sausage digits

[Guest guest]

I dont know if this would be good advice or not but I'm gonna tell the story

and you can all make up your mind wheter its worth a try. I havent had and

sausages in about 5-6 years I had it in both big toes one pinky finger and

both thumbs. I didnt know anything about psoriatic arthritis at the time.

The first one to do that was a big toe. Swelled up and red all over with a

focal pain near but apparently not in the joint on the side of the toe. I

would come unglued if i bumped it just right. I thought for a long time,

because of the heat, redness and almost an itchy feeling inside that I had

a splinter of some type embedded in it that had become infected. I felt

inclined to heat it in a pan of water and massage the spot and really try to

work the sore place. I would wait until the weekend to do It cause it would

hurt like hell the next day but would seem to ease up and be a lot better the

next week or two. After doing that routine for about 2 months and it only

temporarily getting better I decided to try something to draw the infection

to a head so I could get rid of whatever the offensive particle was. I tried

different things and finally settled on plain old deep heat lotion soaked

into a paper towel wrapped around the toe and covered with saran wrap over

night. There again it was awful the next day Oh boy that didnt seem to be

the right thing to do cause i couldnt stand to walk on it the next day. Well

by the end of the weekend the redness and swelling were down and by the next

weekend it wasnt sore at all after being a nuisance for about 3 months.

About 6 months later the other big toe did the same thing well there goes the

splinter diagnosis what are the chances of getting a splinter in nearly the

identical place on the other big toe? I hit the books to try to find out

what might be causing it and thought it was gout. I treated it the same way

as the other one so it only bothered me about 2 or 3 weeks. over the course

of about 2 1/2 years both thumbs and one pinky did the same. I had a

problem in one hip in about 92 that was just sore most of the time but kept

me in bed for a couple days 2 different times never knew what was causing

that but i hadnt done anything to hurt it. Ive had pains in my back

seemingly associated with the ribs that would strike out of the blue again

for no apparent reason just walking through the house one time and BAM I

cant take a breath and am stuck in an armchair with a heat pad for a week. I

lost a good job over that stupid back pain that would come and go about once

every 2 months. My boss thought I was faking and I couldnt explain it I dont

know what happened I just cant take a breath without it hurting like hell!

More recently it is both knees and both shoulders. I saw someone post

several months back saying that for some people once the situation is

resolved in a joint it wont come back to that same joint and I could agree

with that on the fingers and toes but my knees have been messing up for a

year now. What has been some of the rest of your experiences with that? I

would like to find some way to try to treat the larger joints in the same way

but have you ever got deep heat lotion in your underarm? Not ready to try

that again ha ha also the larger joints are harder to massage the same way.

I guess I could ask someone to do it for me duh Anyhow I didnt intend to

set down and write a novel ha ha Looking forward to your thoughts, Orin

[Guest guest]

Mark, I have several sausage digits but they just look and feel like seriously

overstuffed tubes of skin....not leathery, but I use a very good lotion so that

may be the difference. Sausage digits are extremely uncomfortable and don't

work well. Good Luck. Cheri

[ ] Sausage Digits

Is a sausage finger or toe something that occurs overnight or is it a

condition that simply develops over time? Between the middle knuckle

and the end joint of my ring finger on my left hand I'm developing

what I would describe as a " pad " on the top part of the finger. The

skin is leathery and stiff. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Mark Kelley

, CO

Please visit our Psoriatic Arthritis Group's informational web page at:

http://www.wpunj.edu/pa/ -- created and edited by list member

aka(raharris@...).

In August 2001 list member Jack aka(Cornishpro@...) began to

conduct extensive research which he publishes as the Psoriatic Arthritic

Research Newsletter monthly in our emails and digest format. Many thanks to

Jack. Back issues of the newsletter are stored on our PA webpage.

Also remember that the list archives comprise a tremendous amount of

information (Over two years of messages and answers).Feel free to browse them at

your convenience.

Let's hear from some of you lurkers out there! If you have a comment or

question chances are there is a person who has been around a while who can help

you out with an educated guess for an answer. If not we can at least steer you

in the right direction with a good website to go to for the answers.

Blessings and Peace,

Atwood-Stack, Founder

Alan , Web & List Editor

Jack , Newsletter Editor

Pat Bias, List Editor

Ron Dotson, List Editor

and many others who help moderate (thank you!)

