It's winter,
it's cold and that means people with autoimmune conditions can have an
increase in symptoms, like joint pain, arthritis inflammation and
raynaud's syndrome to name a few.Raynauds is when small arteries that provide blood to your skin, narrow. This can cause trouble in circulation. In some people, it can turn your fingertips blue, purple or even white. Raynaud's can be minor-like in mine (pic) or so complicated it can cause amputations to be needed.
Raynaud's is more than cold hands-it can be very difficult to get your hands or feet to warm up after a flare. Preventative care is to layer up in clothes and wear nice warm socks and gloves.
Treatment according to Mayo.com:
Medications
Depending on the cause of your symptoms, medications may help treat Raynaud's. To widen (dilate) blood vessels and promote circulation, your doctor may prescribe:
Calcium channel blockers. These drugs relax and open up small blood vessels in your hands and feet. They decrease the frequency and severity of attacks in most people with Raynaud's. These drugs can also help heal skin ulcers on your fingers or toes. Examples include nifedipine (Adalat CC, Afeditab CR, Procardia), amlodipine (Norvasc) and felodipine (Plendil).
Alpha blockers. Some people find relief with drugs called alpha blockers, which counteract the actions of norepinephrine, a hormone that constricts blood vessels. Examples include prazosin (Minipress) and doxazosin (Cardura).
Vasodilators. Some doctors prescribe a vasodilator — a drug that relaxes blood vessels — such as nitroglycerin cream to your fingers to help heal skin ulcers. Your doctor may also prescribe vasodilator drugs that are commonly used to treat other conditions, but may effectively relieve the symptoms of Raynaud's. These drugs include the high blood pressure drug losartan (Cozaar), the erectile dysfunction medication sildenafil (Viagra, Revatio), the antidepressant medication fluoxetine (Prozac, Sarafem), and a class of medication called prostaglandins.
Hi Julie nice to see you post again. I have been wondering how you have been doing. How is your foot situation? I have Reynaud's with the lupus(and Sjogren's). Last year I purchase Protlotex infrared gloves to try. They help me. This week I had to get things out of the freezer and that made my fingers HURT. I decided to see what the gloves would do instead of the warm water and they calmed my fingers down pretty fast. Here is a link. There is lots of info on the site. https://www.raynaudsgloves.com/raynauds-gloves.html Someone might be interested. Great post. Thanks for all the good info. Leslie
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