As always with my rambly threads, thanks for reading, folks!

And thanks also for sharing and forwarding to folks who might be able/willing to share their own experiences with #Dupuytrens.

This will be another fascinating path to tread.

26/fin

#Dupuytrens can be a very disabling condition, despite being "benign", and I am hopeful there are some effective strategies for mitigation of the condition itself.

If the reality is there are no real mitigations and I am simply facing an ongoing decline in finger/hand function, I also appreciate knowing that so I can do my best to prepare for that change while I still retain function.

25/x

#dx
#managment
#mitigation
#progression

This thread is not a humblebrag though, but a/some questions for folks out there who are personally familar with #Dupuytrens:

What are your experiences? Are there things I should avoid (whether activities or treatments)? Things I should ensure I do? Recommended resources? Resources best to avoid? Etc etc etc.

24/x

#dx
#questions
#query
#resources

My research was solid, so much so that the doctor readily agreed it was unlikely to be a cyst and seemed clearly to be #Dupuytrens.

Yay! (Not "yay! another disease to notch on my belt" but "yay, I figured out the correct diagnosis!")

For me, it is a huge relief to have a framework for a problem, and that's what a diagnosis can provide.

23/x

My age is also in the typical range for onset.

#Dupuytrens rarely starts in young people, athough Britsh actor #BillNighy is an exception, having it develop in his early 20s.

Alas, I don't think I'll ever be as stylish as Mr. Nighy, no matter what condition my hands are in!

21/x

#dx
#differentiation

After further reading and videos, I felt confident that I have discovered the early-stage of this condition clearly in my right hand, with not only the visible and tactile lump under my ring finger but some unusual contouring under my middle finger.

Apparently #Dupuytrens is most common in the pinkie and ring finger, but other fingers can be effected as well.

20/x

And this is critically important, because #Dupuytrens is considered genetic, although AFAIK the precise gene has not yet been identified.

This condition is also sometimes called #VikingsDisease, as it most commonly effects people from or descended from #Scandinavia and northern European regions such as the #Netherlands.

And that fits my elder's history perfectly.

19/x

#genetics
#genes
#ancestry

A cyst isn't impossible, but this lump, while in the 'palm', is actually directly beneath the knuckle of my ring finger. If you were to run a needle or something between those two points, they would be aligned as closely as possible, not angled from one another.

So I kept reading and watched a few videos and thought about the non-cyst condition, #Dupuytrens.

And realised one of my direct ancestors DEFINITELY had it!

15/x

After examining it as best I could, I started doing research, learning that there are a few reasons one can have a lump in the palm.

Knowing my complex #MedicalHistory as well as I do, it was easy to strike off all but two possibilities: a cyst or #Dupuytrens contracture.

14/x

@goatsarah

*waves hello*

I've just discovered I have #Dupuytrens (the latest in a long line of conditions I've had to manage)

Reaching out to say hello and perhaps chat about things you've learned? (At your discretion -- no pressure!)

I've been learning what I can but do not yet know the larger contours of the condition nor what sort of outright quackery I need to avoid.

@StuffByBez Earl Grey, although of late I’ve developed quite the fancy for Yorkshire Tea.

I’m also learning Portuguese, which is very hard work, but rewarding.

And I still do some climbing-adjacent stuff: via ferrata, arborism, that kind of stuff. I just can’t do proper rock climbing because I have early onset #Dupuytrens disease.