Dupuytren's Diary

Odd symptoms

2006-07-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

I've never been able to hold anything for long in my right hand without the palm getting sore. Culprits were like holding brooms handles and wringing clothes, and I couldn't ever rake more than a couple of feet of lawn without my palms feeling like they were on fire, so I'd wear gloves and learnt to delegate :)

Maybe it's a residual soreness from our ancestors wielding their warhammers?!

Also I burst a bloodvessel in the palm once from clapping.

I can't find a direct family connection yet cos of a lack of family I'm currently in touch with, but both sides have heavy celtic and viking blood in them so I'll keep looking.

I've got more lumps and pits now, and the whole hand seems involved, including the thumb. The new nodules can be very painful for a few days.

Also my mcp knuckles are sore and a bit swollen, not on the palm side, though I'm not even sure if this is connected, or if I just knocked them on the wall while I was asleep, I've got to that stage of noticing every single little thing, I must find something else to do!

Foot Involvement?

2006-07-23T07:43:00.000-07:00

I have had these three lumps on the bottom of my right foot for a few years now. They are in the arch, two on the bottom and one which is more on the instep. They are soft, and the ones on the bottom disappear when pressed for a while.

Also, it hurts when I walk, under my second toe, as though there's a lump under there too. I've never been able to find one though, so never bothered mentioning any of this to a doctor, after all, I'm ahem 40, aren't feet supposed to be a bit lumpy and sometimes sore by this age? I just ignored it until now, but with this Dupuytren's I had a better look and I found the lump under my toe - d'oh, I had been looking at it the whole time! I had failed to compare it with the opposite foot, you see, and the reason I couldn't feel a lump under the hard, raised, thick skin was yes, the hard, raised, thick skin was the lump! Sore if pressed near the toe.

If it wasn't for my hand probs, I would probably never have even noticed it, but I'll mention it to the doc next visit just to see. If I have this 'diathesis' (means nothing more scary than 'predisposition' btw) then I'm just glad I'm not a guy!

Hospital Visit

2006-07-06T03:54:00.000-07:00

Back from the hospital after my consultation with an ortho. He was very nice, and he had a medical student who took a history and asked lots of questions about how long I'd had what symptoms and what type of pain I had, and what type of movements caused them, that sort of thing. I also have a ganglion on the back of my hand and an aching wrist too, so I had quite a bit to moan about!

I was sent for an x-ray of my wrist, which showed a teeny bit of wear and tear at the top of the radius bone, and I'm to wear a splint in the day for a month to see if this eases things. (One of those horrid brown velcro splints, yuk. At least it stops people trying to shake my hand, honestly that's the thing that hurts the most of all!)

Not much mentioned at this point about the Dupuytren's contracture, though the medical student took a detailed history of it, as well as an interest, which I found reassuring.

So that's all for a month, I'll keep a log of any changes, and post again after the next appointment.

Photo July 2006

2006-07-05T15:04:00.000-07:00

First signs of trouble

2006-07-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

Late in 2005 I noticed a lump in the palm of my right hand. It was between the two top creases in the palm under the middle finger, and it seemed that the top layer of skin had fused to the layer underneath it, it couldn't be pinched away from it any more.

And it itched and itched! The itching drove me to distraction, I'd often find myself scratching it against a belt buckle, the edge of a table, anything to stop it itching. Eventually the scratching seemed to be underneath the lump, which drove me crazy as I couldn't scratch there!

I went to the doctor early in 2006 and they said that they suspected that it was Dupuytren's Contracture, and they referred me to a hand specialist.

I did some research, and it seems to be often an anglo-saxon inherited condition, and my family origins are very viking (in fact, with some internet research, I managed to link my family tree all the way back to Thor, can't get any more Viking than that!!) But as far as I can tell, nobody else in my family actually suffers with the condition.

In June 2006 the condition seemed to get worse at quite an alarming rate, so I decided to blog the whole thing.

I'm off to a hand specialist tomorrow, care of the NHS, so I'll post how it went, and also a picture of my hand that I've scanned. I've been a right hypochondriac, and marked all the lumps and bumps and when I've noticed them.