Osteoarthritis/Heberden's Nodes

I had what I thought was just an inflamed A5 pulley or ligament within the end joint in my middle finger after a few weeks of fairly hard climbing, but it progressed into what I'm fairly certain is osteoarthritis of the DIP joint.  I'm headed to the doctor in the morning to get a professional diagnosis, so for now this is just self-diagnosed.  Essentially I have a hard, relatively round bump formed on my fingertip joint that is various levels of inflamed and sore.
When I thought it was some localized swelling due to overuse I was doing light rehab based on materials I had read, utilizing weight off hangs and trying to stimulate blood flow and motion in the joint. This seemed to work for a couple of months, but in the past couple of weeks it has really swollen up and become more regularly painful.

Has anyone experienced this in their finger joints? If so, how did you decide to treat it?

I went through a period a few years back where I had somewhat rapid formation of growths on my DIP joints for my index and ring fingers, both hands. They started looking bent at the tips like old people's, and it grossed me out pretty bad. Thought I'd have to stop climbing, but that didn't seem quite right since moving them seemed to help with aches. Anyhow, I ended up doing some elimation-type diet for autoimmune conditions, which appeared to be fairly common since arthritis is often an autoimmune condition (maybe always?). I was always cognizant of what I was eating, but I guess some people can eat "healthy" and still not do so well. A few years later, pain and inflammation symptoms have disappeared, and knuckles may have regressed in size. YMMV, but changing what you eat can usually fix a lot of things. Hope this helps!

Hey! Came Along this thread would love to know what a doctor said! I have them too. Look just like the pictures of heberdens nodes online. Cure with diet? Sounds great would love more deets!