[Guest guest]

At 04:48 AM 12/6/02 +0000, you wrote:

>Is a sausage finger or toe something that occurs overnight

over time i have developed what the dr. called " heberden nodes " in some of

the distal joints in my fingers. they hurt as thet first appeared but

don't really bother me now except that they add to my old lady hand

look....Mo (maureen)

[Guest guest]

My fingers are as you describe, also painful initially......right now

thumb and both pinkies are noticably affected, and it feels like an index

finger is thinking about it. The pinkies happened years ago and the thumb,

recently, so it seems to be a waxing and waning effort ......Mo

[Guest guest]

Mine happened overnight. There was no mistaking that they were " sausage

digits. " I had never seen one before, but the term fit perfectly.

Ks Di

[ ] Sausage Digits

> Is a sausage finger or toe something that occurs overnight or is it a

> condition that simply develops over time? Between the middle knuckle

> and the end joint of my ring finger on my left hand I'm developing

> what I would describe as a " pad " on the top part of the finger. The

> skin is leathery and stiff. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

>

> Mark Kelley

> , CO

>

[Guest guest]

My husbands sausage digits happened that quick too and he has that " pad " you

refer to on top of part of the right knuckle that seems to have happened

almost overnight. We are also noticing white splotchy looking places all

over his fingers.

Re: [ ] Sausage Digits

Mine happened overnight. There was no mistaking that they were " sausage

digits. " I had never seen one before, but the term fit perfectly.

Ks Di

[ ] Sausage Digits

> Is a sausage finger or toe something that occurs overnight or is it a

> condition that simply develops over time? Between the middle knuckle

> and the end joint of my ring finger on my left hand I'm developing

> what I would describe as a " pad " on the top part of the finger. The

> skin is leathery and stiff. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

>

> Mark Kelley

> , CO

>

Please visit our Psoriatic Arthritis Group's informational web page at:

http://www.wpunj.edu/pa/ -- created and edited by list member

aka(raharris@...).

In August 2001 list member Jack aka(Cornishpro@...) began to

conduct extensive research which he publishes as the Psoriatic Arthritic

Research Newsletter monthly in our emails and digest format. Many thanks to

Jack. Back issues of the newsletter are stored on our PA webpage.

Also remember that the list archives comprise a tremendous amount of

information (Over two years of messages and answers).Feel free to browse

them at your convenience.

Let's hear from some of you lurkers out there! If you have a comment or

question chances are there is a person who has been around a while who can

help you out with an educated guess for an answer. If not we can at least

steer you in the right direction with a good website to go to for the

answers.

Blessings and Peace,

Atwood-Stack, Founder

Alan , Web & List Editor

Jack , Newsletter Editor

Pat Bias, List Editor

Ron Dotson, List Editor

and many others who help moderate (thank you!)

[Guest guest]

Does having sausage digits limit the mobility of the joint(s) or does

that only happen when joints become deformed?

Jo

[Guest guest]

Hi Jo,

My sausage digits did limit my mobility (as in NONE), but once the finger

unfroze, the joints were not damaged. Cortizone injections and Celebrex made

them finally unfreeze. One of the ones that was frozen still has some pain,

but it is fully functional.

In a message dated 2/9/03 3:51:18 PM Eastern Standard Time,

scunderia@... writes:

> Does having sausage digits limit the mobility of the joint(s) or does

> that only happen when joints become deformed?

> Jo

>

>

[Guest guest]

At 06:14 PM 2/9/03 +0000, Jo wrote:

>Does having sausage digits limit the mobility of the joint(s) or does

>that only happen when joints become deformed?

They sure limit my mobility. I only have one deformed finger joint so far,

but I have several sausage digits and I can't move them much more than the

deformed joint. It appears to me that the swelling is the main problem: the

inflammation just doesn't allow the finger to move properly. Also when my

fingers look like sausages, there's a lot of accompanying pain and the pain

limits movement on top of the swelling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Visit my personal web site at

http://members.shaw.ca/tljohnson/

[Guest guest]

Jo

I have sausage digits on both toes and fingers. They kind of come and go on

my fingers, but are fairly permanent on my toes. When my toes are really big

they are too painful to bend, and do not bend well due to the swelling. When

my fingers are swollen, I drop things and have more of a grasping problems.

Usually when this happens, my Dr. ups my dosage of predisone for a while, and

things settle down, the swelling does down and things are back to as normal

as possible.

Hope this helps,

Carol

[Guest guest]

Jo, I had/have 8 sausage digits and I am unable to bend 7 of them.....three toes

on each foot including the big toe and each of my index fingers. One index

finger, the first involvement I had is flexible again, although it is not strong

and the other is very painful and barely bends except for the permanent bend it

has formed lately. I just had xrays and there is no bone damage, just soft

tissue involvement. My doc says that is because we hit it so hard and fast.

