• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • Diabetes UK staff will be logging into the forum at various times throughout this Bank Holiday weekend, however, if you require emergency medical assistance or advice please call 999, or if it is less urgent then please call the 24 hour NHS 111 service on 111. Alternatively, please speak to your GP or healthcare team.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

Diabetic cheiroarthropathy

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
S

Ste

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi,
I wonder if anyone can offer any advice or information on Diabetic Cheiroathropathy ? 🙂
I was diagnose about a year ago with type 2 diabetes which is now under control and being treated.
Recently i have developed very painfull hands with only limited grip/ strength and movement. :(
I consulted a rheumetolgy specialist clinic last week, and told that i have diabetic cheiroathropathy, and that it was not reversible and no treatment (except paikillers)was available, and may deteriorate if my diabetes is not controlled.
All the info i have found seems to say that this condition is NOT painfull ? but i have severe pain ?
Any information / personal thoughts or experiences would be much appreciated 🙂
Thank you
 
Hi Ste and welcome to the forum sorry for the ignorance but i had to look up your condition i could barely say it never mind know what it is lol.Anyway i have no experience with this but i was diagnosed with neuropathy in my feet which is painful at times and all i take is painkillers also,is it similier to neuropathy your condition?

Thanks
 
I'm sure someone else will be along before long with more information. SOunds nasty.

Have you done a google search? There also seems to be quite a bit of information on the NHS direct web site.
 
I'm a nurse and had never heard of it either!😱

Diabetic cheiroarthropathy is also known as stiff hand syndrome or syndrome of limited joint mobility according to a google search.More than that I can't tell you I'm afraid ,so I'm not much help at all.

I do hope you get some help soon-it sounds extremly painful. Good luck Ste.

C 🙂
 
Hi Ste i personally have never heard of it but this is what i found on internet

Cheiroarthropathy - A Diabetes Complication
Diabetes mellitus, commonly referred to as "diabetes," is a chronic medical condition associated with abnormally high levels of sugar (glucose) in the blood. Diabetes can lead to eye, kidney, nerve, and heart damage. It can also be complicated by a syndrome that affects the function of the hands, cheiroarthropathy.

Cheiroarthropathy is syndrome of limited joint mobility that occurs in patients with diabetes. Cheiroarthropathy is characterized by thickening of the skin resulting in contracture of the fingers.

Cheiroarthropathy causes such limited motion of the fingers that the affected individual is unable to extend the fingers to fully flatten the hand. Typically both hands are affected by cheiroarthropathy. Rarely, larger joints are affected (generally in more advanced, longstanding diabetes).

Cheiroarthropathy has been reported in over half of patients with insulin-dependent diabetes and approximately three quarters of those with noninsulin-dependent diabetes. Cheiroarthropathy occurs more frequently in those with a longer history of diabetes.

Treatment of cheiroarthropathy includes pain reliever and/or antiinflammation medicines, stretching exercises, and tight control of the blood sugar level.

Hope this helps Jenny
 
Seeing as most of us, including myself have never heard of it. It doesnt sound right those statistics, does it? :confused:
 
tracey w said:
Seeing as most of us, including myself have never heard of it. It doesnt sound right those statistics, does it? :confused:
Click to expand...

Indeed. I'd never heard of it, so surprising that it's supposed to be so common. It's never been mentioned in any of the oodles of diabetes books I've read.

I'm wondering if you have this, plus neuropathy so are getting the symptoms of both?
 
Thanks

Thank you for all the replies🙂
I was only diagnosed with this condition on friday, the first consultant did not know what was causing the symptoms and ruled out any arthritis, and asked a coleague for a second opinion, he made the diagnosis.
I have an appointment with my GP on wednesday and will try to find out more about it:confused:
 
Good luck Ste, hope you can get things sorted with this soon.
 
