Raynauds

[Princess Pooper]

For those like me who suffer from Raynauds, this time of year can be miserable. A reminder that February is Raynauds Awareness month so help spread the word - there are posters available you can put up to help people recognise the symptoms. If you have hands, feet or other extremities that go like this, and have not been diagnosed, please talk to your GP - it can cause gangrene and loss of digits in extreme cases. The website www.sruk.co.uk is worth a visit, they have a good shop with gloves for all occasions and other useful warming aids as well as lots of advice on keeping warm. It is not just 'standard cold hands' but a lot worse and the 3 colour change is quite dramatic sometimes!

 

[David.]

Does that hurt like what we call "hot -aches" when the colour returns?

 

[Princess Pooper]

Does that hurt like what we call "hot -aches" when the colour returns?

yes. Ouch. The art is to try and get it warming quick before it shuts down as bad as the pic ' OH is used to me saying 'my hands are going' and making a dash for the house (not possible in the middle of some jobs though!)

 

[Old Boar]

I have had this since a child. It got bad sometimes on the stall, and one time I had to just leave the stall and go and buy a hot drink to stick my fingers in, as the fingers had been "gone" for half an hour. Lost a fair bit of stock from the stall in that 5 minutes!
The pain when the feeling comes back is like someone has peeled all your skin off and is passing a flame thrower over the bare flesh. Best avoided.

 

[bovrill]

I've had it the last three winters, and when it was flaring up last August I thought I'd see the doctor to see if there was anything that could be done to help before winter.
I've been moaning how creaky the system is, seven months later and I've only just this morning been back to my doctor to discuss the results of lots of blood tests. It turns out not to be as simple as first thought, and I've got to go back to the specialists at the hospital again as it's shown up I've got scleroderma, of which Raynauds is a side effect.
She told me not to Google it, but wait for the rheumatologist to explain it to me, as t'internet is quite over dramatic on the subject! But I had to have a little look
Hopefully my problems will stay at the top of the list I found!

 

[Gong Farmer]

I get it every winter, at one point a finger started to turn black but no damage done in the end. However in my case it's more of a circulation thing. Stood on a terrace watching a football match with any number of pairs of gloves, and various hand warmers, it would still start. Or even driving a car with gloves on. But on a brisk walk in winter with no gloves on I'll get no symptoms at all, yes the exercise is generating heat but keeping the blood circulating briskly through the extremities helps a lot.

 

[suffolksmallholder]

Just caught this thread! Poor you! I'm lucky my hands are ok, It's my lower bits, hip & knees that are not so good. I do have one of those break-a-20p-piece-in-a-bag-hot-pouches in my coat for emergencies which I find useful from time to time. My wife looks at me stramgely when I'm re-boiling it mind but that's par for the course!
SS