Okay, thanks for the clarification Callie.

Susan,

I have osteoarthritis in the hand that has DD. The knuckles below the fingernail have a hard knot that is easily felt and seen. When I had an MRI prior to RT the knots were easily seen and I asked Dr. Crimaldi if this was a nodule or what exactly it was. He was the one who told me it was osteoarthritis. In the winter or on humid days they crack and make all kinds of
noise. If I bend my fingers they crack. They can ache in the winter but for the most part I have no pain. The osteoarthritis and the DD occured in my hand at around the same time. My left hand does not have DD or osteoarthritis.

Hope this helps.

Lori

Stephen,

Cautious? If we developed Dupuytren's while eating the typical modern foods which are known to cause obesity, autoimmune disorders, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc. then how could it be imprudent to clean up the diet in a way that would address all these known issues. There is certainly no evidence that it is harmful, and, as usual, no serious research on DD has used a diet study that goes all the way with a low fat diet free of animal products, low in unhealthy sugars, etc. So what have we got but anecdotal evidence? Not saying the diet will cure DD, but food is our most important environmental exposure. My recent flare up with DD has over the last few weeks calmed down to asymptomatic. It was slowly improving when I discontinued occasional use of an ED drug, but now improvement has been rapid. Just sayin' why not? What can it hurt, and if it it gives hope all the better.

I have worked in medical research for quite a few years, most recently leading a research centre working on wound repair (to which DD is somewhat related). I continue to be dismayed by the way in which health professionals and patients base their beliefs and treatments on anecdotal evidence or to put it another way "truthiness".

A few years back, mock-conservative TV pundit Stephen Colbert famously introduced the notion of “truthiness” into the political lexicon. As Colbert put it, truthiness pertains not to whether beliefs are true, but whether one “feels” they should be true.

There is no doubt that the current western high sugar, high salt, high fat western diet along with a lack of physical activity, makes a significant contribution to the epidemic of lifestyle diseases. However, given DDs strong genetic links, the history of the disease and its rather unpredictable episodic nature, I would hate to see people forego treatments that are supported by evidence in favour of approaches that are based on truthiness.

Having said that, anyone who reduces their consumption of sugar, salt and fat as well as other discretionary drugs from their lives is to be applauded. I only achieve marginal success in this area.

Cheers

Stephen

I think that some of the postings here are slightly missing the point when they go down the route of vitamins or vegetarianism and so forth. Since Dupuytren's is associated with diabetes (i.e. commoner in diabetics) it presumably has something to do with excessive sugar in the blood - or at least in some cases. So the first line of approach should be to avoid the sort of things that diabetics are supposed to avoid, such as fruit juices, for example, which pour a lot of sugar into the blood in a short time, even if from a vitamin point of view they are healthy. If you are getting plump round the middle (as I was at the time I started to develop Dupuytren's, as a result of drinking and eating too much - my trousers went up from 34 inches to 37) it is a sign that you are loading your blood with too much sugar - since building fat cells round the waist is one of the ways the body disposes of dangerously high sugar levels. Anyway, it about 8 years now since I started to develop symptoms in my right hand. I changed my diet; my trouser size is back at 34 inches; the Dupuytren's has gone away (apart from a very tiny lump) and not come back. I do not take vitamin pills, and consider them unhealthy. I am very glad I didn't listen to the doctor's and the surgeon's advice when both of them urged me to have an operation. I can't promise that the same improvement will happen to you if you change your diet (my case was obviously rather a mild one) but it is worth a try. I am 61 years old, 6 foot 3 tall, and quite skinny. I am currently living in Africa, where the weather is warm and there is lots of sunshine, which no doubt helps.