whats your threshold to seek medical help?

[vash]

i have a splinter (i think) in my palm. it got all red and puffy two weeks ago. i cleaned it, ointmented up, wrapped it. the pain subsided and i forgot all about it. today, i grabbed the steering wheel and i felt it. i looked and it is puffy again.

wife thinks i should let an urgent care professional clean it out and tape it up. it could be a metal splinter, could be a fish fin spine.

it is annoying for sure, but i think i will wait for radiating red streaks first. resisting the self care with needle and razor blade for sure. hahah..

[masraum]

I'd probably try to make sure that there's no foreign material in my palm, and then some H2O2 and bacitracin.

Clearly, red streaks is VERY bad and mean that you waited too long.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I’m normally the type that won’t visit the doctor unless I’m on my deathbed. But I think the fact that this “healed” and then came back means there’s something else going on. If it were me I’d hit up the local urgent care and see if they could give me some meds and cut out the remaining stuff.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I tend to cut those things open to let them drain and then a lot of H2O2, neosporin and wrap.

When the bleeding won't stop is when I go to the ER. Only 4 stitches but it just wouldn't let up.

[vash]

OWP is on the same wavelength as my wife.

[Alan A]

if it's infected you should go get it looked at.

i went from "that's a bit red" [home] to go to the emergency room right now [urgent care] to hooked up to intravenous antibiotics and a bunch of other stuff [er] in the span of 12 hours.

was not a well puppy for most of those 12 hours either.

[onewhippedpuppy]

My last ER trip I had the red spider lines from my hand to my elbow, I wouldn’t recommend that. Fortunately was on a lake trip with a PA and nurse practitioner who convinced me. Don’t smack bugs with an open wound on your hand, still not sure what really happened there.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

My last ER trip I had the red spider lines from my hand to my elbow, I wouldn’t recommend that. Fortunately was on a lake trip with a PA and nurse practitioner who convinced me. Don’t smack bugs with an open wound on your hand, still not sure what really happened there.

You lucked out companions wise. Today, my RN daughter informed me if my spinal compression injury had gone one vertebrae higher, I'd have died, unable to breathe.
Instead, I'm now have my C3, C4, C5, and C6 all fused together.

I guess I passed the threshold right there...

[masraum]

Maybe you could fix things up with a

[Scott Douglas]

Last time I went to the ER my chest felt kind of tight with a pain that previously had dissipated, but this time wouldn't go away.
I walked in after my wife dropped me off at the entrance. They asked what the problem was. Told them I thought I was having a heart attack.
They hooked my up and sure enough, I was having one.
That was Monday morning, like 2 AM early, the following Tuesday morning I had a quad by pass.
This was in December. When I told them I'd had the same pain while mowing the grass back in July, they were amazed I was still alive to talk about it.

[oldE]

Numbness which cannot be explained.
Foreign object bigger than a splinter or which is in a critical location.
Bleeding which cannot be controlled
Appendage which will not work/is at a funny angle/has become detached.
Dizziness or hallucinations.
Uncontrolled, prolonged vomiting.
Loss of consciousness.
Changes in vision, balance or speech.

Don't F around.

[Bill Douglas]

Cliff. Listen to your wife. In this case she does know best LOL

Reason I'm saying this is because a friend got a slinter in his hand from the hickory handle of a shovel and seemed quite amused with how it was swelling up and changing colour. Then he died.

[GH85Carrera]

If there is puffiness, you have an infection. It can spread to the bloodstream and become septic shock.

Break down, go to an urgent care, and have a doc look at it, find the foreign body, and prescribe some antibiotics.

I cut my finger on a broken florescent bulb edge. It was so sharp, I did not notice until I plunged my hand into the Koi pond to pull the pump out. I was bleeding like a stuck pig. I wrapped it up as tight as I could with a bit of gauze, and wrapped blue painter's tape around it as tight as possible. 4 stitches, and some good antibiotics. When I told the doctor about sticking my hand in the Koi pond he curled his lip in disgust. It all worked out fine, and now I have a scar on my finger in the shape of my wife's first name. I did it all for her!

Of course I did my wound on Sunday afternoon. A trip to the ER was the only option.

[flipper35]

Had a kindey stone and couldn't sleep so went for that. Also, thought I sprained my ankle but my wife talked me into getting checked. Walked in to the Acute Care to find out I did this.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

Last time I went to the ER my chest felt kind of tight with a pain that previously had dissipated, but this time wouldn't go away.
I walked in after my wife dropped me off at the entrance. They asked what the problem was. Told them I thought I was having a heart attack.
They hooked my up and sure enough, I was having one.
That was Monday morning, like 2 AM early, the following Tuesday morning I had a quad by pass.
This was in December. When I told them I'd had the same pain while mowing the grass back in July, they were amazed I was still alive to talk about it.

We're all happy you can talk about it!

[KFC911]

I usually need a dozen folks to tell me...

Go seek medical help !

[onewhippedpuppy]

When I was being lectured due to my stubbornness, I was told that injuries to the hand are particularly prone to spreading elsewhere in the body.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by oldE

Numbness which cannot be explained.
Foreign object bigger than a splinter or which is in a critical location.
Bleeding which cannot be controlled
Appendage which will not work/is at a funny angle/has become detached.
Dizziness or hallucinations.
Uncontrolled, prolonged vomiting.
Loss of consciousness.
Changes in vision, balance or speech.

Don't F around.

That's a pretty good list. I was dizzy once unexpectedly. I don't think I've ever been dizzy before in my life unless as a kid I'd been spinning in circles. I was an idiot and drove home. I am 99.9% sure that I had benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). Other than that, yeah, I'm pretty sure that the rest would send me to a medical pro of some sort.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

When I was being lectured due to my stubbornness, I was told that injuries to the hand are particularly prone to spreading elsewhere in the body.

It starts with hairy palms, the next thing you know, you're a werewolf!

[Zeke]

Just went through this with my wife and a cat bite on the middle joint index finger. 3 trips to 2 different urgent care places. She ended up in the hospital with IV antibiotics for 3 days. My own personal experiences with urgent care places was good when that sort of thing was just getting started. My last couple of visits were not helpful.

Now, after my wife's ordeal I know much better and that a culture must be done and the correct, I'll say again, correct antibiotics are prescribed. We have a lot of new infectious bacteria around these days. It's not just cats and dogs with the stuff in their mouths. Just the various staph crap that lives on your skin has become way more complex and resistant.

I'm done with urgent care places. Had I insisted that she see a real doctor, not some PA that is among how many I don't know working under the umbrella of one MD, I do believe she would have been way better off. My mistake in not insisting has resulted in 3 weeks of treatment and considerable pain that should have been arrested within 72 hours with proper treatment. Not to mention the bill.

Don't fk around with this and get some proper medical care. It's not the weekend so go to your doctor and insist on being seen. Any decent doctor that is familiar to you should take the time to get you in. If not, there's always the ER.

Just for the record we did do peroxide, antibiotic dressing, etc. That's amateur stuff for superficial scratches. This ain't skinning your knee 40 years ago.