Living with Dupuytren’s Disease
With Dupuytren’s disease, everyday activities can become challenging. Early on, it may not have much of an impact. As the condition progresses, it may be more noticeable. Washing your face, shaking someone’s hand and even signing your name can become difficult.
People living with Dupuytren’s disease find ways to work around the disorder or even hide the signs until something triggers their decision to get help.
In interviews, people with Dupuytren’s disease said they have trouble with personal activities such as carrying groceries, buttoning shirts, and gripping a golf club or a gardening tool, but most had found ways to adapt.
For instance, people use their unaffected hand more frequently, wear slacks with bigger pockets, put keys in a coat pocket (the pockets on coats are bigger) or alter their typing technique. One man even learned to replay the piano to accommodate his contracture. Because the progression of Dupuytren’s disease can be gradual, people learn to cope over time.
Dupuytren’s disease can progress to a point where it can’t be ignored, hidden or adapted to. A professional can no longer shake hands. A gardener can no longer put on gardening gloves. A cook can no longer open a jar or put on an oven mitt.
That’s when they look for help.
If that’s you, and you’re looking for more information about Dupuytren’s disease, you’ve come to the right place.
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Impact on Daily Activities
As Dupuytren’s disease progresses, it can have an increasing impact on your ability to do ordinary, everyday tasks. Have you been having more difficulty doing little things around the house or while getting dressed? Have you had to find alternate ways of doing some of these things? The list below may help you think of ways Dupuytren’s disease has affected the things you do every day.
Your doctor will be interested in knowing about the impact Dupuytren’s disease has on your daily activities, so bring up these issues during your next office visit.
If you would like to use this list to create your own, click on all of the activities you are having trouble doing. Then click the Print My List button. You can use this list to help you talk with your doctor about your signs and symptoms during your next visit.
