Olecranon bursitis on elbow - any experts?

[trackdemon]

Self diagnosed looks like I have olecranon bursitis on my left elbow... which is nice

It's grown quite a lot today, anyone with previous experience and/or expertise here able to offer advice on at which point you should A&E? I think it's been there a few days but I hadn't noticed for the first couple because of where it is.... So probably didn't help, leaning on it whilst I'm at my desk. My concern is it seems to have virtually doubled in size today and is a bit painful so my concern is if it continues, is this an A&E thing? Probably sticks out 2 inches! Gross!

GP was useless fwiw, have appointment for next Monday

[Bill]

If it's infected (ie red, hot, you're feeling unwell) it needs urgent attention. Going via 111 is best. If not they tend to leave them alone as draining them can introduce infection and they often come back anyway.

[fourstardan]

I had this a few years ago, started with a red mark then ballooned up ten fold got warm and splodgy and was very painful, I ended up going down the docs and he prescribed a bout of strong anti biotic.

It was down within a few weeks.

I think I ruptured it hitting golf balls in frosty conditions but who knows.

[trackdemon]

Yeah it's nothing more than a little tender right now and feeling unwell is down to too much wine last night So I'll see how it is tomorrow and if it's much the same then I guess I'll just have to leave it Was hoping it'd disappear faster than a few weeks as it looks weird and it's t shirt weather for the foreseeable - might be time to find the lightest long sleeve I can find

[trackdemon]

Bill said:

If it's infected (ie red, hot, you're feeling unwell) it needs urgent attention. Going via 111 is best. If not they tend to leave them alone as draining them can introduce infection and they often come back anyway.

As it happens I did speak to 111 earlier and they said they wanted my gp to see it within 6 hours and they'd send a referral. Queue the fking useless surgery coming back and offering an appointment next week ...

[Bill]

Yeah. 111 is super cautious and exists in an ideal world. GPs work in the real world.

[Bill]

To put it into context my wife's a GP and they had 2 notable "urgent" appointments from 111 last week. One was for nettle stings and one for a 5mm corn.

[Lotobear]

I've had this since I was 12 when I fell off my bike and badly damaged my elbow - I'm sure there is a piece of floating bone in there but back then you never went to the hospital - Mum just patched you up and set you on your way. I'm now 64.

My left elbow protrudes very oddly and around 4 times a year it swells up like a very odd ball of jelly. On occasions it become red and infected and I use a course of antibiotics to clear it but otherwise it clears on it's own and is not painful.

If I get a knock it flares up and usually takes 2-3 weeks to clear. I just accept its part of me, causes no real trouble.

[trackdemon]

Yeah it's not progressed any further, just a swollen ball of jelly. Slightly uncomfortable, but only a 1-2 on the pain scale. Sounds like I just have to wait a while for it to sort itself out. Thanks for putting my mind at ease folks, sound like it's essentially benign and nothing to worry about, just a result of a bang and leaning on it on a hard desk too much I guess....

[Pete102]

NSFW WARNING

Ah wonderful, my thread has arrived, although I am an expert by experience rather than knowledge....

Around 2 months ago I had a pretty infected elbow which resulted in me going to our work doctor....who then referred me to the urgent care centre...who then referred me to the emergency centre, all in the space of 3 hours.

Emergency centre at the hospital diagnosed it as septic olecranon bursitis in my left elbow (using Ultrasound and the leaking puss hole in my elbow...). I was promptly admitted and operated on 8 hours later to have the bursa sac removed and the place fully cleaned out.

It then turned out the infection was actually MRSA so what followed was a couple of days isolation in the hospital and some fancy antibiotics.





Moral of the story, get it looked at ASAP, dont wait.

P.S. I probably got mine from a knock at BJJ.

[trackdemon]

Eesh, nasty! Most of what I've read seems to suggest it's (usually) benign and will disappear itself within 3-6 weeks. Ice pack for 10mins every hour. Try to rest it as much as possible. Try not to bend elbow (I really must stop typing!). Keep arm straight and rested. Hope to hell it doesn't get infected, lest I'll end up in your scenario...

[croyde]

Christ! those stitches look like they let the guy who patches up the bodies after postmortems have a go.

[Pete102]

croyde said:

Christ! those stitches look like they let the guy who patches up the bodies after postmortems have a go.

🤣🤣 It's fair to say my days of elbow modelling are well are truly over.

[The_Doc]

croyde said:

Christ! those stitches look like they let the guy who patches up the bodies after postmortems have a go.

That's a run of vertical mattress sutures with a non absorbable monofilament (Ethilon)

It's a difficult area to get to heal as it's constantly moving and under tension, so that suture and stitch was a good choice.

Last night I crocheted-on the carry handle of my daughter's latest creation ( a woollen book bag) and I know what I'm good at.

[croyde]

The_Doc said:

That's a run of vertical mattress sutures with a non absorbable monofilament (Ethilon)

It's a difficult area to get to heal as it's constantly moving and under tension, so that suture and stitch was a good choice.

Last night I crocheted-on the carry handle of my daughter's latest creation ( a woollen book bag) and I know what I'm good at.

[Pete102]

The_Doc said:

That's a run of vertical mattress sutures with a non absorbable monofilament (Ethilon)

It's a difficult area to get to heal as it's constantly moving and under tension, so that suture and stitch was a good choice.

Last night I crocheted-on the carry handle of my daughter's latest creation ( a woollen book bag) and I know what I'm good at.

Yep, in the operation notes they specifically mention that at the "exit point" the blood supply wasn't so good and there was a little difficulty getting a good closure, but managed it. I spent 2 weeks with a removable cast, then stitches out.

I was offered the option of a nerve block or full sedation, I took the full sedation but kind of wish I was half awake to see a little more of what was going on now!