Hi Ste,

Have just joined the Forum and come across your thread; hope I am not too late with my reply 🙂

I was diagnosed T2 in Jan 03, although the consultant reckoned I had probably had diabetes for 10 years or more before that. Possibly because it was so late diagnosed, I have hurtled into complications, the most significant being peripheral neuropathy in my feet. However, two years ago, I started to have real problems with my hands. The joints became very painful and on bad days, I could hardly hold a pen to sign my name. I was despatched to a Rheumatologist who thought I had arthritis, and I was treated as such. However, I moved house, and my new consultant has now ruled out arthritis (rheumatois) and has diagnosed both osteoarthritis and Diabetic Cheiroathropathy. He spent some time explaining that the symptoms (lack of grip, painful joints and stiffness in the hand) were all classic symptoms, and he had no doubt about his diagnosis. He went on to say that there was no treatment for the condition, and one can only take medication for the pain. Furthermore, it won't get better, and will only progressively deteriorate. 😡 Careful monitoring and maintenance of good blood/glucose levels (which we should all be doing) will help slow the deterioration and, at best, may stop it getting worse. 🙄

I know this is probably not what you want to hear. He told me that the condition was quite rare, and seemed a bit excited that he had come across it! Please feel free to email me if you want to discuss further. :D

snag
 
Hi snag, welcome to the forum 🙂 Sorry to hear that you also have this problem, but thank you for shedding a little more light on it for us.
 
Jennywren said:
Cheiroarthropathy has been reported in over half of patients with insulin-dependent diabetes and approximately three quarters of those with noninsulin-dependent diabetes. Cheiroarthropathy occurs more frequently in those with a longer history of diabetes.
Click to expand...

OK folks I think we should all waggle our hands now just to check.
It sounds like it could be a common but unreported complication.
Mine do feel a bit stiff but I wouldn't have thought much of it before this. I do have some Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in my right wrist ( another side effect of diabetes).
Waggle, waggle - check it out.

And Ste, you say good control is needed. May we ask what your A1c is and your daily bg readings ?
 
I do have some stiffness and trouble holding onto small objects like coins and my pills, but that's down to the Rheumatics which I've had since well before Diabetes showed up. I wonder how many folk out there put such things down to their advancing years and never reallise it could be part of the Big D?
 
HiAgain,

Thank you to all who have replied to my original message, and for the interesting information, I would just like to update you all on my condition.

After 2 years or so of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and a year or so diagnosed with Cheiroarthropathy, The condition has worsened, to the point that I have only a very little finger movement (can`t close fingers to make a fist, or fully extend any finger due to pain) I now have 4 fingers that Trigger, and ongoing constant pain in both hands, reduced grip and overall strength.
I have had (experimental) steroid injections to 6 fingers, which did not help at all. I am taking powerfull pain killers for this and other conditions but they don`t seem to help at all.
I had bilateral carpal tunnel release operations, which were not much help either. Arthritis and associated conditions have now been ruled out.

I have not been diabetic long term, only about a year when diagnosed, and my diabetes is now controlled, with medication at about 6.5 confirmed with 3 monthly blood test, i don`t self monitor daily. So the fact it affects mainly type 1 and long termpatients does not apply to me.

It seems there is no "cure" for this problem, and strong medication does not seem to help at all, so after consulting several specialists, i am more or less left to "live with it "The pain keeps me awake at night,every night and I now have severe sleep deprivation, making it difficult to function on a day to day basis.
Any advice, thoughts or suggestions will be most welcome,or any experience of "alternative therapies" etc

All the best.
Ste.
 
Thanks for the update Ste, I'm very sorry to hear that none of the treatments you have had have been successful :( It might be worth posting your questions on one of the international forums as well, such as Diabetes Daily, as you may stand a better chance of communicating with others who have experienced this.

http://www.diabetesdaily.com/forum/

Hope you can find something that works for you.
 
Hi STe

Thanks for updating us. I'm really sorry to hear that there's currently no practical help from the doctors. I'm sure we all wish we could offer some suggestions to at least give comfort.

I hope Northerner's suggestion can yield some ideas. There must be other sufferers out there who have found a way of at least sleeping.

Please keep us informed about how you're getting on, even if it's just to have a rant about it. Small consolation but it may help to offload.

Take care.

Rob
 
My local hospital runs a regular pain clinic for people in your situation. It runs on a monthly basis and helps folk find the best ways to manage long term pain. Maybe there's one near you too?
 
It sounds really horrible Ste. My heart goes out to you. I don't know if it would help your condition, but I do know some people who have reversed or at least ameliorated their peripheral neuropathy by taking the DPN cocktail, (about half way down that page) which is a mix of various supplements. It was discovered and used successfully as a clinical treatment in Germany, but doesn't seem to be known to the medics over here.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well - surely got to be worth a try, Ste?
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top