Things that bug me about Dupuytren’s.
Mostly it’s little things. Dupuytren’s isn’t painful, except perhaps during the early stages of nodule development. But it can be very frustrating. Here’s my list of annoyances.
- Getting clumsy: catching and gripping are not what they used to be. I drop things more often.
- Pint glasses: picking up a pint glass down the pub isn’t easy when your fingers don’t straighten enough to fit around the glass. According to a nurse I spoke to whilst having treatment this is one of the most common complaints, particularly from men.
- Typing: I used to be able to touch type with all fingers. Two on each hand is slower and more difficult. Having had one hand done I’m back up to six fingers but having to retrain my little finger which keeps hitting q or caps lock instead of a!
- Washing: my hands are the wrong shape to easily fit around the curves of my body (never mind anyone else’s!). Particularly true when trying to apply shampoo to hair.
- Shaving: applying shaving foam becomes quite tricky, see above.
- Gloves: my hands are the wrong shape! For skiing I had to change to mittens rather than gloves.
- Guitar: some chord shapes become impossible as is fingerpicking. I only play for my own pleasure but it is something I’ve been doing for 50 years!
- Tools: power tools are generally ok but the dexterity isn’t always there with hand tools. Particularly on jobs with fine details and small parts.
The good news? So far unaffected is my golf game. This is still as poor as ever!
Other people will undoubtedly have their own bugbears. Please feel free to share.
