Ganglion cyst

[emandelsmom]

Emma has one on her wrist. She has had it for a few years. We have seen a few docs. They all say to get it taken off when she is ready. At fifth grade, she is being teased about it. Kids say it is gross. It is affecting her self esteem. We are planning to see about getting it removed over Spring Break. The competition season will be over. Has anyone had one removed? How long were you out of gym?
Thanks you all!

 

[bogwoppit]

I have one now, I have had many since I was young. I have had them aspirated, hit woth mediacl books and left alone. They do tend to come back. Have you asked about just having the fluid removed from it?

Your daughter can try firmly massaging t=it, every day. I mean really firmly. They are filled with a very viscous liquid and massage can help move the fluid out.

It is minor surgery of she does have it, with quick recovery. Though she will have a scar and there is no guarantee that it won't come back.

 

[sportzmomov3]

I've had one removed and it's a quick procedure, though bog is right - try firm massage first (I could never do it, so I took the "easy" way out with surgery). Mine came back within 6 months, but magically disappeared almost entirely on its own at some point.

It irks me that kids can be so insensitive...good luck with everything!

 

[emandelsmom]

We have hit it with a book. It shrinks but comes back. We haven't tried massaging it. That might work if she will let us. We have been told it might come back with surgery. We were told that with fluid removal it would come back as much as she is on her hands in gymnastics.

 

[emandelsmom]

Just tried to massage it. She squealed and said to NEVER DO THAT AGAIN. LOL Whatever. We will try it for a week or so and see what happens. I told her that her daddy could do it instead of me.

 

[bogwoppit]

Don't ever hit it with a book again!!!! A doc did it to me when I was about 15, it ruined the nerves around it and the skin atrophyed. 30 years later it is still damaged, Try to get her to massage it herself, it feels creepy when other people do it.

She will get used to having them, they do come and go all the time.

 

[emandelsmom]

Trust me we won't ever do the book thing again. It just made it red and did not work at all. That has been a couple of years ago. We have just been letting it sit there. Hopefully the massaging will work. I will see if I can get her to do it. Does it need to be hard or just a normal amount of pressure? I would love for this to go away on its own or for her to accept it.

 

[emandelsmom]

Don't ever hit it with a book again!!!! A doc did it to me when I was about 15, it ruined the nerves around it and the skin atrophyed. 30 years later it is still damaged, Try to get her to massage it herself, it feels creepy when other people do it.

She will get used to having them, they do come and go all the time.

I can't believe a doc did that to you! He probably hit the heck out of it. OUCH! I couldn't do hers hard at all. It shrank a tiny bit and turned red. Told her I would rather her have minor surgery then do that again. Will def. get her to massage it.

 

[bogwoppit]

Just massage it for about 10 minutes twice a day, yeah I know, good luck with that. Put some massage oil on her skin or you can hurt the skin. Massage firmly, but not to hard.

Ask your MD about having it aspirated. It leaves no scar and the thing goes away immediatly, no scar at all. They use a local to numb it and it's over really fast. Way less scary than surgery and the recurrance is no greater than the surgery.

 

[emandelsmom]

Thank you! We will try it again tomorrow after gym.

 

[bogwoppit]

Here is a good article that you can read. It tells all you will ever need to know about all options and the recovery times. Best to be informed and then you can make your own mind up.

Ganglion Cyst Removal: Information from Answers.com

 

[emandelsmom]

Thank you so much!!! Sounds like aspiration is the way to go for now. She has a docs appt Thursday for an ADHD checkup with her pediatrician. I will ask her about arranging this. The recovery sounds better and the less damage to the joint. I bookmarked the page to share with my husband. Once again, thank you so much!!!!!

 

[emandelsmom]

Update

Went to the dr this morning. He said we had the same options as before-nothing, drain it, cut it out. He recommends that we drain it if we want something done.. Emma decided she did not want to do anything. He agreed atleast. He said to think about wrapping it while tumbling for support due to the pain. We just ordered a wrist wrap her coach sent us the link to. Hopefully this will help with the pain.

 

[BlairBob]

Something to think about.

I used a baseball recently to massage some muscles in my back/shoulder area that I sprained.

I've heard of using a lacrosse ball as it is dense and small. A baseball is pretty dense but it's not as small so when you lay on it, there will be a lot of pressure on it.

For the ganglion on the wrist, perhaps try rolling it on said ball and putting pressure on it with the other hand.

Draining it sounds better than cutting. If they're gonna come back, they're gonna come back but cutting around it sounds much more destructive than is necessary.

Personally, I just slammed my wrist/forearm across the edge of a wood beam as I got sick of massaging it to no avail and the fact it was bothering my wrist flexing. But I was also a 20+ young male so my pain tolerance and stupidity were fairly high.

 

[emandelsmom]

LOL yeah, the slamming thing isn't going to happen for while yet. We will definately try massaging it. The ped. ortho. said it was a well established one but superficial. So that is good but bad. He didn't think it would easily go away. He did say it might with a growth spurt. Thank you for the idea of using a ball with it.

 

[Granny Smith]

There was a girl (I think she just turned 13 back in Nov.) at our gym who just had one removed back in December. She is now competing (level 9) and basically running at full speed on all events now.

Way back in the dinosaur ages of the early 90s my dh, then boyfriend, had one removed, he was awake for the procedure and it was out patient. No problems after, just has a scar where the cyst was.

 

[hunde2]

DD's team mate had one removed (surgically).It was hurting her so much she could not do any gym.
Recovery took about 2 month and now she is back competing.

 

[emandelsmom]

Thank you! We weren't sure about the recovery time for it. I just bought her a lightweight bandage thing to help support it while tumbling. Hopefully we can hold off with cutting it. Her coach rec. a tigers paw bandage thing

 

[sgrjeni]

I had my cyst since I was about 10 years old and had it removed almost a year ago. I am almost 34 years old. I had no choice but to remove mine. My cyst got so bad that it was growing ang getting tangled in the nerves and veins.
I had nerves tests done exrays the works done to make sure I had to have surgery. They told me if I didnt I would lose use of my arm and hand.
I would wait til she is out of school like summer break to have it done if she decides thats what she wants to do.
I dont want to scare anyone, surgery was fast. But the recover time is unreal it could be cause mine was so bad. Just talk to the Doc and see how bad it is and how bad it can get of not taken care of now.
I know why mine got to that point. From lifting things, putting pressure on it. Things that we do everyday. So please be sure to ask him these things it could help her in the long run.
Good luck to you and your daughter on this and hope and pray that you come to a good decision.

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

Katy gets these all of the time now.... in fact, she's got one developing right now... right before her District championship and HS state qualifying meet! As she says, they usually "pop" when she's doing bar work. This is probably her 6th one since she's been doing gymnastics. Only twice have they gotten to the point where you can actually see them. But they ARE painful until she somehow manages to pop them. (Her words, not mine!).

If your DD's is that large and painful, I would definitely have it aspirated. I've heard a lot of cons re: having actual surgery, b/c as many posters have stated, they tend to recur... and there IS a change of nerve damage with surgery anyway!