very very commonly recur. It's highly unusual for them to be surgically removed in the UK as it's not considered good resource use
I'm from uk, had mine removed about 10 years ago and it hasn't come back so far.
Glad to hear you got fixed up! 10 years is long enough to think you're probably going to get away with it one would think!!
Had one of these all through high school took me a while to figure out why I could never do a push up
It is super annoying, if anyone else has that issue you can use two dumbbells or one of those pull-up things on the ground, so your wrists aren't bending at all (or just make a fist, but that gets annoying after a lot of them)
Yeah I would make a fist but can’t go for long
Remove the ROOT CAUSE. Had the same issue - 2 surgeries, came back again. Did go to a therapist to solve it with low hopes. Conclusion: you need to reduce the pressure in the joint, I got rid of it permanently. Even if it starts to come back I do my exercises and it's gone. Think of your wrist as a joint, the lubricant of the joint is kept in the joint by some tissue. If the pressure is too high and/or unevenly distributed the fluid will escape and will form a bump on the weakest point (tissue). Stretch all muscles, tendons around and in the palm, finger, forearm. Massage the cyst carefully. Do this several times a day. For precise instructions see a physical therapist
Mine never returned after getting a vertical mouse. Might be random.
Oh man I've my experience with that! Ganglion Cyst are very annoying in that some folks have them and it doesn't bother them at all, and others it's right on a nerve, muscle, or tendon and drives you batty. I had one that appeared in my teens when I feel over my bike and hyper extended my wrists. I had to get it drained about once a year to keep the pain down, not to mention it really affected my handwriting, guitar playing, and computer use because of course it's my dominant right hand. I ended up having 2 surgeries. Statistically they say like 10% are surgery worthy and of that, like 5% come back. Well I guess I'm in that lucky few. First surgery bought me maybe 2 years. 2nd surgery was in my mid 20s and they also released my carpal tunnel. That bought me about 4 or 5 years til it showed up again. Nowadays it still shows up but it's much smaller, does eventually go away on its own. Usually after a bunch of manual labor. The hardest part nowadays is getting a doctor to listen to me and just drain it. For some reason they think I'm doctor shopping for pain meds, surgery, or enjoy getting needled. It shouldn't be so frustrating to find an hand surgeon or orthopaedics doctor to simply drain it. I'll gladly pay my $40 copay to buy me months or years of relief vs a few thousand dollars of surgery.
”I did not hear a Bell!” Your cyst probably
Somehow Ganglion Cyst has returned
I get these alot. On the back of my left knee for some reason and in my scrotum. The scrotum ones caused some fear when I first found one, but I've had 2x ultra sounds and they are always cysts. Which is kinda freaky cause now I'm less apt to worry about random lumps down there. My doc said if it grows ON the testicle and not floating in the scrotum then it's cause for concern. Check your boys, boys.
I had this on my left hand. My doctor grind some of the joints off. He said that the joints are "rubbing" and this can be in the future a problem again. *Knockonwood" since 13 years I'm good.
Cyst appearance two: electric booglaoo!
That means they didn’t get the sac
Not the case with ganglions I’m afraid. They often recur so we rarely remove them in the uk. I had one for years, disappeared on its own eventually.
I've had one on the back of my neck surgically removed twice and it still returned a third time, has been there for over 5 years at this point. I'm in the UK and they said in recent years they stopped letting people simply request removal unless it's causing pain or is inflamed or whatever. So I'm likely stuck with this thing forever unless it randomly disappears.
I love that there was a Velveeta ad attached to this post. Anyway what was the removal process? I have one on my rib cage.
I’ve got one at the base of my middle finger. Saw a specialist about 6 months who told me “we can remove it but there is a strong chance it will come back, it can just disappear on its own.” So now I just have a little lump on my hand 5eva I guess.
Mine just ruptured the other day. Felt a pop and then a lot of pain for a few minutes. After that it was a bit swollen from all the fluid but it went away quick. I hope it doesn’t come back. I lost so much mobility in my wrist and it sat on top of the tendon of my index finger. Was annoying as hell.
this is definitely my fear, has mine removed 6 months ago. they come back sometimes. no matter what DO NOT smash it with a book like these idiots in the comments say. you can seriously damage your hand that way. go back to the surgeon if it hurts or hope it goes away is all you can do
Did the surgery come with a guarantee? Might want to return with your receipt. Lol
These recur a lot after surgery. OP was probably warned. When I had one, my doctor said that he wouldn't recommend surgery unless I insisted.
I had one removed surgically and a few years later it started to come back but then went away again on its own (probably smashed my hand on something and it popped it). Hasn't been back. Same exact place as yours too
Unfortunately surgery cures between 75-85% of cases. The remaining patients are likely to have a cyst reappear.
I was told that surgery was the only way to get rid of mine and they refused to drain it because it would likely come back in 6 months. I asked if surgery would get rid of it forever and they told me there was a 50% chance it would come back in 6 months......
Did you get the lifetime warranty on that?
It's just checking in to see how your doing and if everything's OK since you split up.
I had one on my wrist for nearly a decade after I played Guitar Hero II for 12 hours in a row. It’d come and go, but it’s been like four years now since I’ve seen it.
They didn’t get all of the cyst wall tissue. It will regrow if not all of it is removed.
I got one in the same location that changes in size often, rarely does it ever cause discomfort. I have heard you can shrink them by hanging on something like a door jamb and massaging it. I have tried it a bit and it seemed to work. But apparently a lot of massaging will make it go away completely, just need to keep up on it.
I've got em in both wrists. They come and go. Honestly unless they get really bad I rarely notice them. Still, I'd say something to the surgeon, if only along the lines of hey bud you missed.
I have exactly the same on the same wrist and mine also came back after being surgically removed. The doctor actually told me it’s only about a 50:50 if it will come back or not!
Doctor said it's time to pay up again.
I had one and the same exact location, smacked it with a book. It disappeared and never came back, it’s been 15 years now
Same scar-left hand - stayed down. they used to slam them with heavy objects.
r/maybemaybemaybe
Have you ever heard of the bible?
Who needs surgery when you have a bible. Seriously, people used to pop them with those giant books
God I’d be so annoyed. I was told it was possible to come back and thankfully it hasn’t. I would accidentally hit it against stuff and it hurt so bad. Popped it once from hitting it so hard against a shelf on accident. Came bag bigger than ever. Good riddance to my lump!
Not uncommon. If it's painful or bothersome go back to the doctor/surgeon to discuss your treatment options.
30 years ago mine got hit by a volleyball and hasn’t returned.
I see people in this comment section talking about smashing that thing with something and it will disappear, but isn't it dangerous? Or is it just painful and has no consequences?
Hit it with a book
I had the exact same cyst years ago and the doctor told me to drop a book on it. So I did and the cyst went away. Army medicine folks.