Welcome to the forum. I too had quite a bit of pain. We are members of a very small club. Most do not have pain. I had quite a bit of pain that radiated from my hand to my shoulder. I had tingling, aching, felt the cold, and i would get a shooting pain through either my hand or shoulder. All that went away with RT. Hopefully your pain will go away. Mine did lessen/change as time went on.
During an attack of Raynaud's, affected areas of your skin usually turn white at first. Then, the affected areas often turn blue, feel cold and numb, and your sense of touch is dulled. As circulation improves, the affected areas may turn red, throb, tingle or swell. The order of the changes of color isn't the same for all people, and not everyone experiences all three colors.
Raynaud's can be easily controlled if that is your situation. Dupuytren's is normally not painful as you describe.
Thanks so much for the info! I will speak with the specialist tomorrow with regard to both RT and Reynaud's, but after looking at images online I can safely say I have never experienced the Reynaud's color symptoms in the least.
I live in Oregon so I will need to investigate if anyone in-state does RT and that my insurance covers it. The pain right now is intense and I believe it is because it is spreading...it is like the pain I had when the first nodule showed up, but it did lessen a bit for a while.
Thanks again, and I will update tomorrow after my appointment.
Your best bet in Oregon is Dr. Cha, MD at Providence Hospital in Portland, OR (Ph. 503-215-6029). She pushed my RT insurance authorization through immediately. I just finished first round.
p.s. Often Raynaud's will turn the fingers white with pain. I have never seen the blue color.
Scroll down to "Radiation treatment in Portland, OR" for more discussion.
I also have pain, particularly at night when I get claw hand cramps, but also if I try to hold anything very tightly, it feels like a nail has been driven through the center of my hand, this slowly diminishes after 10-15 mins. I only have a nodule on my left hand palm at the moment and a slight start of the pinky finger bending, age 47. I live in NZ and am concerned at the lack of treatment choices here, my father has had a finger amputated which solved one of his hands! this looks like a great site and I look forward to reading all I can.
DallasSaunter; Sounds to me like you are a candidate for NA. And don't leave the little finger to long or they won't be able to straighten it (Happened to me).
There are now doctors in Sydney and Melbourne that are doing NA. there is a list on this web site:
If you time it right you could get NA on your hand and then head off to a State Of Origin match or Bledisloe Cup.
The other option is a holiday in France. There are some cheap return flights between Auckland and Paris with Qatar Airways and the like. In Paris the procedure will take 20 minutes and cost 250 euros.
Be warned that when you discuss this with your doctor or surgeon in NZ you will almost certainly be advised that NA is some form of black magic that is likely to cause nerve damage and doesn't work as the disease most often comes back. It seems to be the case that the disease comes back more often after NA but the rest is rubbish and we are talking about a procedure that takes 20 minutes and can be repeated as often as needed.
Attached are a couple of photographs of my left hand. One taken two weeks ago just before I had an NA procedure in Paris and the other taken today. Ignore the little finger it is the product of conventional surgery 15 years ago. This time I was dealing with the forefinger and index finger. I met with Dr Manet at 6pm, by 7.30 we were back in our hotel and by 8.30 I was enjoying a glass of red in a nice restaurant.
I am a Registered Nurse who used to do alot of handwriting, when I first became a nurse. It was not uncommon for me to sign my name 75-100 times during a shift, please chart pages of documentation.
Shortly after becoming an RN, I had a severe episode of pain and weakness in my right hand. The pain was so intense, I coud not pick up a cup of coffee without dropping it. After several days the diffuse pain in my entire hand began to diminish and localize in the classic DC areas in the palm below the 4th and 5th digits.
Since then, and this has been 4 or 5 years ago, the disease has progressed. However, at times the pain and sweling on my nodules is almost unbearable. No amount of NSAIDS will help.... A hand specialist said that it was definitely DC, but he could not understand the pain and periodic swelling.
The only thing that helps is 1) rest; and 2) very deep tissue massage and direct pressure, with stretching of the fingers--very painful during the therapy but gives me pain relief for several days. I am considering cortisone injections but afraid the doc will hit a nerve.
Anyone else get the cortisone injections to help with symptoms or delay progression of the disease? Thanks.
I have gotten cortisone shots and the effect lasts about 2 weeks...a week if you count the pain of the shots. Used to last longer so I no longer get them. I have taken Prednisone for allergies, and while it helps the pain as an RN you know Pred is absolutely not a long-term solution. I do take hydrocodone to cut the pain, but that's all it does...just cut it enough to function at home after a full day.
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