Hi all,hope all is well & all treatments & frames of minds are in a good place.

Unfortunately my mind isn't in a brilliant state. I've read many of the posts & replies & have found a huge amount of information in a very short space of time, so thank you for being so honest & informative. However nothing is really making me feel positive about my situation.

If i go on a little,i do apologise but it's just begun to sink in what i potentially might face.Also i don't want to sound self pitying,i'm absolutely sure people have this condition far worse than i do,but we all have our own circumstances,situations & futures to deal with,so please bear with me.

I'm 30 yrs old & was diagnosed about a year ago.I was given the'watch & wait' by the Dr i saw but after the initial nodule grew,went to another Dr who booked an appointment with a muscular-skeletal specialist.My experience was a frustrating one,as the Dr made it very clear that he was the Dr & that my condition was not progressive & that again,i should just 'watch & wait'.Well that appointment was mid November & low & behold,my condition has progressed to the extent that it is really effecting my everyday life.

My main concern is a cord that has surfaced,leading from my little finger down towards the centre of my palm about 5cm.This is causing me a lot of pain,especially with pressure exerted on it.A cord has also appeared leading down from the nodules but presently not causing me pain.The nodules are painful & are annoyingly positioned about 2cm down from my middle finger- prevents me from being able to truely grab hold of things.Contracture is occuring with my middle finger but isn't huge,probably around 20 degrees & there's no contraction with my little finger despite the cord.A side effect of this is that i'm now getting pains in my forearm which is really beginning to hinder me.

I'm finding this all very difficult because i'm an aspiring music producer/ composer.I've played the piano all my life & anyone that knows me,know that being successful in music is what drives me day to day.I get on average 2-3 hours sleep a night during the week,due to a full days work & then working on my music til the birds sing & toasters pop-start the day job at 9.30am.I'm finding it more difficult to play the piano & beginning to find it increasingly difficult to use the mouse on my pc.Trouble is,when composing on the pc,probably 90% of the time i'm using the mouse-this is definately beginning to effect my forearm.The cord is a big problem because a bike is my form of transport & is becoming a painful experience.It's also making it difficult to write & has stopped my regular playing of squash-the list goes on.

I've a 2nd appointment with the muscular-skeletal Dr & i'm not sure what to do,all i know is that if i leave this, my hopeful future career might be at risk.I've read about Poole hospital but not sure if i'm too far gone & is surgery drastic but the most permanent?

Thanks for reading, much appreciated

Jonni, I agree, ask your GP to refer you to Poole, it can't hurt just to go for another opinion. I went to my GP in November to ask for a referral, I had a letter from Poole in December for a January appointment so things happen very quickly (surprising for the NHS!!)

Dr Goode is very nice and he will tell you if you are a good candidate for the treatment and will talk you through the process.

Let us know what you decide.

Best wishes

Mary

Firstly i want to say thank you all for replying to my post, it is reassuring to get some good honest advice from people who have real experiences with the condition. As you all probably know, there aren't that many people who have ever heard of DC and the doctors so far haven't exactly been a fountain of knowledge- hopefully that will change with my appointment on Monday.

Unfortunately there has been further development, even since i wrote the last post which was 2 days ago. I now have swelling on my hand, the most noticable area being where the cord has developed below my little finger. I'm also feeling pain around my wrist area now and my forearm feels extrememly tight and causing me pain on both the inside and outside of my arm. This is worrying me because the cord surfaced around the beginning of December and now its got so bad that i'm struggling to use my hand and none of this seems to be directly connected by the contracture but the actual cord itself. I've read about the different procedures but i'm not sure where my own circumstances are going to lead me. I know that i'm struggling and need something to be done quickly.The potential problem i can see with performing NA on the cord, is that although it's very prominent, it's actually not very visible and can only be recognised when feeling my hand. This leads me to believe that it's reasonably deep in my hand and could be quite hazardous.

What do you think and have you experienced or heard about people having swelling and issues with their forearms?

Thanks again for sharing your advice and experiences. Isn't it somewhat comforting to know that people who've never spoken or even met you, care enough about a stranger to spend their free time in trying to help them- i think it's a pretty wonderul thing!

Jonni,
Your situation sounds like there is something going on that may, or may not be Dupuytren's. Normally Dupuytren's is not close to as fast acting as you describe. Ask questions because I would be surprised if it is Dupuytren's that is causing your problems.

If your NHS doctor is not aware of NA you might also poiint him/her to

http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/ip/...infoenglish.pdf

Wolfgang