Raynauld's disease-numb fingers/toes

[Crankin]

My son has it. It developed when he was a teen. He researched and had an experimental surgery where they cut a nerve to stop the problem and he was "cured." Seriously, usually this has to be done by cracking open your chest, major recovery. He flew to San Antonio with my husband, had the surgery, drove to Austin that night for dinner, got checked out by the doc the next morning and then flew home. They went in through his armpit and the temperature in his hands was like 20 degrees higher immediately after the surgery. Blue Cross paid for all of it, too.

[LBTC]

I think this is what our riding buddy has. Consequently, he loves to ride in the heat! One of the things he has done is gone to acupuncture, where she "reset his thermostat". He said it works for him for weeks at a time before he needs it reset again.

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[DebW]

I used to know someone who hiked in the winter who had this. I've also heard talks by Dr. Murray Hamlet, who does (or did) cold research for the army. Hamlet claimed that you could treat Raynauld's by standing outside in winter with minimal clothing and your hands in warm water for 10 minutes at a time. It was supposed to retrain your capillaries to open when your body was cold. Not sure if the cure was worse than the disease.

[Tuckervill]

My son has it. It developed when he was a teen. He researched and had an experimental surgery where they cut a nerve to stop the problem and he was "cured." Seriously, usually this has to be done by cracking open your chest, major recovery. He flew to San Antonio with my husband, had the surgery, drove to Austin that night for dinner, got checked out by the doc the next morning and then flew home. They went in through his armpit and the temperature in his hands was like 20 degrees higher immediately after the surgery. Blue Cross paid for all of it, too.

Holy cow, he must have had it pretty bad! For my son it's not near so debilitating to require surgery.

I'm glad your son found a solution!

Karen

[Crankin]

Well, it was affecting his cycling; at the time he was racing. Training below 55 degrees was painful and even if he went to brush the snow off of his car in the morning, he was in pain. It was getting worse and worse, and he is a real outdoors person, not just cycling. He has mostly lived in warm climates since he graduated high school, but I think he still has it in his feet. He could get another surgery for that, but i don't think the military would pay for it!

[7rider]

I've never been diagnosed by a doctor, but I wouldn't be surprised if I had it. My fingers frequently go white when it gets cold - like in that picture on the NIH site. Grocery stores are killer for me. I hate getting frozen foods - even in the summer!
If I have to wait for my DH to pick me up at the metro station in cool weather (not even cold), I end up cranking the heat and/or sitting on my hands for the ride home. If I wait for a bus in the cold weather, my hands are useless lumps of ice - even with ski gloves on. Sticking my hands in warm water is torture (throbbing, tingling, pain), but at least it gets the blood back to 'em.
When riding in cold weather....my hands turn to ice blocks, are incredibly painful, and then - poof! - I hit this threshold where they are fine.