Here’s a weird one! Yesterday my thumb started hurting, the end from the knuckle joint to the tip, and turned bluish purple, it looked like a bruise but I hadn’t hurt it.
This happened during a painful and stressful conversation with my adult son who lives with me, (a coincidence?..).
Today it’s not hurting but still discolored.
I tried to post a picture but it wouldn’t load.
PMR/GCA, diagnosed January 2018, currently tapering from 11 to 10mg
Probably a burst blood vessel. It starts with a sudden sting in the finger, then it becomes discoloured. I used to get a lot of these in my fingers before diagnosis with GCA. Since Pred I’ve not had one. You can get them from damage such as from a heavy carrier bag across the fingers.
Maybe Achenbach's syndrome?
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
Or possibly :
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayna...
Somewhere I have seen this also linked to PMR/GCA
That doesn't present like that - doesn't bruise and the colour changes are short-lived. The areas affected go white and numb when the blood flow is restricted and red when the blood flow returns. I have/had it - images of my hands were adorning a vascular lab wall as typical examples for the testing!!!
Thanks - well you would know much better than me PMRpro having 'had it' - it just came to mind as a possibility as those symptoms - even the 'emotional' trigger(s) had some similarities I thought with Raynaud's Phenomenon which is also mentioned as having some link to Extra Cranial GCA in the often cited Dasgupta et al article about 'phenotypes' of GCA.
Maybe a burst blood vessel or you may have unconsciously been clenching your hand and fist during the conversation causing a bruise and Pain.
Keep an eye on it
I will. Stress can cause many things.
Interestingly A couple of weeks ago I struggled to open a jar of marmalade, but two days later I had pain in my right hand which got worse over the next two days. I treated it with Ibuprofen gel and 2X500mg of co-codamol every 4 hrs plus I increased my prednisolol from 5mg to 15mg in the interim. GP was informed and asked me in and also insisted I contact my consultant too. Later my right knee played up with extreme pain and I was unable to walk for 18 hours. This I did and she wanted to see me also. Tests folowed with X-rays and diagnosis was Synovitis caused by trauma, i.e. forcing the lid off the jar. My treatment was agreed with a tapered reduction of the Preds back to 5mg over the next few weeks. New follow up appointment in six weeks. Now I have Rheumatoid vasculitis which is an extension of Rheumatoid arthritis with mono-neuritis multiplex. The disease is systemic and that would explain the migration of the pain from my hand to my knee or elsewhere. It is possible that in your case a similar situation occured when stress, mental or physical, can cause a flare to occur. At least talk with your GP about it, the more they know the better for you and them.
I get little burst blood vessels 3-4 times a month. I can tell when it bursts because that finger suddenly hurts.
Thanks, sounds like what happened to me. Never had this in almost 2 years since being diagnosed. Something new is always popping up!
Isn’t that the truth?
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Can a fall cause a flare?
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painful hands finger joints , arthritis or pred withdrawal? 
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