DarthMom

I posted this at a health forum, but it is a little slow over there, so I thought I would try here. Any docs who have an idea???

About 4 years ago my middle finger from the knuckle up got very red and sensitive and swollen. It felt/looked like what i think frostbite might be like. If you touch it with a nail very gently it stings. and you cant bend it, feels like it would burst. VERY itchy after a day or two. After a few days it went away and so I forgot about it. But it came back a month or so later, and kept doing that like clockwork for a few years. every month or so, comes back for a few days. It started to go away for longer periods of time, ,and now it has just come back after not seeign it for at least 9 or 10 months. But it is back with a vengeance !!! Now it is also in addition to just beign red and irritated, over the last hour or so it has started to get even redder and blotchier, like the blood is rising to the surface, started like pin dots, that got bigger and redder.
I am dying for suggestions. I have never made it to the doctor in time for it to be seen, and when it isnt there i just get a "come back when ya get it again" but being a single mom, working, it was tough to make it....any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am tempted to go to the hospital ER at this time, just becuase it is a weekend and i dont know if it will still be there tomorrow when i can get to the dr......and it is a lot worse than it has ever been before. thanks in advance

Enai

Well, if I were you, I'd go to the ER. Maybe this time it's serious? But I don't have a clue either.
Sounds like the blood can get inside your finger, but not out </uneducated wild guess>.

Viti

Most towns have Urgent Care centers to allow for weird hours but keep the ER's clear...go to one of those if you have one. If not get to the ER. It sounds like an infection of some kind.