[Lady Bliss]

Hi all. Some of you may know that I have Lupus. This isn't normally a big deal, but I get tired and achy. I take a mild med for it as I'm leery of taking chemo or other drugs. Usually I try and just eat well, sleep well and exercise.

I just got back from the dr where I wanted to have them look at a lump on my hand. I had assumed it was a cyst... but I have just been diagnosed with dupuytrens. I looked at it online and normally it looks like it affects older men. I haven't chronically drank for years, I don't have epilepsy or diabetes. The dr thinks it is connected to the lupus.

Does anyone know what I can expect? I'm terrified that I am going to end up a cripple, and I haven't seen my rheumatologist yet, but I am concerned that this now means my lupus is attacking my organs.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGH!

[Black Winged Lord]

Hey Bliss,

don't know much about Dupuytrens, but my brother was recently diagnosed with Lupus and he's been having more and more troubles with his hands over the last few months. Doctors mentioned that this may become a factor, but he hasn't seen too many symptoms yet apart from the odd clenching in his wrists/arms. From what I've read on this it looks like there a few options including surgery, but also has a high rate of recurrence.

His next specialist appointment is at the end of this month so the family is expecting to find out more then.
His major problem at the moment is a large lump on his chest which they haven't figured out yet.

[Lady Bliss]

Black Winged Lord, on 04 July 2013 - 04:11 AM, said:

Hey Bliss,

don't know much about Dupuytrens, but my brother was recently diagnosed with Lupus and he's been having more and more troubles with his hands over the last few months. Doctors mentioned that this may become a factor, but he hasn't seen too many symptoms yet apart from the odd clenching in his wrists/arms. From what I've read on this it looks like there a few options including surgery, but also has a high rate of recurrence.

His next specialist appointment is at the end of this month so the family is expecting to find out more then.
His major problem at the moment is a large lump on his chest which they haven't figured out yet.

BWL,
So sorry about your brother's recent diagnosis. I will tell you that I was diagnosed 10 years ago, and once I got on the right medication it did improve how I felt and helped to keep flare ups at bay. I avoid writing and intensive use of my hands, but oddly typing doesn't bother me much. I find massage to be very helpful and a great relief.

[Gnaw]

Lady Bliss, on 03 July 2013 - 10:22 PM, said:

Hi all. Some of you may know that I have Lupus. This isn't normally a big deal, but I get tired and achy. I take a mild med for it as I'm leery of taking chemo or other drugs. Usually I try and just eat well, sleep well and exercise.

I just got back from the dr where I wanted to have them look at a lump on my hand. I had assumed it was a cyst... but I have just been diagnosed with dupuytrens. I looked at it online and normally it looks like it affects older men. I haven't chronically drank for years, I don't have epilepsy or diabetes. The dr thinks it is connected to the lupus.

Does anyone know what I can expect? I'm terrified that I am going to end up a cripple, and I haven't seen my rheumatologist yet, but I am concerned that this now means my lupus is attacking my organs.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGH!

My sister is a PT so I was going to ask her about this today. But she no showed.

I had fairly severe nerve involvement issues when recovering from a fire several years back. Both hands were contracted and I was told by a neuro "Oh, theyll probably never get better". I was still in the burn unit so several people overheard my reply to him. A couple hours later his boss came up. She re-ran the tests and said that it would be long and painful but they would. (One hand was "ape hand" the other was "claw hand". See a pic here.)

The relevance to your issue is that I was seen by an Occupational Therapist. Deep scar massage was used to break up the contracted tissue under the skin. From reading a bit on the dupuytrens I think that the same type of therapy could be used.

A google search for all the terms got me here: http://www.med.umich...and_tables.html Scroll down to the clinical terms section.

Also here on scar massage: http://occupational-...nagement-1.aspx

Massage in this instance is NOT the scented oil gentle type. The OT that I saw for ~8 months outpatient took to wearing a hand brace for our sessions.

I do understand what you mean when you say that the future looks terrifying right now. We don't really give a lot of thought to how important that opposable thumb really is. Unfortunately I have no advice that's comforting. Find a good neurologist and OT. Don't let anyone tell you that a PT is just as good as an OT. OTs get much more training and information on hands.