I have Dupuytren contracture; 59 years old white female. I have been on 80 mg of a statin for several years. I understand statin drugs can be very harmful to the liver, especially at this dose? Since, I have decided to stop taking it for that reason. Do you think this could have caused the Dupuytren contracture, since your above reply implies liver disease? I do not drink alcohol but could this high dose of the statin have caused liver damage leading to the Dupuytrens?
Thank you,
Jennifer
Greetings Jennifer,
You are correct that high dosage statin intake has been implicated in Dupuytren’s contracture. The exact mechanism that statin drugs might cause Dupuytrens as a side effect are not completely understood at this time, although liver damage is often mentioned as a possibility. Please see Dupuytren Cause Could Be Related to Drugs
You should speak to the doctor who prescribed your statin drug for you, who did not explain the possibility that Dupuytren’s contracture might occur as a result, and ask these same questions and listen closely to the answer. TRH
I have Dupuytren’s contracture in both hands and feet. I have had two operations on my hands and need another one. I have lumps in both feet. I also have Peyronie’s Disease. My over all cholesterol 205. My LDL is 145. I have resisted taking statins for several years. Do statins have an adverse effect on Dupuytren’s Contracture. A new doctor convinced me to start statins. I took my first statin pill last night. I am physically active. I never drank or smoked. I can’t afford to have my feet get worse. Operations on the feet are much more complicated than the hands. Will the statins make my Dupuytren’s contracture worse?
Greetings Larry,
I cannot directly answer your question if taking a statin will worsen your Dupuytren’s contracture. No one can. Drug side effects and adverse reactions are a completely unpredictable risk.
Part of the problem with considering to take a drug like a statin is that this group of medications creates a long list of side effects. Dupuytren’s contracture is just one of the lesser conditions that can occur or be exacerbated by statin intake; meaning Dupuytren’s contracture does not occur as a side effect as frequently as some of the other problems it causes. Even though the possibility of worsening your hand problem might be low, you do already have Dupuytren’s contracture (as well as Ledderhose disease of the feet). I can tell by your last name that you are genetically predisposed to Dupuytren’s contracture, and so you might be more susceptible to statins aggravating your hand problem. You are wise to be cautious.
Medical doctors constantly deal with terrible drug side effects; it is what causes many of them to eventually quit medical practice. Drug side effects are also the primary reason doctors get sued for malpractice. To survive the constant stress and negativity of creating myriad health problems in patients they at trying to help, they must rationalize drug side effects in patients as something not as bad as the original problem they are treating. They just shrug their shoulders and say, “That is just the way it is. Nothing is perfect. Deal with it.” I have communicated with many MDs about drug side effects causing Dupuytren’s contracture who look upon it merely as a relatively minor non-life threatening problem that can easily be dealt with by surgery. You know: Snip-snip, problem gone. What’s the big deal?
The big deal of course is that all Dupuytren’s contracture recurs (and worsens) after hand surgery; Dupuytren’s contracture recurrence can appear in a year or less. So surgery can be a very big deal because it carries its own list of bad reactions and side effects, and does not really solve anything.
You already have had two Dupuytren’s contracture surgeries on both hands, and have been told you need a third. This should tell you something. You will always eventually need more hand surgery, but you cannot endlessly have your hands cut on. Eventually you will have so much scar tissue that your surgeon will not have enough normal tissue to work with. That is when amputation is mentioned for the first time.
First, I suggest you listen to what your doctor is telling you to do about your hand and see if it makes sense to you. Ultimately you must be a well-informed patient who is confident and happy with the course of care you undertake. If what you are being told does not make good sense to you, get a second opinion to see if there is not a better approach that does make sense to you, or perhaps to see if the second doctor can give you a better explanation of what the first doctor said. Lastly, I suggest you review the information on the DCI website to see if natural Alt Med therapy makes sense to you to try to avoid additional surgery; it might be possible. You won’t know until you try it.
Dupuytren’s contracture can and does heal DC as it heals other health problems. Since it is extremely difficult to collect data on these cases there is no way to know the number of percent of this self-healing. The Dupuytren’s Contracture Institute has studied this process of self-healing and how it might be possible to encourage or assist it. Your previous hand surgeries make self-healing more complicated and probably somewhat limited, but not necessarily hopeless. Our success rate with Dupuytren’s contracture is 8-10 reports of improvement (from moderate to marked) for every one report of failure. As we learn how to use the natural vitamins, minerals, enzymes and other therapies better perhaps the reports of improvement will increase.
Hope this helps you to evaluate how to deal with your Dupuytren’s contractruree. TRH