I understand that one needs a predisposition to develop dupuytren's - but if that predisposition is present, can some lifestyle choices/habits exacerbate the problem? If so, which ones?
Here's a listing of some activities, eating habits, supplements, drug use or particularities of mine [by the way, I am now 51]:
-My hands have always felt somewhat cold [people have mentioned it over the years]. -Extensive exercises involving hands [push-ups, chin-ups, power yoga] from 18 years old on. *¹ -Vegetarian diet [from age 17 on]; including much tofu. -Regular ginseng intake [as well as some other chinese herbs mixtures purchased in Chinatown] -High caffeine intake [3 to 4 cups daily black tea]; occasional coffee or "red bull" type energy drinks. -Poppers use [amyl nitrite, butyl nitrite, or isobutyl nitrite: used as a recreational drug, popular among homosexual males]. The only drug I have used [abused at times] throughout my life - because otherwise: -Cigarette smoking: on and off from age 16, but quit at 30. -Alcohol consumption: steady [and somewhat heavy] from 16 to 30 - but totally sober afterwards. -Regular marijuana/hashish use from 19 to 30 - but not used again since.
I don't want to be judged: just trying to figure out if other dupuytren's sufferers can cross-reference anything.
*¹: I have been wearing gloves and/or resting hands on cushioned pads to exercise in the past year.
A patient survey showed that smokers develop Dupuytren's significantly earlier than non-smokers, on an average 7 years earlier. Drinking alcohol does not seem to cause an earlier onset but people drinking alcohol seem to get it more likely as a study in the Netherlands showed.
I believe that by streching you can get fingers straight if your are persistent enough. The body is probably able to adapt. But if you stop stretching, the the contracture will ikely return.
Ophelien_Champlain:I understand that one needs a predisposition to develop dupuytren's - but if that predisposition is present, can some lifestyle choices/habits exacerbate the problem? If so, which ones?
Here's a listing of some activities, eating habits, supplements, drug use or particularities of mine [by the way, I am now 51]:
-My hands have always felt somewhat cold [people have mentioned it over the years]. -Extensive exercises involving hands [push-ups, chin-ups, power yoga] from 18 years old on. *¹ -Vegetarian diet [from age 17 on]; including much tofu. -Regular ginseng intake [as well as some other chinese herbs mixtures purchased in Chinatown] -High caffeine intake [3 to 4 cups daily black tea]; occasional coffee or "red bull" type energy drinks. -Poppers use [amyl nitrite, butyl nitrite, or isobutyl nitrite: used as a recreational drug, popular among homosexual males]. The only drug I have used [abused at times] throughout my life - because otherwise: -Cigarette smoking: on and off from age 16, but quit at 30. -Alcohol consumption: steady [and somewhat heavy] from 16 to 30 - but totally sober afterwards. -Regular marijuana/hashish use from 19 to 30 - but not used again since.
I don't want to be judged: just trying to figure out if other dupuytren's sufferers can cross-reference anything.
*¹: I have been wearing gloves and/or resting hands on cushioned pads to exercise in the past year.
Ophelien; I personally have no doubt that a genetic predisposition can mean that certain environmental elements can trigger the disease but I suspect that there are too many variables to connect the specific genetic make up to the environmental trigger.
I developed LD in my early teens and DD in my late teens and it was bilateral hands and feet by my mid twenties. I have been overweight most of my life and I grew big young. When I was 13 I weighed 13 stone (82kg) and was 6ft (1.82m) tall. Not that big today but in 1967 NZ I was the big kid in the back row of school photographs. I haven't grown since and my weight has been up to 118kg.
Through life:
- I was a teenager when I developed the disease and while I had consumed alcohol it was minimal so difficult to see that as a contributor. - I was a poor kid in a country town so no processed food. We had chickens in the back yard so when we ate chicken most often I was the one who chopped off the head. Same goes for sheep but a knife rather than an axe. - I do eat vegetables but they are not my first option and I am happy with a meat and no veg meal. - These days I drink wine nearly every day but I have never taken any our recreational drug. - I have never smoked (Ok I had a puff but I didn't like the taste). - I didn't play much sport when I was young as I was a big white guy in a majority Maori town in NZ. Anyone who has played a team sport against a 14 year old Maori or Pacific Island kid as a teenager will understand what I am saying (They have a genetic predisposition to have muscles at a young age).
Seems to me that I can't attribute my case to processed food, alcohol, drugs, smoking or excessive exercise. Maybe excess weight could be a contributor.
I did take up weightlifting in high school but by then I already had LD. My wife was a very good athlete who played competitive field hockey and squash and she got me into both sports but I was never good enough to be excessive.
I guess I am laying out a picture where we do not have many intersections. The progression of my disease has been erratic with long dormant periods followed by periods of constant activity. Sometimes switching from hands to feet in succession but not tracking my activities so far as I can tell.
I took up tennis in my forties and these days I participate in exercise of one kind or another every day. My weight is under control, and I am probably one of the fittest 65 year olds that you are likely to meet.
Through life my personal circumstances and exercise patterns have changed dramatically but the disease has been a constant.
Seph
PS - 3 to 4 cups daily black tea is not a high caffeine intake. That is my norm with breakfast.
