Noticed Swelling On Hand. No Relief From Ice And Benadryl. What Should I Do?

Posted on Sun, 17 Feb 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 Answered on

Sat, 9 Mar 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi, Suddenly I looked down at the top of my right hand and a huge swelling of the middle knuckle. which hurts, is kind of hard appeared there. It might be a bite or allergy but it just came upon me and I put ice and benadryl on it, with no improvement and it is starting to swell my fingers too. I took off my ring quickly before it would get stuck. What should I do now? My daughter thought it could be a spider or bug bite.

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (21 minutes later)

Hello!

Thank you for the query.

It is very hard to give you exact answer not seeing it. If you could attach the photo it would be much easier.
Such suddenly appearing swelling can appear due to bug bite indeed. Especially if there was no trauma at all. Sometimes such swelling can appear due to gouty arthritis however it does not cause whole hand swelling, just one joint.
I suggest you to take some antihistamine medicine (like Loratadine) and Calcium. If it wont help in few hours (the swelling will be still spreading) you should visit a doctor and probably have Hydrocortisone injection.

Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar