Hand / Wrist swollen, and sore

[MotoAce51]

Ite other day I was messing around with my girlfriend and then we took a nap. When I woke up my wrist and back of my hand hurt. I had surgery on it a year ago but havent had any problems until now. I am away on internship and my insurence wont cover me to go to a doctor nor will they cover me if I go to emergency. So I let it go thinking I hit it or slept on it wrong. Then saturday it started to swell very badly.  A knot/ lump formed centralized on my hand/ wrist area and my wrist became very stiff and sore.  I iced it and took it easy trying not to strain it any more. The swelling seemed to go down some but not a lot when sunday rolled around. I did the same thing hoping it would keep getting better. Later sunday night I noticed it was swelling up again. I continued to ice the injury but no noticable changes. I wrap it with an ace bandage when I am at work and ice it when I am home. The swelling is now on the whole back of my hand still with a centralized lump focused at the wrist. The back of my hand is sore and still swollen. Some guys at work told me to see the nurse to check and make sure its not some sort of bug bite and infection but there are no visible marks.  The nurse didnt think so either.  Im starting to worry and fear something is wrong. I have been working with my insurence company and they havent been able to help yet.  I am 1000mi from home and stuck.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

PS: In the meantime, can I pop it? It feels like a stiff lump full of fluid.

[dr_simran]

Hello dear,
The wrist pain  may be due to the following causes-
Tendonitis is a common problem that can cause wrist pain and swelling. Wrist tendonitis is due to inflammation of the tendon sheath. Treatment of wrist pain caused by tendonitis usually does not require surgery.
Wrist sprains are common injuries to the ligaments around the wrist joint. Sprains can cause problems by limiting the use of our hands.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is the condition that results from dysfunction of one of the nerves in the wrist. In carpal tunnel syndrome the median nerve is compressed, or pinched off, as it passes through the wrist joint and causes severe pain.
A wrist fracture is a common orthopedic injury which may cause pain.
You should get an evaluation done.
Refer http://orthopedics.about.com/od/handwrist/a/wristpain.htm
Best

[MotoAce51]

The other night I was in the shower and rubbing the bump.  I heard a loud *pop* and the bump was gone.  I think something was dislocated and now back in place.  I went to a doctors office and they did x-rays and saw nothing out of the ordinary.  My hand is still swollen to this day but I found something odd today.  The swelling has become "more stiff" I guess.  And today I rubed it as usual and it was like a gel inside my hand.  I could move it and leave the swelling where I want.  It is not normal!  What could this be?