Sorry, I Haven't a Clue!

Work and life have been so insanely busy that I haven't had much time to update this blog. I've tried a few new recipes that I've been meaning to post, but time is not on my side at the moment.

One of my myriad of health issues that I haven't written about is Raynaud's Phenomenon. As February is Raynaud's Awareness Month http://www.raynauds.org.uk/raynauds-awareness-month, I thought I should contribute to the awareness raising thing. What motivated me to get around to it was this -

At least it was only two fingers this time. Sometimes it's all of them!

These were my fingers on cold yesterday. Okay, not even cold. It was 5C. Downright balmy for February for a Canadian. Not only was it 5 degrees, I was wearing not one, but two pairs of gloves. And I was in a heated car. Despite appearances, it isn't frostbite.

Raynaud's Phenomenon (or Raynaud's Syndrome) means that the blood vessels in your fingers and toes over re-act to changes in temperature, especially cold. This means that the blood doesn't circulate properly to your fingers and toes and they turn blue or white. It can be very difficult to get your figures to do what you want them to when they are like this. And when they start to warm up again, it can be rather uncomfortable. In fact, both losing the circulation and regaining the blood supply are bloody painful. This is often known as a "Raynaud's Attack".

Scald on one side, freeze on the other. The British do not have Raynaud's friendly taps!

Raynaud's is one of those things that science doesn't really understand. Although it looks like a problem with your circulatory system, it's got nothing to do with your heart. Occasionally, it's linked to an autoimmune disorder, like Lupus, Scleroderma or Rheumatoid Arthritis, which is known as "secondary Raynaud's"."Primary Raynaud's, where there does not appear to be anything underlying it, is said to be "idiopathic", which is fancy medical-speak for "Sorry, I haven't a clue what's causing it!".

There is no real treatment for Raynaud's, it's really just a matter of trying to prevent attacks by keeping your hands and feet covered and warm as much as possible. There has been some limited success with treating it with a blood pressure medication, but this needs to be weighed up against the side effects and the risks of taking it if you don't actually have problems with your blood pressure.

I couldn't tell you how long I've had Raynaud's, at least a decade I think, as I remember my fingers turning white when I was driving to New Brunswick in August 2003 (yes, I said summer). But I was only diagnosed about 5 years ago after a chance encounter with someone through work who had just been diagnosed and was telling me about her symptoms. I hadn't realised that what was happening to my hands actually meant something. So off to the GP I go, who did a close inspection of my nails (as certain changes in the nails can be an indicator of scleroderma) and ran a pile of blood tests to rule out Lupus. One of those tests, ANA (anti-nuclear antibodies) came back positive, while everything else was negative. My GP described this as "rather curious", but decided it was best to leave well enough alone and call it "idiopathic".

So now I have a reason for why my hands and feet are always cold. I've never been one to walk around in bare feet anyway, and I'm one of those weirdos who needs to wear socks when I sleep as my feet get too cold at night. I have even resigned myself to wearing ugly warm slippers indoors most of the year.

Check out the sexy footwear!

It also explained my habit of sticking my hands between my thighs when I'm sitting with my legs crossed. This may sound strange, but it is actually more socially acceptable than warming your hands up by sticking them under your armpits while in public!



I have always had to keep my hands in my pockets when I am out and I wear gloves outside most of the year. I walk around with several pairs of gloves in my jacket, even in summer. I have five pairs in my coat pockets at the moment. Two pairs are actually liners for others, including these ugly babies -

Just not as nice as my black Victorian lace ones

These are silver-lined gloves, which I got from the Raynaud's Association. They are supposed to be extra warm. I've been trying them out as liners, as they offer zero protection from the wind. I'm not sure that I am sold on them yet, as while they seem to help, I can't decide if it's from the gloves or that I'm wearing a pair of thick polar fleece ones over them. I also find the weave on them uncomfortable and a bit scratchy. I've also been wearing a pair of silk liners in the gloves I wear for driving, which have added a bit more warmth, but the photo at the top shows that they aren't particularly effective.

One of the problems I have in finding gloves is that I have ridiculously small hands (I have the same problem with shoes, I have ridiculously small feet too). It's very hard for me to find gloves that fit, as wearing ones that are too big to leave air pockets at the tips of your fingers, which make your fingers even colder. Options for children's gloves are limited, as most of what is available are mittens or are too thin as they have been made assuming that the child is running around a lot. So I am constantly on the hunt for ones that actually fit.

So why am I not wearing mittens you ask? Have you ever tried to drive a car while wearing mittens? Not only do you look ridiculous, no one makes mittens with no slip palms for driving. As much as using your smartphone with gloves is a pain, it's impossible with mittens. Also, mittens keep you fingers warmer than gloves on the principle that you actually have heat in your fingers to share with the others in the first place, and I don't!!

 
Generally, Raynaud's is more of an (sometimes painful) annoyance in comparison to living with Crohn's or the gyane problems I lived with prior to my hysterectomy. One very strange thing though was that last winter, amongst all of the horrible side effects that I had from the Prednisolone, the only good one I had was that I didn't have a single Raynaud's attack the whole time I was on them. Granted, last winter wasn't particularly cold in the UK, but neither has this winter been and I've been really struggling with attacks the past few months. I've told this to several of my health professionals, including a mate who works in immunology, and they are all rather perplexed by it. But then they shrug their shoulders and say, "Well, it is idiopathic", meaning, "I haven't got an effing clue".