Welcome IC-DC

Thank you for that link, I was not aware of that before.

There are lots of historical posts on this forum for various alternative treatments, including Vitamin E and DMSO/SSKI. Others too, Verapamil comes to mind an only one more example. You can use the search function and read through some. Often the poster reports good apparent results in the first weeks, but longer term after many months if they stay the course, nothing. So there's no real evidence that any of these therapies work. DD often goes quiet all by itself anyway and does not progress or only very slowly. So it can be difficult to isolate real results.

I'm new to the board, but not new to DD. I was diagnosed when I was about 50 with DC of my left hand. I had a really successful surgery about 10 years ago, and nothing new has progressed on that hand since then. I am 62 now. About two years ago, I developed DC of my right hand. I'm at about 35% contracture of both MCP and PIP of my ring finger and 30% on my middle finger MCP. My rheumatologist (I have psoriatic arthritis) has been trying to convince me to get this fixed for about one year. I am ready now, and just want to get it over with.

After talking to the hand surgeon, I've opted for the Xiaflex treatment. She said that I am a prime candidate for a multi cord clinical trial, but when I called this morning they said the trial is full. They are still interviewing candidates, and I'm at the top of the list if someone drops out. I'm kind of disappointed. It will take a few weeks for me to know one way or the other. Damn.... I just want to get this done. But, I can wait, I guess. It's not going to go away, after all.

I was the only one in my family to have this, and know nothing about an ancestral occurrences. My twin sister developed a few small nodules in one of her hands about two years ago, but it is not progressing at all. It doesn't bother her at all, so she is just leaving it alone. Lucky her.

Interesting thread, given that we hear over and over that it's primarily a man's disease.

~Diane

aargh just wrote a bunch and it disappeared from hitting some key? So last December after having painful tendonitis in both hands for several months with DC developing in right hand (from dog yanking on leash) , I had two steroid shots - one in the palm base of middle finger where the DC was developing and one in the left thumb. Both got much better, though the left thumb has some residual pain at it's base and there seems to be a bump developing in the palm at base of ring finger near where the DC was starting before, but that is not painful. Considering getting another shot in left middle finger. My point is if DC is starting and it is painful, a shot can really help and it seems to be not developing any more. It is slightly puckered and red where the original DC swelling in the palm was, too, but my finger is definitely more straight than it was. The tendon in the sheath in the palm had been really swollen and was not going to get better without this intervention as the tendon was constantly being squeezed in the sheath so the swelling had no chance to go down.

kathb:

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Hi ive had a crooked little finger on my right hand ever since I can remember. My mother doesn't remember when I developed it so must have been for quite a while. I am now 23 years of age and have never wondered why until I saw a thing on facebook about palms. I saw something similar to my finger and saw it was called dupuyren disease and decided to research into it further. Which lead me to this website. It says that older men with diabetes or alchol problems are more prevalent to dupuytren. I do not smoke and I hardly drink alcohol. It is also not hereditary in my family either as I am the only one with a crooked finger and I come from an Australian background not a Scandinavian or European one. Can anyone shed any light on how I came to have it??

Thanks

Kathryn

chewie:

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I found a lump in the palm of my hand a little over a week ago and was able to get in to see a Hand surgeon this week. I saw the PA and she told me that it was Dupuytren's right off along with Trigger Finger. I'm 63 years old, female and no family history that I'm aware of. Have a history of anxiety and OCD that is treated but after reading through this site, have hypothyroidism and low level's of Vitamin D. I wasn't quite sure that I wanted to post and read through the posts but I'm glad that I have. Just writing about it has lowered my anxiety, which I should know by now... Anyway, happy to find this forum and wish you all well.

Quick question, the PA said probably no treatment until things start changing but I've noticed that a few people talk about radiation on the nodule early on. Have I read this correctly and is this something that I should talk to my doc about?