haven't tried this though i am encouraged by the possibility. I got diagnosed with dupuytren's about 8 years ago but mine is thankfully not progressing very quickly. Being born a Murphy, I can't do anything right and instead of getting the nodules on my palm or inside of my hand i have them on the outside so that I have difficulty closing my hands instead of opening them. I'm always making fists to stretch things out and folks often jump to the conclusion that I'm grumpy when I'm really just uncomfortable. The surgeon who diagnosed me knew nothing of the disease as she'd never encountered it before and told me the only treatment was criss cross incisions on the tendons once my hands became claws. Not very encouraging news. Thank you for starting this group. The condition is so obscure I never thought I would find one. Sorry I couldn't give you any of the information you were looking for. Hopefully someone else will be able to do so. As for the needles. Have you tried wearing a sleep mask? It may look a little silly but the doctor is unlikely to care and if it helps you deal with the anxiety it would be worth it.

I think it dpends on where you live that it can be classed as obscure if you are from the Scandinavian countries,or any that their Viking ancestors visited it is unfortuntaley very common,and welcome to the group,no I have not tried a sleep mask I just tell the doctor if you wanna jag me with that thing you gonna have to catch me first lol

Welcome to the group first of all and I had not heard of the nodules on the outside,but like you say you are a Murphy,although you do not say which country you live in I am guessing because of the Murphy connection the family roots on one side go back to Ireland,and like I mentioned in my opening blurb,Ireland was one of the places the Norse in particular settled down in,so looks like you have some nice Viking ancestor to thank... As for the sleep mask no I have not tried that my usual line to the doctor is..if you wanna stick that thing in me you gonna have to catch me first ... lol

Thank you. I'm in Canada but one of my ancestral lines is Irish. Both my dad and one of my aunts have "bump" on the inside of their hands which are probably the same thing but neither have been diagnosed. If they do in fact have Dupuytrens then they are also progressing slowly. They basically complain about the nodules interfering with their ability to play guitar but neither of them has had to give it up. They just medicate for the pain. As for me I still have only the one nodule on the middle finger of my right hand which grew back almost immediately after surgery. I can "feel" it in my right pinkie which probably sounds strange but it was the first thing I noticed in my middle finger before the lump showed up so I anticipate another one in the next year or so. My only concessions to it thus far are having given up all my needlework. I've spent the last 8 years exploring the wonderful world of gross motor activities : )

Getting back into hiking has been a lot of fun but two of the toes on my left foot are starting to act up. So far they only really bother me in extreme cold so....I'm starting my hibernation season. ; )