Weird swelling and redness of finger

[Demrbee]

Two days ago after I returned from my lunch hour I noticed that the palm side of my middle finger was red and swollen from the first knuckle down. It almost felt like I had been bitten or stung. I had a ring on and tried to get it off but I couldn't. It was still red and swollen yesterday and this morning was better. I got the ring off with a lot of Vasoline. Could this be a sign of arthritis? Or something else? It's still a little red and not as swollen.

[CathyA]

I would guess that it was a sting or bite of some kind. Arthritis doesn't usually act like that. There are lots of little critters around these days.