It's official. Had it dx'd today. Nearly twenty years of marriage, and now I can't even prove it LOL.
It has bothered me for awhile - itchy red bumps that I could control okay w/hydrocortisone. Then, with all the extra handwashing during holiday cooking, plus dry weather, plus kiddies at home and more handwashing after dealing with their various...excretions....my ring finger got cracked in a lot of places.
Yesterday, the knuckle was too swollen to even wear my ring. Today, it was still swollen and very hot.
Drawing on What I Have Learned, I know "itchy okay; swollen hot bad". Went to Urgent Care (avoiding my PCP because I never went for the mammogram she ordered yet....)
Dr. said no infection, but I need a very strong steroid cream to get this under control, or I will have an infection soon, or even MRSA (and I thought the media was supposed the ones blowing that out of proportion!).
She said not to even wear my wedding ring on the other hand! She it goes through your bloodstream, so even on my other hand, it is making the left hand worse! She laughed and said I would have to wear it on a chain around my neck like a high school girl.
When I left, she said, "Enjoy your new wedding ring!" I asked if she would a write a note to hubby about that!
Guess it will have to be a fake hypo-allergenic something. Should go nicely with the fake jumbo diamond earrings my 11 yr. old gave me for Christmas from Claire's!
This could be interesting. Even wearing a wide gold band on my ring finger, all the doctors I see with my daughter will inquire solemnly, "Is there a father in the home?" Will they now think, 'Aha! Single mom! That's what caused it!'????
I know exactly what you mean! When I first had symptoms of RA, my knuckles were so swollen i couldn't even wear my rings. It was horrible. Finally, after almost two years, I caved in and got them resized. i went from a 4 3/4, to a 6 1/2. Boy, it was painful getting them off.
I am allergic too to most jewerly, so I was so unfortunate to haev to get platinum...lol. I'm even allergic to the buttons on my jeans, and belts.. you can forget that!
Platinum - is that the answer? I saw that on the internet, but didn't know it that was just put out there by the platinum manufacturers LOL. Is that a safe choice longterm - you cannot develop an allergy to that?
Twenty years is good in this day and age. Hubby can spring for platinum, if we know can get at least another twenty out of it LOL.
Boy all the husbands are gonna love buying platinum!!!!Grrrrr!!!! Even though I asked the dr. if she was rx'ing something hard to find and was assured it was common..grrrr...nobody has it!!!!
While first pharmacy was calling around, I saw my neighbor and told him what was going on. He said, "You don't need to be here. You need to be down at the jewelry store!" I said that was where I was headed.
Found the perfect ring, and it is a great price. Palladium looks like platinum, but is way cheaper and is still hypoallergenic. The jeweler said he sees a lot of allergic people, and to get a narrow band, because of moisture. That is what the dr. said, too. So the ring is very pretty, with small channel set diamonds - and I mean small, because it is narrow - but very simple and nice and also exactly in my size.
Called hubby, and he was like, we'll see. Hello? Most wives would be wanting bigger diamonds and platinum!!! I guess he doesn't care if his wife doesn't wear a ring.
If the TV broke, he would spend this much money in a heartbeat.
Then I went to the second pharmacy, and they didn't have my med, either, but at least they could get it in less than two days like the first one. Grrrr!!!!
Hubby is doing all the dishes tonight and giving the little one her bath. This finger feels like a thousand paper cuts and water is a killer.
My goodness!! I agree with you about the tv breaking!! I wish you luck with getting a new ring!!ME too , allergic to most all jewelry. I cannot even hardly wear the plastic cheapy earings! Sad huh?
I agree with you on men and the tv...if the tv breaks....a new and the latest version of the latest model is in the living room ASAP! lol Like computers, it breaks down, a new one is already ordered or set up with 24 hours. lol
jode
I have seen those wedding bands with the little diamonds in them, they are quite nice. My sis has one and so does our pediatrician.
FOr me....if it ever happens to me, I just want a very small simple band, something nonallergic. Something reasonably priced.
jode
A good, cheap temporary fix is paint the old ring with clear nail polish. You have to do it every night tho or it will flake off and make/ start the reaction all over again.
