EXCRUCIATING PAIN underneath tip of nail bed but no obvious reasoning. HELP! Never ever felt anything like it.

[Savsea]

Hi! I’m looking to see if anyone else has ever experienced a similar pain, hoping that someone can offer their advice. Hopefully someone else has experience with this type of thing, because I can’t justify going to the doctor or urgent care for a sharp pain in ONE finger

I have an excruciating, throbbing, stabbing pain underneath of the tip of my finger nail, and the pain is beyond believe. It is only on one finger, my left index finger closer to the top of my nail, well underneath. It is slightly swollen but doesn’t seem like a concerning amount of swelling. Redness to the entire finger but nothing crazy and it feels like there is with no circulation or WAY too much circulation. The finger that is affected is extremely hot to the touch but all of the other fingers on the same hand are really cold to the touch. The pain feels like several small shards of jagged glasses are shifting around underneath of my nail while in a plastic bag, that has been air seal it with 100 rubber bands. The throbbing is constant and it is heavy. Feels like a heartbeat, but not the normal pace of a pain related beat, feels like it’s 150bpm. Elevating the finger above my heart or pointing up causes more discomfort, moving it hurts, touching it hurts, ignoring it hurts, seriously I swear the air is hurting it.... there is no position that makes it even slightly less miserable.

I don’t understand why or how this could’ve came about? The sharp pain hit me randomly while sitting down watching a show. I’ve never felt anything like it, and since then it’s just slowly progresses. The pain is getting worse and worse but my finger has yet to show any evidence of injury to the area.

Things I’ve tried: Soaking it in warm water, peroxide, rubbing alcohol, ice, triple antibiotic ointment/topical pain relief cream, cleaning it with medical grade sanitizer soap and bottled water, bactine pain relief spray, appling pressure, wrapping it, etc. I even tried to use a topical anesthetic lidocaine cream that is 7%!!! And even that didn’t help and actually when I was applying it, the cream seemed to cause IMMEDIATE worsening of my symptoms.

I have an extremely high tolerance to pain and I’ve never had something so small and seemingly tedious like this cause me to literally FAINT, she’s tears from the pain, can’t sleep, and now I am unable to really do anything... due to the amount of discomfort.

I feel as if I’m out of options, and there is no signs of blood or bleeding under the nail whatsoever so I’m not going to puncture my nail without evidence. Is it possible to have bleeding under the nail without seeing or noticing anything? I’m not sure what this could be or how to make it stop but if anyone has any recommendations or has gone through anything like this, please spare me any advice or your experience if you dealt with something similar.

[weathervane]

It sounds like an infection but normally you would have redness and swelling. I had a nail bed infection a few weeks ago and it’s VERY painful. If you are worried contact your doctor or can you see your practice nurse .

[nomoreheels]

If you have redness to the finger along with your other symptoms I think it should be looked at, there could be some infection lurking that's not visible. If it's near the tip & not not near the joint I doubt it's related to your rheumatoid or any other autoimmune disease. I did wonder if it could be gout but that typically affects a joint, most commonly toe joints not the tips of the nail, & along with the redness you'd have inflammation around the joint. If you had a bleed under the nail it would be seen, however small.

As simple as it sounds have you tried soaking the finger in salt water, as warm as you find comfortable? It's an old remedy, used on me after my Mum had caused problems by applying Germolene to my finger after I shut it in the car door. She'd unknowingly been 'feeding' an infection so my doctor recommended the salt water which drew the infection out. If it is an infection it may help, it can't do any harm so maybe worth a try until you can see your GP. Whatever you do don't puncture your nail, with or without evidence! That's asking for infection to get in & should only be done by someone who knows just what they're doing in sterile conditions. We have difficulty enough having poor immune systems & depending on which meds you're on you could be oodning the door to a real problem, more so if you're on anti-TNF's/biologics.

So, do see your GP, pain so bad it causes you to faint isn't something to be ignored.

[Titchyj]

I have pain under my nails, but not to the extent that it makes me faint. I was told it’s due to Osteoarthritis, it can get very painful, especially when trying to cut my nails. I think you need to see a Dr, sooner rather than later as it could very well be an infection as the 2 previous reply’s have said.

Hope you get it sorted very soon.

Jan

[Nettac]

See your doc! If it hurts that much and there is some swelling and you've done everything else....

[Hidden]

I think I'd ring the Rheumy Nurse helpline to ask about it Savsea.

[Joy_1]

As nomoreheels said it may be an infection.

Another tip that works if it is an infection is to use good old fashioned Sudocreme.

Try smearing the area thoroughly in the cream then wrapping a plaster round it to keep the cream in place. If you find in the morning it feels a bit better then it may well be an infection. In which case a few days of the above will solve it. Even better to also then smear and wrap during the day too.

I use this method all the time now when I get cuts etc. As I know my body is not going to repair itself quickly as it once did prior to RA meds.