I have just been told this by my doctor all he gave me was a NHS print out which basically said the only option was surgery when the fingers were totally bent

Irene,
Keep in mind that a large percentage of those with Dupuytren's have no contracture, or very little. Usually nothing is done until contraction reaches about 30 degrees. In my case I waited until the contraction was 90 degrees in my little finger. The contraction happened within 12 months. I had surgery 7 1/2 years ago and have no sign of Dupuytren's in my hand, no contraction and no noticeable scar.

Joe,

I am 53 and was diagnosed with DC this past winter. My grandmother and aunt both had it but thought it was arthritis because they did not get any symptoms until close to 80. My mother just started getting it in her pinkie and she is 78. I am in the middle of RT treatment and go back 8/17 for my 2nd round. I also could not find any doctor who would help me unless it involved waiting till srugery.

I like Diana saught out my own treatment plan. It is a little unnerving because you have to go with your gut and research. Since my family had contracture I assumed since I started really early and it came on fast (nodule and cord within 6 months) I doubted I would be the one that would not have contracture. So, I chose RT. No one said anything about waiting for treatment due to age. My oncologist in Charlotte agreed this was the only and best route to take to try and stop the growth. Who knows ...maybe it is all for naught. Maybe I would be the one without contracture. I was not willing to gamble knowing that I had a small window of time that RT would work since my hand was beginning to tighten and dimple. I was also in pain.

I am not sorry I began the RT. I feel for me it was the best route to go. I am not interested in waiting for surgery unless it is the last resort. The people that I talked to who had surgery were pleased, BUT they had long and painful recoveries, and were for the most part retired. They were also much older than me.

I felt for my age this was the least intrusive and had the best long term positive reports for treatment. I can already see that my cord and nodule have gotten smaller.

Regards,

Lori

Quote:

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I am 53 and was diagnosed with DC this past winter. My grandmother and aunt both had it but thought it was arthritis because they did not get any symptoms until close to 80. My mother just started getting it in her pinkie and she is 78. I am in the middle of RT treatment and go back 8/17 for my 2nd round. I also could not find any doctor who would help me unless it involved waiting till srugery.

I like Diana saught out my own treatment plan. It is a little unnerving because you have to go with your gut and research. Since my family had contracture I assumed since I started really early and it came on fast (nodule and cord within 6 months) I doubted I would be the one that would not have contracture. So, I chose RT. No one said anything about waiting for treatment due to age. My oncologist in Charlotte agreed this was the only and best route to take to try and stop the growth. Who knows ...maybe it is all for naught. Maybe I would be the one without contracture. I was not willing to gamble knowing that I had a small window of time that RT would work since my hand was beginning to tighten and dimple. I was also in pain.

I am not sorry I began the RT. I feel for me it was the best route to go. I am not interested in waiting for surgery unless it is the last resort. The people that I talked to who had surgery were pleased, BUT they had long and painful recoveries, and were for the most part retired. They were also much older than me.

I felt for my age this was the least intrusive and had the best long term positive reports for treatment. I can already see that my cord and nodule have gotten smaller.

Regards,

Lori

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Edited 07/18/09 20:51

I agree with all of you who decided that the treatment available in the UK for DC is really very biased and limited. Why can we not learn from other countries? RT in Germany is quite common and well researched, the same is true for NA in France etc. At least the medical establishment in the UK is now accepting NA, but RT is still frowned upon.
When I discovered that I had DC 18 years ago, aged 48, with a strong family history, I still trusted the advice I was given and waited until my finger contracted 9 years later for an operation. I have to say that this has been quite successful, but I was very incapacitated in the use of my finger shortly before the op. Also, a full anaesthetic and a day in hospital with a lot of hand exercises afterwards were all quite unpleasant.
As I also had an index finger on the same hand which already had quite a lot of nodules and chords and had contracted about 10 degrees, I did some research on my own and discovered the availability of RT in Germany for this finger. At the time, the consultant thought that it might already be rather late and sure enough, after an initial improvement DC recurred and my finger had contracted again 6 years later. This time, I was treated by NA in Brussels and was delighted with its painlessness, simplicity and the result. Sadly, at present, contracture is happening again, but I am determined to simply go for another NA treatment with this finger when necessary.
In the meantime, however, I had discovered a new third small nodule in my other hand and by sheer coincidence talked to my chiropracter about all this. She suggested that I try ultrasound and to my delight, I found that it softened this nodule almost immediately. I have continued regularly treating this finger over the last 9 years and the size of the nodule has gradually reduced. I also have no contracture as yet, in contrast to my previous 2 fingers which over a similar time period had contracted to about 90 degrees!
However, as for RT, there seems to be a short initial period where ultrasound treatment is effective.
So my advice is not to wait! Go for RT or if you want to see if ultrasound works for you, give that a go. Just a basic machine should do it, I have treated myself 2-3 times a day for 5 minutes. It is safe with no known side effects, it just takes a little time. But act during this early phase, don't wait!