Has anyone ever heard of the term "Bible cyst"?
I was talking to a good friend of mine today who loves Facebook, and she said that someone she knows posted something about a painful ganglion cyst in her hand, and how that led to a reply suggesting that another term for what she has is "Bible cyst," because if you hit the cyst hard enough with a heavy book like the Bible, it will go away. My friend said she found this to be fascinating, and she was wondering if it was really true. She said at least one more person had replied with the same suggestion.
My friend has a small lipoma in her arm and now she's wondering if she should just whap at it really hard with something heavy to make it go away. I advised her pretty strongly not to do it. I just don't like the idea of us hitting ourselves with heavy objects to maybe make our cysts go away.
Have any of you ever heard of the term "Bible cyst" or have you ever tried this technique on yourself? Call me old-fashioned, but I'm thinking that if you have an odd bump under your skin that's painful or not, you should have a doctor check it out and possibly remove it. What do you think?
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Michelle
These cysts (technically called a ganglion cyst) are fairly common and actually occur in women far more than men. I've seen them several times on people, I think they've been on the wrist, every time.
The term 'bible cyst' (or bible bump) is used since a heavy book was used to deflate these cysts back in the old days and the heaviest book in most homes was the bible! Plus, it was probably considered good luck to use the 'Good Book'.
These cysts are usually filled with fluid and usually harmless. They can come and go over time and are often found on hands and wrists and feet. Some people swear by the heavy book cure but you're right, it's better to see a doctor first. It may not be a 'harmless' cyst that a person has.
Bashing with a book is actually pretty effective but a person can risk damaging the surrounding tissue. These ganglion cysts are fairly easy to drain and surgery is an option but since the cysts are usually harmless it's often better to skip risky surgery and opt to keep the bump or have it drained (even though the pesky things have a habit of popping back up).
I've got one on my wrist! My doctor said that it was harmless but I could have it removed, if I wanted. I am anti surgery unless absolutely necessary, so I have kept it...I hate the way surgeons always want to cut every tiny thing out of you! Little lumps like this are the body putting something harmless out there, when it has an issue rather, than creating soemthing more serious...if you believe in holistic medecine and homeopathy, like I do.
It doesn't hurt and you can only see it if I show it to you! My sister has one too!
I believe that they are very common. I had my boyfriend smack it with a heavy art book....but that just hurt my wrist temporarily and I STILL have the lump...LOL!
Your replies are so fascinating ladies! And my friend and her friend on Facebook are both women, so you are both seem to be right on that we women tend to get these more than men.
I think it's so interesting that you both had heard of hitting it with a heavy book. I just had no idea on this one. I love the notion of using the "Good Book" to do away with your cysts. And rlyons, I agree with what you are saying that oftentimes it is best to just leave well enough alone and that our bodies can be very smart about creating benign issues.
I asked my friend, and she's going to take her doctor's advice and leave well enough alone and not go whapping it with a Bible or other heavy book. Her doctor said it was best to just leave it and not do surgery to remove it or drain it.
I had one....I work in a hospital..I looked it up on-line,and yes there it was,smack it w a bible..well I didnt have one around so my friend blessed a dictionary and took a wack...needless to say I was not satisfied...so I just took a 21g needle and took a dive in the little bad boy and out came the ozzzzeeeeee...Im a emt studying to be a nurse...and work in a hospital..so there for I fix myself...but for those of you who are not I would seek a dr. you can hurt yourself if you doing know what your doing and that would be a NO BUENO!
I had never heard of this! Thank you for sharing this information; I learn something new just about every day here.
So I thought since reading all the comments i would share my story and incounter with "Bible Cyst" Ive had a lump on my wrist going on almost a year that, in the last few months it started growing and and during the growth has started to become very uncomfortable. At the point of uncomfort i decited to get it checked and wasn't having much luck do to the fact that i don't have insurence. I went to urgent care and had it looked at and the doc informed me that he thought it was something called gangloin cyst aka bible cyst, he also informed me that there was nothing they can do besides give me some referals to see a doc who specializes in what he thought it was. I took the referals called around and no one would take me with no insurence during the visit to the urgent care he gave me some information on this form of cyst so i read on it and came across the book treatment i felt at this point im going to try it see how it goes worse comes to worse ill end up in the ER for a broken wrist. I told my mom of my idea and she thought it was crazy but thank God for my sister who was willing to do it and ended up chickening out so my mom was finally fed up said you want me to break your wrist fine and boom down came the book and off went the cyst so i guess it wasn't to far feched it worked for me even though my hand is a little sore from the blow......
Anon - Thanks for sharing your story.
Question: have you had your wrist checked after the blow to make sure no bones were fractured?
i had a cyst on my wrist a couple weeks ago, and it did soften up and deflate alot.so it does work but i hear you can get a infection from it but i did'nt. it doesnt hurt that bad, so i would give it a try.
The "bible cyst" is a ganglion cyst ...which when it ruptures will relatively go away. And yes I have heard of people actually wacking them with a bible lol. My husband has had these type cysts on the top part of his hand. Although we have never whacked them with a book , he has hit them when working causing it to rupture and go away. Unfortunately they usually come back somtimes immediately and somtimes a yr or two later. The lipoma however is a totaly different cysts. It is composed of fatty tissue and will not burst or go away by whacking it with a book.