Synovial thickening/Ganglions

[Tinat3]

Hi all. Hope this finds you all as well as can be on this lovely sunny day.

After a recent appointment with my Consultant, it was confirmed that I have Synovial Thickening on my ankles. This was confirmed through a letter which I received so I have not had the opportunity to ask exactly what this means.

At my last appointment, I also enquired about some peasize lumps appearing on the inside of my fingers on each hand mid joint and was told that these are ganglions. They can be quite uncomfortable at times but not so much painful. Has anyone had any experience if these and can tell me if they eventually go or get worse?

Many thanks in advance x

[Beverley-NRAS]

Hi Tinat3,

I have put a link to our article on rheumatoid nodules for you to look at. I hope this information will be useful to you:

nras.org.uk/rheumatoid-nodules

Beverley (NRAS Helpline)

[Tinat3 in reply to Beverley-NRAS]

Thankyou Beverley. Will take a look x

[Livingston]

Hi

I have had some of these ganglions in my fingers - they can be a real pain if you forget & tackle a heavy door the wrong way.

I saw a hand surgeon about a particularly bothersome one just at the base of my index finger, where it joined my palm - that one was really sore because of where it was. The hand surgeon told me that they frequently occur in RD but can also occur in anyone.. They can wax & wane in size & tend not to be problematic unless they get very big or are in awkward places. They aren't quite the same thing as rheumatoid nodules, which are specific to RD.

I had that particular little blighter excised under local by the hand surgeon - no big deal - 4 stitches, miniscule, very fine scar & no pain killers required.

I have another one on my foot just now which gets bigger & smaller for no apparent reason but doesn't hurt & so doesn't interest me that much. There's another one growing in the pulp of my thumb (side by side with a nice nodule on the joint.) I suspect that one is going to have to be got rid of unless it shrinks itself as it's causing problems with the little grip that I have.

[Jhac27 in reply to Livingston]

I had quite a large ganglion on the underside of my wrist for a couple of years then it disappeared on its own. Hope yours disappear too!

[Tinat3 in reply to Livingston]

Yes Livingston they're very uncomfortable when you catch them. I notice them more whilst driving, carrying bags etc because of where they are situated and have them on every finger

They only became apparent after I started mtx. Wonder if that is connected?

[Karen77 in reply to Tinat3]

I've heard that MTX can cause them - but so can RA so it's a bit of chicken and egg. I have them on several fingers on the finger pads. When small, they are not bothersome, but sometimes can be large and painful especially if, like Livingston noted, you forget about them and pick something up/grab something the wrong way. They seem to ebb and flow for me. I think they might get better when I ease off the sugar (I'm something of an addict), but I can't say if there's a definitive connection. They only started for me after I switched from tabs to subcutaneous injection for my MTX.