Just FYI.....I stubbed one of my affected toes this weekend, split the toenail

off. I don't recommend this. Walk carefully and try not to stub already sore

toes.

Good Luck, Cheri

[ ] sausage digits

Does having sausage digits limit the mobility of the joint(s) or does

that only happen when joints become deformed?

Jo

---------------------

luckily the sausage digits can go back to normal once the swelling goes down.

PatB

[Guest guest]

At 06:14 PM 2/9/2003 +0000, you wrote:

>Does having sausage digits limit the mobility of the joint(s) or does

>that only happen when joints become deformed?

>Jo

Hi Jo,

Yes, from personal experience, having 'sausage digits' does limit the

mobility of those joints that are inflamed.

Elfstrom

[Guest guest]

Thanks for all the replies, they did help. I hadn't really paid much

attention to them, since my feet had been quite painful. Now they

are not quite so sore I was getting worried. I'll take it up with my

rhumey when I see her in a counple of months.

Jo

[Guest guest]

Hi Reb,

Your symptoms and history sure make pa a good suspision. I don't

know what sarcoids is so can't compare the 2 in any way. My sausage

digits hurt more sometimes than others. You can get the swelling

before any bone damage shows up on an xray. I think most people

report a lot of pain when there is a lot of inflammation going on.

Have you seen a rheum? good luck with it all.

marti

>

> Hi,

>

> I am new to this group.

>

> I don't have a diagnosis of PA as yet but I am fairly confident I

> have it.

>

> Symptoms consistent with it include:

>

> Morning stiffness of +10 years

> Onycholysis of pinky and first finger of left hand and big toe LHS

> Achilles tendinitis on and off for 10years which is getting

> progressively worse.

> occasional red eyes, particularly the right one.

> Psoriasis which has formally been diagnosed twice by skin

specialists

> as eczema. I have it on my elbows and knees, shoulders and trunk.

> A mother who has very mild psoriasis and who is a nurse and

believes

> my eczema is actually psoriasis

> A cousin with psoriasis

> A grandmother who had spondylitis and psoriasis. Her psoriasis was

> very, very bad just prior to her death from congestive cardiac

> disease.

>

>

> Most of the pain and inflammation with mobility problems have been

> put down to sarcoidosis which I was diagnosed as having in 1999.

>

> In 1994 I began a degree at university. I had severe achilles

> tendinitis then which improved a little.

> In 1995 my health took a significant dive. I was in a lot of pain,

> fatigue and felt generally unwell.

> About this time the shape of my fingers changed. From being long

and

> slender I developed swelling most prominent on the middle phalanx

but

> also on the proximal one. The distal ones were fine - unchanged.

I

> asked every doctor I saw about them. They either didn't know the

> significance of it, didn't have a reason for it or put it down to

> weight gain. I lost nearly twenty kilos, but the shape of my

fingers

> did not change. To me they looked like sausage fingers.

Sarcoidosis

> is an illness which one can get sausage fingers. I put my fingers

> down to the sarcoid too. Now I am wondering. Very, very

> occasionally the middle phalanx becomes red. Also occasionally I

get

> pain and stiffness in them. But it is not that bad. I sometimes

> have to prise my fingers off the telephone, but they have not given

> me much problem. I have looked at pics of sausage digits on the

> internet. Just as many of the pictures don't look like my fingers

as

> there are that do look like my fingers. I was wondering whether

> people who have sausage digits have pain all the time, or only

> sometimes? I also was wondering whether the changes are permanent

or

> just occur with flair ups? I am confused. X-Rays have showed no

> arthritic changes whatsoever.

>

[Guest guest]

I too do not have a specific diagnosis of PA yet. I have been having joint

pains now for just over a year in my hands and feet. No psoriatic rashes, and

the skin problems I have had have been fungal-related rather than classic

proriasis. I do have a small area on my ankle which has flaking skin, althought

the dermatologists don't think this is psoriasis. All indicators of any

inflammatory arthropathy have been negative, even for arthropod or tick-borne

illnesses.

I have been obsessing about my diagnosis as well, as I believe it is helpfult

for all of us to put a name to the monstor that is taking over our lives. It

gives us a sense of direction, control, and allows us to gain a sense of what

this is going to do to us in the future.

