Raynaud's Syndrome

[skibum]

I've experienced the symptoms of Reynaud's Syndrome for the past couple of years. I'm not sure what brought it on for me but I do know that I have to be careful not to get even a little bit cold because I can suddenly feel extremely cold, even on a warm day. The main symptoms for me are the white/numb hands although if it gets really bad, I can feel cold all over.

I don't know why there's a delayed onset of symptoms after a ride. I think maybe your core temperature stays up for awhile after exercise so maybe that's why. I find that even on the warmest days, I need to change out of my sweaty clothes immediately following a ride. It seems like adding wet clothing to the body's natural cooling mechanism is a big trigger for me.

I've found that, at a minimum, I need to keep my core warm. Depending on how cold it is outside (or in the room), I may need to work on keeping my extremities warm too. An example of this is that I have a hard time wearing sandals in air-conditioned buildings in the summer. My feet start going white/numb!

[spazzdog]

I don't have RS, at least that I'm aware of, but I've always had trouble staying warm. It doesn't matter what climate I'm in.

Here in New England I'm always cold at night... really cold. This winter I started wearing a little fleece hat in the house and immediately noticed the difference. My hands and feet didn't get as cold and I didn't get the shivers.

Try putting a little warm dry hat on when you come in to help get warm.

*I even slept in mine a couple of nights.

[yellow]

I didn't think about a hat afterwards. I'll try that this evening. (I usually wear a head cover while cycling). The weird thing is that the fingers do not feel cold...just weird. And they are really, really white. Spooky-Casper-the-Ghost white.

Spazz...I've slept in a hat AND gloves before, though not in a long time!

I'll let you know if anything changes with this minor modification.

[spazzdog]

I sleep under a down comforter year round. I wear flannel jammie bottoms. And I wear a fleece hat in the house.

spazz-brrrrrrr-dog

[Crankin]

My son, who raced as a Cat 3 cyclist in high school has Raynauds. Being warm in your core does not stop the symptoms in your hands and feet. Just being exposed cold causes it. Generally, gloves and covering up don't help. He developed this at about age 14.It just got worse and worse. He was miserable until he researched a surgery done to correct this, that is not performed here in the mecca of medicine (Boston). My husband took him to San Antonio to the only dr. that does this. They go in through your armpit with a laser and cut one of the nerves to stop the symptoms. The surgery was originally developed for people with excessive sweating. It worked within hours. The only side effect is that he sweats a lot in his core, if he gets really hot. He only had to be in Texas for 2 days and felt good enough to go to Austin the same night as the surgery to check out Lance's town!

[yellow]

Robyn-I'm glad they were able to find a solution. Sounds like his case was pretty extreme. Mine right now is just perplexing and annoying. I'm hopeful that it won't move beyond that. It's really a very strange feeling, especially in light of the fact that my hands don't feel cold (perhaps because I can't feel them??). I remember the day I damaged the digits...it was a great day of backcountry skiing in fresh snow, but it was probably close to 0 F. That's pretty cold for CA! (OK, I was at close to 10000' but that's still cold for midday!)

I know it's more than just being cold. While I used to be much more sensitive to cold, I've adapted over the years (living in a semi cold place and doing lots of activites in the cold) and really now am super sensitive to heat. Being overheated makes me very cranky; being a little cold is not a big deal. Since I figured out what to wear (duh! they don't teach you that on the sunny coast of CA, which is where I grew up), I can pretty much say that I haven't been miserably cold in a very, very long time (though miserably hot on a regular basis). I think that maybe the wind chill effect on the fingers, even through full gloves, could be triggering it, which is consistent with Robyn's experience with her son.

[Bike Goddess]

Thanks for the info ladies! I get cold easily after I ride as well. I especially noticed it this winter when I was doing rides in fog and 40 degree weather. When we would stop at our mid point coffee shop, I would go into the bathroom and use the hand dryer to get my clothes dry and my skin warm so I could get home comfortably (it worked). I don't seem to hold heat very well! Especially since I have lost so much weight.

I'll look up the syndrome-never had a name for this condition. Used to get this way after running marathons as well.