Go for the platinum!
Pip
I am allergic to gold and found out it turns me green and itches. I havent' worn my wedding ring for years. I wasn't always allergic. Just in the last 5 years. I wore a beautiful necklace to church and went to the bathroom and my neck was had a green ring around it and was itching like crazy. I also stop clocks. Really! I have had so many watches and I can wear them about an hour or so and they quit working. I have even tried wearing a clock on a chain (silver then it tarnishes so quick) and it stopped working. My wedding ring won't even go past the top of my finger now after almost 21 years. So the only jewelry I wear is my silver cross necklace when I feel like polishing it.I'm getting the ring. Decided I was, whether he wanted me to or not, but he is on board now (possibly after calculating how much it was going to cost him in alcohol to get me drunk enough to ever you-know-what again LOL). It did help that he finally paid attention to how bad it was last night, and knows I'm not overblowing it. Both my girls helped prove my point, too.
My finger is much better today! Hydrocortisone and no ring is probably enough to get over this, after all, but I'll still go get whatever the superduper stuff she rx'd was.
I have learned one thing that might help some of you. The OT always said not having ROM didn't necessarily mean joint damage; it could mean there is just so much swelling you can't move it. She always said since my daughter's wrist didn't hurt, it could just be the swelling restricting her movement.
In my daughter's case, I'd say the jury is still out. But, for a few days, my finger did not straighten even halfway, and only bent partway, too, and I know in my case that was due strictly to swelling and not joint damage. So I guess I won't give up on my daughter's wrist until the swelling is completely gone.
On the internet, if you search "hypoallergenic wedding bands", you get platinum, palladium, and titanium. Titanium looks darker, and mostly had men styles.
I bet stainless steel would work, but I guess you'd have to find one with costume jewelry? Or get one of those rings made out of a spoon LOL.
Wow i bet you need a note for hubby. So i guess we need to read up more on the mrsa. Thats scary. I think you will be just dashing in all your, shall we say costume jewelry instead of fake. Sounds more trendy and fashionable that way. Good luck with it all.I stopped wearing my ring when i got very sick.
Not matter what, when i stick the darn thing on, my finger swells, almost like the weight of it is too much.
Suzanne and all: I was told I had too much magnesium or something in my system, or maybe not enough. Can't remember now. I have a mother's ring that is beautiful and I can't wear it because it makes my hand too uncomfortable and swells and I have a hard time taking it off.Got my steroid cream and my microscopically beautiful new wedding ring, too, LOL. I feel quite fashionable, in a minimalist, less is more type way. I really do like it, and have even accepted that winning the lottery no longer means Liz Taylor rocks for me.
My little one is trying to get her hands on my old one! "Mommy, did you know Sierra wears her mommy's wedding ring to school?" Yeah, right!
Cindee--Yea when your jewelry makes your finger or whaever turn that color you have a defenciency(sp?) of something. Now for the life of me I cannot remember. My mom had that problem, she started taking more of whatever it is that she lacked and she never had that problem...
i know this probably wasnt to helpful
Don't think I'd do the navel ring, but who knows? I'm not twenty. It may have sounded good back then. I knew a guy with a pierced nipple back then, but it didn't make me what to pierce anything. In general, my philosophy has always been pierce what you want, it grows back or you can take it out for Grandma's funeral; tattoos are a lifetime commitment that I can't commit to after seeing the undiscernable dark spots on the forearms of 70 yr. old former sailors. I guess they looked good when they were twenty, though!
Another jewelry weird thing - the jeweler said that sometimes people will come in with a ring they have worn forever, and it has suddenly turned black. He said it is some weird reaction, usually after they have eaten something with a lot of salt."and more handwashing after dealing with their various...excretions...."
Thanks, I choked on noodles laughing....
I feel ya girly! All I can wear is titanium, unless it's a loose necklace or blacelet. But rings, earings, anything but titanium breaks me out within a few minutes. Oh, and you should see my poor belly when I get a pair of pants that fits too tight (ya know, the back of the button, rivets, etc etc)
When I had my belly ring, all my big ear peircings (Industrial - go look that one up
Copyright ArthritisInsight.com