My doctor told me that I should focus on getting my inflammation, rather than

worry too much about what it is called. While I think this dismisses the

reasons for a diagnosis I mention above, I understand his point of view. The

mechanism of my inflammation is similar whether it is PA or another inflammatory

arthropathy, and the treatment is similar. I was started on methotrexate and it

has been keeping my joint pains under control (along with mobic 15mg a day,

which I have started to reduce to 15mg every other day, then 7.5mg every other

day.) I hope that with the reduction in inflammation I can preserve my joints.

Good luck to you in your quest to be pain free.

Todd

reb5pris <reb5pris@...> wrote:

Hi,

I am new to this group.

I don't have a diagnosis of PA as yet but I am fairly confident I

have it.

Symptoms consistent with it include:

Morning stiffness of +10 years

Onycholysis of pinky and first finger of left hand and big toe LHS

Achilles tendinitis on and off for 10years which is getting

progressively worse.

occasional red eyes, particularly the right one.

Psoriasis which has formally been diagnosed twice by skin specialists

as eczema. I have it on my elbows and knees, shoulders and trunk.

A mother who has very mild psoriasis and who is a nurse and believes

my eczema is actually psoriasis

A cousin with psoriasis

A grandmother who had spondylitis and psoriasis. Her psoriasis was

very, very bad just prior to her death from congestive cardiac

disease.

Most of the pain and inflammation with mobility problems have been

put down to sarcoidosis which I was diagnosed as having in 1999.

In 1994 I began a degree at university. I had severe achilles

tendinitis then which improved a little.

In 1995 my health took a significant dive. I was in a lot of pain,

fatigue and felt generally unwell.

About this time the shape of my fingers changed. From being long and

slender I developed swelling most prominent on the middle phalanx but

also on the proximal one. The distal ones were fine - unchanged. I

asked every doctor I saw about them. They either didn't know the

significance of it, didn't have a reason for it or put it down to

weight gain. I lost nearly twenty kilos, but the shape of my fingers

did not change. To me they looked like sausage fingers. Sarcoidosis

is an illness which one can get sausage fingers. I put my fingers

down to the sarcoid too. Now I am wondering. Very, very

occasionally the middle phalanx becomes red. Also occasionally I get

pain and stiffness in them. But it is not that bad. I sometimes

have to prise my fingers off the telephone, but they have not given

me much problem. I have looked at pics of sausage digits on the

internet. Just as many of the pictures don't look like my fingers as

there are that do look like my fingers. I was wondering whether

people who have sausage digits have pain all the time, or only

sometimes? I also was wondering whether the changes are permanent or

just occur with flair ups? I am confused. X-Rays have showed no

arthritic changes whatsoever.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/2/2006 8:29:33 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

writes:

I'm not sure that I have ever had " remission " , but I went from barely

walking with multiple sausage digits and constant pain. That was 4.5

years ago. Today I

Do sausage digits ever go back to normal with treatment?

Judy

[Guest guest]

-- jdgld@... wrote:

> Do sausage digits ever go back to normal with

> treatment?

My sausage toes resolved on their own with OTC NSAIDs

and TLC. This was before I was diagnosed with PA, and

we just assumed I had broken them. I had stubbed my

toe on a concrete garden statue (Buddha...great karma,

huh?). Assuming it was broken, I taped it up for six

months, took Aleve, and wore Birkenstock sandals with

socks through the winter. When I did finally get it

xray'd, the doc said it had never been broken... That

was my first clue that I might have PA. After that, I

had a brief episode of sausage toe on the other foot,

but it cleared up on its own after about two months.

When I'm in a flare, those toes will swell up a little

more than the others.

=====================================================

Stein

WEBSITE: http://www.noblefusion.com/astein

BLOG: http://www.livejournal.com/users/astein142/

-----------------------------------------------------

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Settle down !!! You're gonna put yourself in a flair! -Betz

> >

> >

> > In a message dated 8/4/2006 8:46:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

> > writes:

> >

> > my first case of sausage digits and

> >

> >

> >

> > I have asked this before with no response. Do sausage digits ever

> go back to

> > normal or do meds only help to prevent further

> progression?

> > Judy

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

Judy,

None of my sausage digits went back to normal; they just quit hurting as

bad. One of them, my first finger, does not hurt at all. The joint and the

nail bed are larger and my manicurist has to straighten out the nail with a

tip, it grows at an angle. When my Rheumatologist looks at my little finger

he just shakes his head and says that it is the worst little finger he has

ever seen. Even it doesn't hurt very bad. The whole finger is swollen all

of the time, the end joint is gone, the finger points downward. You can

wiggle the joint back and forth sideways with no resistance from the joint.

