Ganglions Cyst ?

Anyone ever had one ? Had an odd lump on the bottom of my foot right behind the knuckle for the big toe-about the size of your thumb that kinda came out of no where- and total loss of feeling in my big toe. I went to the Doc today and she thinks its a Ganglion Cyst or sometimes called Bible Cyst, and its restricting the nerve to by big toe , hence the loss of sensation. Anyone here ever experience this and how was recovery time after surgical removal ?
They say they can drain it , but the odds of re-occurrence raise significantly, so I figure Im better off getting it cut out ? Advice welcome, I hate Doctors and esp hate the ones that wanna cut on ya, no matter how small. My knee surgery this year was the first time in 48 years I have ever been cut on and Im not a fan - lol.

I had one cut out. It came back. Had it drained and that fixed it.

Rob Campbell said:

I had one cut out. It came back. Had it drained and that fixed it.

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Was it on your hand or foot ?

It was on my left wrist, just below the palm.

I've had two have two minor surgeries, but not related to this.

One was 6 years ago, some sort of growth in my right nostril. It kept getting bigger, got to be marble-sized when I was pretty much to do something about it, despite no health care (it was sticking out of my nostril). Had an out-patient operation and was home hours later. And my credit was ruined, but it was that or have some golf ball or baseball-sized thing hanging out of my nose before something even worse would have happened.

The other was this past summer. To shorten the story…. my left big toe got infected. The toe, and part of my foot, started to get red and hurt for 2 weeks, a slow process, then rapidly got worse fast . I almost waited too long, it was getting worse by the hour. Another day, I might have lost the toe, or worse. They put me on various antibiotics and had to operate on the toe to remove about a 3/16" thick layer of infected bone.



It all turned out fine. Unlike the nostril growth situation, THIS time around I had AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE, but my decades of avoiding getting medical attention due to the cost almost bit me bad.

So, anyway, it sucks to get an operation but if it can solve your problem and you can afford it, it's best to get it done (and if it is serious, it has to get done regardless of the $ consequences). I have had a couple of things happen thru the years that were medical mysteries to me, and I hope they never come back. But if they do, I'll sure get them checked out.

BTW - 3 years ago, I broke a little toe. Could not afford to do anything about it, so the internetz was my "affordable health care". So, based on what I read, I taped it to the toe next to it. It healed. But I realized more recently that toe is bent about 30 degrees down, at what would be a knuckle on a finger. It seems to be permanently fused that way. It's not causing me any problem but it is not fun to realize that part of ones body is permanently impaired and might have been avoided with proper medical attention.

- George Gassaway

Ganglion Cysts are tough to treat. Success rates are mixed.

They are often called bible thumper nodules because the old treatment was to hit them with a big book. Fair success.

Ganglion Cysts are tough to treat. Success rates are mixed.

They are often called bible thumper nodules because the old treatment was to hit them with a big book. Fair success.

Deja vu

JRL303 said:

Deja vu

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All over again...

I had one on my left wrist in my Junior year in high school; along with tendinitis. There were a number of treatments with the slamming of a book being one of them..... It wound up taking care of it self somehow although the tendinitis flared up about twice per year for several years. I played golf for my High School which drove a lot of it. Present day, I don't have to deal with that much, but back in those days anything could set it off. For example, pushing a door open. That's it, simply pushing a door open and my wrist was out for 2 weeks.

Let me explain. Difficult to treat means that they often reoccur.

I had one on my wrist a few years ago. The doc wasn't really concerned about it when I got it checked. He said it was up to me whether or not to treat it since it wasn't causing any issues. It got whacked pretty hard at work one day when a wrench slipped, I felt a little pop and no more cyst. The doc had told me that they often returned but mine never did.

Often is not always. My job as a physician is to make sure patients understand that if I cut or drain one, there are risks. It varies but 40% reoccur depending on the method of removal. There are many studies and some report a reoccurrence rate of 60-70%.

cwbullet said:

Often is not always. My job as a physician is to make sure patients understand that if I cut or drain one, there are risks. It varies but 40% reoccur depending on the method of removal. There are many studies and some report a reoccurrence rate of 60-70%.

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Your knowledge is (for obvious reasons) much greater than mine, but what you say matches everything I've heard about them.

-Kevin (who has never had one, thank goodness)

cwbullet said:

Often is not always. My job as a physician is to make sure patients understand that if I cut or drain one, there are risks. It varies but 40% reoccur depending on the method of removal. There are many studies and some report a reoccurrence rate of 60-70%.

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Yeah , if it wasnt making my toe numb , I would more than likely not even bother with it. She thinks its pressing against a nerve to my toe, hence the lack of sensation, I hope she is right because the alternative is much worse- Burgers.

Had one at the base of my right thumb which made it painful to bend. Microsurgery fixed it perfect. Then I got one on my left had one at the base of my index finger. I had that one done by a newer surgeon and the results were good, but not as great as the first. The report was that they did not see the expected cyst, but they cleaned it up while they were in there. Definitely no big lump there anymore, but there is some stiffness and I can feel a storm approaching as the pressure drops. I did all of the stretching and massaging and continue to do so years later.

From what the surgeons I deal with told me, I believe their micro technique is to actually clean out the valve so it drains properly. They do not just slice the cyst and drain it.