Hi all .... Female 55years old. Canadian. I developed DD a few years ago. I am in the early stages. Nodule on left palm under ring finger. Thickening of that tendon. A slight dimple above the small nodule. Can still easily put hand flat on tabletop. No contracting. My doctor said very early stages. My father developed it at 75 years old (he is now 85). It is in his left hand and the baby and ring fingers are contracted. No other family members have it. I love my red wine and I have to say that without a doubt, the day after drinking wine, the nodule is sore and cord looks thicker. This subsides after a few days. I really do not want to give up wine lol as it’s by guilty pleasure. I am very fit, a vegan and drink lots of water. Cannibis is now legal here. I may consider looking into edibles if the wine is going to aggregate this to the point of aggressively progressing.
While there are statistics suggesting a correlation between alcohol and DD, this is the first report I see (which doesn't mean there haven't been others) linking the effect on nodules and cords so directly to the consumption of wine. May I ask how many glasses you drink before you observe this?
Rather than cannabis I wound look into radiotherapy. Has helped me.
Stef
[57, Dupuytren diagnosis 2006, RH contracture and PNF/NA 2014, radiotherapy RH 2015, LH 2017 & 2018, night splint glove RH since 2015]
Thanks for replying. Well as far as consumption goes, it depends on the day and it’s not everyday mind you. It can easily be a bottle over 3-4 hours while sitting outside in the summer. Some days nothing, other days a glass or two. No judging please. We are social people and goes with our territory. I am not beyond cutting back 😀.
I am not sure if any type of therapy would work right now. The hospital hand clinic won’t take me, tried that route through my doctor. Surgery too early stages at this point. Maybe it’s a wait and see. Do you have this in your family history?
Before the 1950s only a single case was reported in the literature in which the use of alcohol was considered an aetiological factor. A higher incidence of DD among patients of a liver unit showed chronic alcoholic patients with cirrhosis of the liver had a prevalence of 66% DD and alcoholic patients without cirrhosis 27%. As other studies confirmed this, the belief that alcohol was an aetiological factor became established.
Liver disease was considered as an aetiological factor for DD in patients with epilepsy and long term phenobarbital treatment, which can impair liver function. In the late 1980s a clinical study examined over 400 patients and found a prevalence between alcoholic patients with and without liver disease. This lead to the conclusion that alcohol rather than liver disease was associated with DD. However, it was noted that in those with chronic cirrhotic liver disease, the presence of DD strongly suggested an alcoholic cause, with a 90% positive predictive value.
Thus, it appears that alcohol has a role in the aetiology of DD, although it is not clear if this relation is only true in alcoholic patients, or if those who drink more have a higher incidence of the disease. This hypothesis was examined in a group of Chelsea pensioners during the early 1990s, and it was found that DD was not more common in those persons who drank more alcohol.
In summary, it seems that alcoholic patients (i.e. with alcohol addiction) have an increased prevalence of DD. However, it should be always remembered that most of those with DD are not alcoholic patients. As some recent studies have supported the role for smoking in the aetiology of DD, it has been speculated that heavy smoking which is more common in alcoholic patients may explain the high prevalence of DD in this group.
The mechanism whereby alcohol intake is associated with DD is still unclear. Suggestions include negative effects on the local perfusion or circulation in the palm, damage to the subcutaneous fatty tissues which may induce a fibrotic response, and eventually changes in the prostaglandin synthesis, but none of these mechanisms have been clearly established.
Enclosed are a few published clinical studies which address the topic of alcohol consumption ....
(1) A Danish study concluded that alcohol intake and tobacco smoking are independently associated with increased risk of DD and the combination of the two conveys a very large risk.
(2) The outcome of a very large UK study with 97,537 miners seeking compensation for Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome. The prime determinant of DD prevalence was age; thus, all other factors investigated were corrected for age. There was no statistically significant correlation between years of exposure to vibration and prevalence of DD, but there was a statistically significant association with smoking, alcohol consumption and diabetes mellitus, with the heaviest smokers having an increased odds ratio (OR) of 1.31, the heaviest drinkers (> 22 units a week) an increased OR of 1.59, and patients with diabetes mellitus an increased OR of 1.52 (95% CI 1.30, 1.77).
(3) The results of a Dutch study showed a high prevalence of the nodular form of DD in The Netherlands. The prevalence increased with age, from 4.9 percent in participants aged 50 to 55 years to 52.6 percent among those aged 76 to 80 years. Men were more often affected (26.4 percent) than women (18.6 percent). Other significant risk factors were previous hand injury, excessive alcohol consumption, familial occurrence of Dupuytren disease, and presence of Ledderhose disease.
(4) In a large French cohort study, DD in men was associated with high levels of alcohol consumption and exposure to hand-transmitted vibration. It is likely that the same applied to women.
For all those who enjoy a glass of wine in the evening and don´t want to consider radiation of their hand in the early stage I might have an interesting suggestion .... try to irradiate the bottle or glas of wine before drinking
If I were you I'd try to determine what quantity of wine makes the nodule sore and the cord look thicker, and stay below it. Or simply keep to a glass or two per day and be confident that the 'sacrifice' will be worthwhile for your general health.
The treatment I'd consider is radiotherapy if it was determined you are, as it sounds, in the appropriate stage.
To answer your question, I am not aware of other DD cases in my family.
352 users online
Login
