MEDICAL MAGS... check this out, let me know if I should go to the ER

[caddah]

heres the short story. fell on the elbow last night. noticed right after that i had a ping pong ball sized growth on it. figured i would sleep on it becuase it didnt hurt that bad. woke up and the swelling went down, and didnt hurt at all. i accidentally bumped it again today, and now the swelling is just as bad if not worse. its a little sore, and hard to move but pain is not bad.

hopefully some one here can let me know weather i need to go have this friggen thing looked at.

[uglymoney]

Not a medical mag here but have had that and your good to go, no worries. Bursa bump or some name like that. Its just a gland that fills up when you bump it. Scared the shit out of me when I had one. Bumped my elbow on the bottom of a pool while scuba diving and had that little gift the next day. Went to the doc and they laughed me out of the office and charged me nothing.

Harmless. Should go away in weeks if not days. Try like hell not to bump it because that will extend its life.

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/elbow/a/elbow4.htm

"Usually bursitis will resolve on its own. "

[wilcox510]

Olecranon bursitis. The bursa is a very thin fluid fill sack between your skin and the bones of your elbow. It can get inflamed for a few reasons, in your case trauma. If you dont have any wound (cut) on your elbow, and it doesnt turn red and warm, then there isnt much to do. Sometimes docs will drain them with a needle, but they come back frequently, and there is a high risk of infection doing this. It can take up to a few months for the fluid to resorb. Avoid putting pressure on the elbow (like resting your elbows on the table while your eating etc). I had septic olecranon bursitis, caused by a small but deep cut over my elbow, and spent 8 days getting IV antibiotics and another few weeks on oral antibiotics. I cant recommend it.

[Telemarketeer]

It's a "swellbow" swollen elbow. Gotta em pretty frequently back when I was a skateboarder. It'll go away if you stop bumping it on shit you dumbass!

[Vinman]

ice, compress ,repeat. If it idoes not go down or it starts to look infected check in your your primary care doc. It is possible to chip the olecranon (elbow bone)

[caddah]

well its a few days later, and the elbow doesn't really hurt. the swelling has gone down, and there is no golf ball sized lump on the tip of the elbow. but a big bruise has appeared, and the swelling has seems to spread out. its swollen half way down my lower arm, and a little red, but not too noticeable. I will try to get pictures up later. im guessing that the spread of the swelling is just the fluid trying to be reabsorbed?

[Conundrum]

Olecranon bursitis. The bursa is a very thin fluid fill sack between your skin and the bones of your elbow. It can get inflamed for a few reasons, in your case trauma. If you dont have any wound (cut) on your elbow, and it doesnt turn red and warm, then there isnt much to do. Sometimes docs will drain them with a needle, but they come back frequently, and there is a high risk of infection doing this. It can take up to a few months for the fluid to resorb. Avoid putting pressure on the elbow (like resting your elbows on the table while your eating etc). I had septic olecranon bursitis, caused by a small but deep cut over my elbow, and spent 8 days getting IV antibiotics and another few weeks on oral antibiotics. I cant recommend it.

I had an infected bursitis too. Immediate admission, four days in a hospital bed, 7 more days of injectible antibiotics, and then oral antibiotics for a week. I waited three days before seeing the doc but I had impact and a cut that caused mine. I was about 30 minutes away from emergency surgery if the drugs didn't start working.

well its a few days later, and the elbow doesn't really hurt. the swelling has gone down, and there is no golf ball sized lump on the tip of the elbow. but a big bruise has appeared, and the swelling has seems to spread out. its swollen half way down my lower arm, and a little red, but not too noticeable. I will try to get pictures up later. im guessing that the spread of the swelling is just the fluid trying to be reabsorbed?

If it's red, it could have some infection or it could be part of the bruising. If you were in the situation Wilcox or I were in, you would know by now. My not hurt to see a doc because infection there can be bad but it sounds like you could wait it out and see if the redness goes away.

[caddah]

swelling has gone down, but i can see a bruise that has spread to about a few inches from my wrist. there is now acute pain right near the joint of my elbow. again nothing bad, but now i can feel it, and when I touch it it definately hurts to the touch. still bursitis?

[Vinman]

bursitis. now that it is subacute and the swelling is going down you can do some warm soaks to help flush out the leftover bruising and swelling. Compression is still a good idea too.