Dupuytren’s Contracture may not seem like a big deal to many, but to the people actually suffering from it, it becomes a disability hindering their lives.
What is Living with Dupuytren’s Contracture like?
When talking about the disease, people tell varying degrees of discomfort they have to deal with while living with the Dupuytren’s Syndrome.
Diagnosis of the Disease:
A woman talks about her life as Dupuytren’s Contracture patient. She mentions the varying ways people can suffer from it as her contracture is quite obvious and evident, but her husband was not even diagnosed for a long time.
Dupuytren’s Contracture may take a long time to show itself as it slowly progresses within the body and does quiet damage to it. Only when the functional ability of the finger is lost does a patient mostly register that they may be suffering from Dupuytren’s Contracture.
Coping with the Disease:
People suffering from Dupuytren’s Contracture have to adapt a lot of their activities to remain completely independent:
- People suffering may have to remove rings from their ring fingers as the rings may start to feel too tight and cannot be removed once the finger has bent.
- Nodules or growths may also become painful and itchy, and anti-inflammatory medications or treatments can be required to ease the pain.
- During cold weather, wearing gloves becomes very difficult and even more difficult if you’re working in a profession where you have to rely on wearing gloves every day.
- Gripping kitchen tools and cutlery also becomes difficult. Patients have to rely on their other hand for eating in some cases or have to purchase specially made silicone cutlery for this activity.
- Everything that requires gripping becomes difficult, from pens to door handles to mugs. Special items either have to be purchased, or patients have to limit activities.
Thus, living with the disease, though it is not life-threatening, is definitely a challenge. Opting for safe treatment methods is sometimes the only way out.