Name : James H.
E-mail : 6jameshunter@googlemail.com
Adult: 35 years old
Current Location: Köln, Germany
Areas affected: Middle finger of right hand (bump on right side, just below the mid joint)
Personal History:
Symptoms: stiffness, pain
Diagnosis: developed symptoms in 2000 at 30 years of age; diagnosed in 2002 by x-rays.
Treatment: I have not had any treatment on my hand. When it does hurt upon occasion I usually take Ibuprofen.
Background:
Discovered (!) a bump on the middle finger of my right hand around 2000 (age 30). Thought nothing of it initially. Thought it was a bruise or other accident related bump. After a few weeks, when it hadn't gone away, I became concerned. At this point my whole right hand would feel tired when I woke up, but the tiredness would pass later in the day (perhaps the hot shower soothed it!). It took me over a year to finally see a "Specialist," he was a Sports Doctor if I recall correctly. He x-rayed it and then forgot to give me the diagnosis. So it took another year to finally track down what the diagnosis was from the hospital archives in UCSF Medical Hospital! By then I had married a Radiologist who looked at it for me and also looked at my UCSF X-Rays and gave me a diagnosis.
Both my (mainly) middle finger and hand tendons had a coating of melted wax like bone residue and this appeared as a white concentrated area in the X-Ray. I have noticed a weakening in my right hand in the last few years. (Shaking hands in Germany is a painful experience as here the firmer the shake the more 'manly' you are. That's all fine and dandy, but I thought I was becoming a woos as my hand would ache/hurt after every handshake, until I realized perhaps it was due to the Melorheostosis!) Now I have begun to notice that my wrist (right hand) is also starting to hurt on the left side, when I put any pressure on it. I hope this is not related as it is still a new pain, but I had an X-Ray done this morning and my wife tells me that my fingers and hand look the same as the last X-Ray (in 2000, but that was not as far down as the wrist), but a concentration of bone is showing in the pained wrist area. So now I'm becoming concerned again.
Comments:
I am really glad to have discovered this website. I was told that this is a rare condition and not many doctors come across it or know how to treat it. Reading some of the other Personal Histories it is sad to know that other people have a far more extensive condition than mine and yet very little is known about dealing with this condition or offering an effective treatment. Any advice regarding symptom relief and treatments available would be greatly appreciated.