Dyingbreed45

Welcome! My friend Wolfgang from Germany created this site to help people *exacely* like you. Gland you found us.

You situation is a little different from most because of the complications of serious hand injury. However I am sure you will gain a lot of insight by reading these threads and staying up with the conversation. For starters I would also recommend Dr. Charles Eaton's sight:

http://www.handcenter.org/

All the Best

Randy

Hi Australia calling, welcome to the forum,
Do you have any contraction to your fingers? Have you heard of the simple table top test to monitor yourself of any progression of contraction.( Simply lay your hand on a flat surface , palm up and take the distance from the fingernail to the flat surface. Document your information. The advice I received was not to do any surgery until the contraction reached 5 to 6 cm. ( 2 ins.) ) In my case that took 15 years. This disease affects everybody in a different way. I was informed it generally affected most persons firstly on the little and ring fingers. You mentioned your index finger , well in my case I've had the index and thumb with MD. Not good when you have to use your hands to grasp a broom , hammer etc. When I was first diagnosed the most important message I was given was to stretch my hands slowly on a flat surface. I am still doing this 30 years later and can still place both hands down on a flat surface.Both my little fingershave about 5mm. contraction. You may have read that knuckle pads are an indication that the disease may be aggressive. I have very large k/pads on the joints of my little fingers. It is important to make a close fist ,when you exercise. I attribute my DC from my mother's Irish background.My father's side was from nothern German but I recently traced both sides of my father's parents and no Dups.Don't rush into surgery . The Doctors dont tell you that the first surgery may start the clock for future surgery. Finally accupuncture did nothing for me. Regards from down under.

Edited at 08.03.08 08:01

I want to thank you Wolfgang for making this forum and sending me the site to educate myself. Just started to read about what this "disease" is about. So I will have questions after reading more and get more of an understanding of what to expect and get good advice from every one here and hope that I will also be able to help a bit in time. This is wonderful to be able to express what others can't understand because no one that I know has Dups other than a very nice woman that I met in therapy who is going on her 5th surgery. She has Dups in both hands. She let me feel her palms and advised me on what she has been through which scared me a lot but also made me feel sorry for her because she developed it "naturally".
Education is the best way to understand what is happening to me and others like wise who have this chronic disease. To have such a life changing ordeal to cope with is hard for others who are not stricken with Dups to understand the implications of what use to be simple tasks to do with my hand have become cumbersome.
I have a long road ahead but know it will be easier no that I have found friends here that understand what this disease is all about. Once again I want to thank you Wolfgang for the help and forum to keep me strong and move forward instead of standing still.

Got Dups the hard way,

Dyingbreed45

Thanks to all that are here who have DC (not that you want to have DC) who share their experiences and to those who help improve treatments, donate, etc.
Every case is different since each of us have our own chemistry make up so we are affected differently. Since I am a WC case it is going to be difficult road ahead for me since you can't just pick and choose a procedure unless you are able to have a physician who uses more than surgey, or be referred to another physician and the procedure is "approved" etc. I can sum it up like this "RED TAPE"! Most people have never heard of DC so it is "foriegn" to most people. There is no doubt mine came from a trauma having my hand crushed. WC wants my condition to have miraculously disappear.
What I want to know is what is the return rate of DC after needle aponeurotomy 58 %? Do you use NA for short? Also, When do certain treatments work better at certain stages of DC? Even after reading and have read most but not all of the literature experience is the best teacher. I will wait patiently and good luck to all who suffer from DC.

Got Dups the hard way,

Dyingbreed45

Good points made about the "lesser of two evils" NA vs. OS. To me once you cut into any body part it is never the same again. You metioned scar tissue. Scar tissue hurts and that is that. When my hand was crushed it smashed my hand and I could feel it spread apart and when I looked at my hand there on my palm side were two tears that of course hurt like you know what and still do to this day almost a year later that is not to mention the damage that happened to the tissue, tendons, ligaments, etc. From what I have seen and not experienced the OS is very invasive and we all know of all the nerve endings in the hand with the scars left inside as well as outside has to make it even more difficult to handle tools, putting pressure on the palm, among the many other things you do with your hand daily seems to me would be adding fuel to the fire plus the possibility of developing DC in other areas as well. Not to say that OS is not good at all but still scares me. Not to say here in the U.S.A. that other options are not available, it is the debate that you spoke of that keeps most surgeons relying on the OS instead of NA.
After turning down the surgery my surgeon released me to MMI and went to an FCE. Well the firm that did the FCE didn't even consider my condition of DC but based it on what I could grip and when the weight bothered my hand wrist and sliding weight in a milk crate on a smooth surface unrelated to what would be happening in my line of work. To them I am just fine and could go back to setting dies, etc. That is where the ignorance of DC that seems to elude the general population, unless it has affected them. Knowledge is power and educating all about this disease could make a difference. Because of the lack of documentation of causes and where DC actually comes from it seems like DC gets pushed to the side as if it doesn't exsist. Which we all know this is a "crippling" ailment and needs to be treated not just left alone. Thank you Randy H for the reply it helps me to learn more from some one who has experienced both.

Got Dups the hard way,

Dyingbreed45