I've got an itchy trigger finger and a runny nose

December 13, 2007 8:05 PM

Why does the cold virus always make my index finger itch?

Since I was a teenager, every time I get a full-on cold, on about the second or third day of symptoms the exact same spot on the exact same finger will begin to itch like mad. It's the patch of skin between the middle and top knuckle of my index finger on my dominant hand, and I can time my colds by it. After a day of itching, a few tiny, clear hives will appear and it will continue to itch, becoming slightly swollen, until the cold is gone. A few days after the cold is gone, the skin that was inflamed is thick and dry and simply peels off.

I don't get colds much anymore (knock wood), but for a while this would happen like clockwork, and I could tell how bad a cold was going to be based on when it started itching. I know I'm fully over the cold when my finger starts peeling.

So what's going on?

I'm aware that hives (if that's what this is) can be a histamine reaction caused by the cold virus, but I'm looking for as much info as I can get about specific processes involved, and why it's always this one spot. As far as I can recall, there's never been any trauma associated with this magical spot on my most beloved finger.

posted by EL-O-ESS to health & fitness (10 comments total)

I get the same sort of thing, on the middle knuckle itself, whenever I have a low-level allergic reaction - like, enough grass for my body to notice but not enough to sneeze at.

I can't tell you what's going on, but at least you've got another data point.
posted by notsnot at 8:29 PM on December 13, 2007

This sounds, to me, a lot like herpetic whitlow.
posted by booksandlibretti at 9:51 PM on December 13, 2007

i get that too, on a spot on the side of my palm, when i get run down or don't sleep enough. mine is definitely not herpetic whitlow as it isn't pussy, red, weepy or painful. but under the top layer of my skin, i will see one teeny skin-coloured bump, which itches, not maddeningly, but fairly persistently for a say or so. totally talking out of my ass here, but i always assumed it was a spot where a teeny seed of a wart had got in long ago, and was trying to grow, but is usually deadlocked by my healthy immune system. i imagine that when i started to get run down, the wart advances a bit- then as soon as i sleep enough, it gets kicked back. this thing has been the same size & in the same position for years on me, itching me maybe 3-5 times a year, but never worsening or getting icky.
posted by twistofrhyme at 10:28 PM on December 13, 2007

Just thinking outside the bottle here, but is it possible that some other cold-related behaviour is the cause? i.e. is that finger the only part of your external body to touch a particular medicine or herb you take only when you get a cold? Or even just to fish around in a bottle of something?
posted by Ziggurat at 10:50 PM on December 13, 2007

Thanks for the clever hypothesizing so far, folks.

@booksandlibretti: Finger Herpes?!! I can see how the recurrence could get you there, but fortunately it doesn't look anything like the images I'm finding online. These are 1-3 teensy bumps just like hives. Also, I can't guarantee that the finger hasn't made contact with other Herpes-prone areas while symptomatic, and, well...

@twistofrhyme: What you're describing sounds very similar. I'm intrigued by your incipient wart theory, though I have no idea of its plausibility. A tiny germ of a wart that takes advantage of a compromised immune system for a glorious couple days before retreating into hibernation again? Hmm... I don't think the exact same number recur in the exact same location--depends on strength of cold--though there does seem to be a clear leader every time.

@Ziggurat: Clever thought, but I'm pretty equal opportunity about what hand/fingers I use to pull out the Cold-Eeze, which is the only thing I do besides complain (and itch) when I have a cold.
posted by EL-O-ESS at 11:11 PM on December 13, 2007

twistofrhyme: I experience the exact same thing when I am overly-stressed, or haven't had enough sleep over the course of several days (ah, the rigors of academia!). My father is a dermatologist, and has suggested that either stress or allergies could be triggering the bumps' emergence (as both work to impair immune function). He prescribed a topical steroid that i apply whenever i find that i have one, and they seem to recede in a couple of days.

My symptoms don't match those of EL-O-ESS, however, so all I can suggest is that you consult a dermatologist the next time you have a flare-up to be properly diagnosed.
posted by numinous at 11:35 PM on December 13, 2007

Um, my guess is this spot on your finger is where you are wiping your nose when you have a cold. There are all sorts of gross things in snot: germs, dust, pollen. You probably break the skin on your finger by rubbing your nose and then the skin gets irritated by these allergens. It only clears up once your nose stops running and you stop wiping it.
posted by jrichards at 6:35 AM on December 14, 2007

Well, the recurrent nature (at a single location) suggests some member of the Herpes family* (there are over 80 members of the family, including HPV, which causes warts). And flu infections can cause immunosuppression, which would theoretically allow viral escape. So twistofrhyme's theory holds water from an immunological standpoint.

*Herpes viruses can achieve latency, the only virus family that can do so.
posted by kisch mokusch at 7:30 AM on December 14, 2007

(In reply to the last comment, herpes and human papillomavirus (HPV) are not the same thing. Herpes are in the family Herpesviridae, and the various strains (over 100) of HPV are in the family Papovaviridae.)
posted by tristeza at 1:29 PM on December 17, 2007

Quite right, my mistake.

HPV can go into latency of up to 2 years though. Which means I should qualify my comment about Herpes viruses being the only viruses capable achieving lifetime latency (I think! One of my bosses is a virologist, and she always tells me that only the the Herpes family can achieve true latency, and I think that's what she means, but now I need to ask!).
posted by kisch mokusch at 9:18 PM on January 1, 2008