I have a ganglion cyst...

[waylay00]

I finally found out where all my left wrist pain is coming from. After having had an MRI a week ago, he doctor called today to say that I have a ganglion cyst in my left wrist.

I fell on my wrist about three years ago while playing baseball, and I thought I had sprained it. After a month of RICE (etc.) though, it still hurt. But the immediate pain was gone, and up until now, it only hurts when I put palmar pressure on it (such as pushups, etc). I can play guitar and type for the most part though, but the pain oftenflares up and can be just outright annoying.

Apparently I have to go in for aspiration soon so that they can drain out the fluid in the cyst. But the downside is that the cyst has a 50% chance of recurring. If it does recur, it looks like I'll have to have surgery.

Anyone else had this happen?

[Mike239]

Well i don't have a cyst in my wrist but i have one behind my right knee.

Went to the doctor, he said it was called a "Bakers Cyst" ?? anyway i've had it for little over a year now. I got an ultrasound of it, turned out to be fairly small about 5mm (i think) in diameter. It only really causes problems when i bend my right knee for long periods of time (like sitting down), other than that its alright. It is a pain since im still in school and your expected to sit for over an hour every class so it does hurt sometimes. The doctor said theres no way to drain it, but if i want it removed that means surgery , and since im only 17 that isn't going to happen, So i'll just live with it, the good thing is that the pain comes and goes and i haven't had any problems for the past month.

[leppermessiah]

waylay00, i had an enormous ganglion in my right wrist about 10 years ago and had it surgically removed (in and out the same day. No biggie). Mine was so large it could be seen as a lump on the surface of the skin. was told there was a 50/50 chance of recurrence and haven't had a problem with it since.
I'm sure it hurts now and is a nuisance, but tbh i don't think you have cause to be too concerned. I also played guitar despite the discomfort (and the advice of the Doc, but what do they know.)
Anyway, hope the treatment goes well.

[waylay00]

Yeah, hope I won't have to do surgery. Hopefully the drainage will do fine. Mines probably not that big, as you can't see it from the outside.

[apmaman]

my mum has one. It comes back every once in a while after being drained. A good way go get rid of it is to smack it with something hard. (seriously) all they really are is big fluid buildups. if you hit it this flattens out the cyst for a few weeks. It was common "back in the day" to hit them with bibles, since they were the biggest books you could hit it with.

[scottop1972]

usually uneventful surgically....

i have seen a couple of lacerated radial arteries secondary to surgery to remove ganglion cysts....

hope yours is not deep and wrapped around the radial artery...

again usually uneventful surgically. still may come back even with surgery

[Silver Sable]

I've had one since I was 13... so 17 years now. It started out really small and soft... but since my dad was an ass and didn't want to take me to get it fixed, it became hard. It flares up now and then and gets bigger. It is painful since I type for a living... but without good health insurance, I've never been able to afford to get it removed. It can sometimes be really painful when moving my right index finger because there is a tendon or something that seems to catch on this hard knot and not glide over it... yep.. it sucks.

My stepsister had one the size of a golfball removed from the inside part of her wrist. She never had problems with it after that.

I tried that whole book thing (and a big mallet among other things) to try to get rid of it... never helped. In fact, it seemed to aggitate it and make it worse.

Not much else to do there mate. Drain it if you can... if not, surgery if you can. Otherwise, it can just keep getting bigger and bigger and harder and more painful.

Good luck.

[waylay00]

Well, I got it drained yesterday just minutes before all the tornadoes hit. Hopefully it won't come back.

[projectjem]