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Dear Listmates,

Since being diagnosed 6 months ago, I have learned a lot from this
group.  One thing that fascinates me is how so many other conditions and
diseases appear to attach themselves to celiac disease.  I suppose it
has to do with  being related to auto-immune conditions or inherited
from the same geographical heritage.  This leads all of us to be
suspicious of any  and all other similar or unrelated symptoms.  After
reading this list for 6 months, I am aware that many diseases have
similar symptoms, and unfortunately, it is hard to sort out which ones
are coincidence, and which ones are actually related.

With this introduction,  I now would like to ask if any of you other
celiacs, (or your close  kinfolks)  have a condition called Dupuytren's
Contracture.  This is something I have been diagnosed with after 5-6
years of assuming it was just my hands, and a reaction to the gardening
and pruning that I enjoy.  After a hand specialist told me it has a
name, I did a little research on the internet  and I found that it (like
CD) is an inherited condition, and it mostly affects white people with
ancestors from Northern Europe.  It occurs more often in men than in
women, and usually starts after age 40.  In many cases, it runs in
families.

It usually starts as a small lump or pit in the palm at the base of the
ring or little fingers.  Usually affects both hands and sometimes the
arch area of the feet.  Drawing of the fingers into the hand can occur,
and it is usually noticed after the palm can no longer be placed flat on
an even surface.

While searching the internet, I connected by e-mail with one woman in
Toronto who has Dupuytren's Contracture, and I asked her if she or her
family was familiar with celiac disease.  She said her sister has CD.  I
certainly wish there were a list server like we have with CD so that I
could find out more information from people who actually live with it,
rather than just medical opinions and solicitations for treatments.

http://www3.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Omim?dispmim? is what it says at
the top of the page where I stumbled into some information, in case
anyone else is interested in researching it.

If you are familiar with this condition or want to know more about it,
would you please get back to me?  I will summarize if there appears to
be any connection.  To tell you the truth, I am beginning to have more
than my share of inherited conditions than I want to know about.

Thanks,
Anne in San Antonio