It grosses people out. My brother-in-law calls it my witch's finger. It is

proof to people that this not so apparent PA is really there. My toes are

ugly, but they do not hurt much anymore, unless I abuse them. I take

Enbrel, MTX (20mgs), and Indomethicin. It was my fingers that were my wake

up call and got me seeking medical attention. To this day, I do not know

how I lived with the pain my feet, I remember that they hurt very bad for a

very long time. Every toe on my left foot is affected and the toes take a

definite left turn when you look at x-rays. It's almost impossible to find

shoes that will fit that foot. I was young, didn't have insurance and had

heard doctors say " you just need to loose some weight " all my life. So I

didn't do anything about the pain in my feet. However, when it hit my hands

and I couldn't even write (and I had insurance) I finally did something

about it. It took more then a year before they figured out what was wrong

and a while longer to get me to admit that at 27 yrs old, I had Arthritis..

I finally went to a Rheumatologist in Salt Lake and he hit the ground

running. He had me on MTX within 2 weeks. I'm always grateful that he

didn't play around with the little stuff. Well I am totally off subject

now, so I had better say good-bye.

Have a great day,

Becky

_____

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of jdgld@...

Sent: Saturday, August 05, 2006 7:09 AM

Subject: Re: [ ] Sausage Digits

In a message dated 8/4/2006 8:46:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

@ <mailto: %40>

writes:

my first case of sausage digits and

I have asked this before with no response. Do sausage digits ever go back to

normal or do meds only help to prevent further progression?

Judy

[Guest guest]

Judy, I have only experienced sausage digits twice and they occurred on both

hands at the

same time. After a number of weeks, they subsided, but the shape of my fingers

was

altered somewhat and the knuckles remain enlarged to this day. There has been

no

progression since I began taking Arava, but I'm apparently atypical in so many

aspects of

PA tht I hesitate to speak for others.

>

>

> In a message dated 8/4/2006 8:46:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

> writes:

>

> my first case of sausage digits and

>

>

>

> I have asked this before with no response. Do sausage digits ever go back to

> normal or do meds only help to prevent further progression?

> Judy

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the concern Betz... But I gots ta weigh this one... Flare...

peace and quiet... flare... peace and quiet... Geez this is a hard

one... Myabe I'll flip a coin... Heads I win, tails you lose... Isn't

that how it goes??? (he he he...) But the wunderkids are comin' home

tonight anyway... But at least I didn't have the entire neighborhood in

my yard this weekend, like usual... Besides, If I do get a flare, I can

come whining to you and you'll give me lots of sympathy... We can have

an on-line pitty party!!!

michael (minus wunderkids, but still got thordinkin and Spot the Lazy-

butt...)

> >

[Guest guest]

My sausage digits got really bad to where I couldn't bend my

fingers. Eventually, they got better on thier own. Now I'm on Humira

(once a week) and Mtx (once a week) and my fingers are still a little

swollen although at least now they are functional. My parents call

me " stubby " as a friendly joke.

>

>

> In a message dated 8/4/2006 8:46:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

> writes:

>

> my first case of sausage digits and

>

>

>

> I have asked this before with no response. Do sausage digits ever

go back to

> normal or do meds only help to prevent further

progression?

> Judy

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Judy,

I only had involvement in 4 toes total, and once I started meds they all

eventually went back to normal. I still have some occaisional pain and

stiffness, but they don't turn purple anymore. Hope this gives you some

encouragement. Good luck,

Janet in Ca

[Guest guest]

My sausage digits got really bad to where I couldn't bend my fingers.

Eventually, they got better on thier own. Now I'm on Humira (once a week) and

Mtx (once a week) and my fingers are still a little swollen although at least

now they are functional. My parents call

me " stubby " as a friendly joke.

My toes are still looking like fat sausage, but my hands just bend a bit...

Looks like arthritis but they are not fat... I hate this disease... Lucky us

huh?

Love and Peace Always

Shaun and Barb

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 05/08/2006 21:46:07 GMT Daylight Time, jdgld@...

writes:

I have asked this before with no response. Do sausage digits ever go back to

normal or do meds only help to prevent further progression?

Hi Judy,

With my personal experience I would have said no but I have heard other

people saying that their fingers had returned to more or less their normal

shape. I

was left with a couple of rubber fingers which have no chance of returning to

their original shape. lol

I hope some of the others responded this time Judy. You couldn't have been

speaking loud enough the last time you asked. lol

Take care,